The secret to starting a successful software engineering career

For students and professionals

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

I started my software engineering career back in 2019 after graduating from a let’s just say “decent” engineering college in India.

Here I am telling you the things you should be doing during your college life to start your software engineering career on the right foot based on my experience. Let’s begin…

1. Hang out with people who have similar goals as you or atleast who are ambitious. Talk to as many of your classmates, seniors, or even juniors as possible and find out who has goals similar to you. Make a group, hang out, form strong bonds and create a nurturing environment to progress further.
   “A single hand can probably do an interesting task but many hands can make even a boring task interesting” — Well, me of course.
2. Read Data Structures and Algorithms. Just think of them as your best buds your entire life and never let them go. They are your friends you can use whenever you are in trouble and they don’t ask anything in return. DO NOT IGNORE them during your college life. I REPEAT DO NOT.
3. Focus on core subjects only. Well, there are more than 40 subjects in engineering which you need to learn and that is A LOT. But there are only 5–6 core subjects you need to focus on if you want to get into software development and that includes operating system, computer organization and architecture, compiler design, and theory of computation. Hope this eases you a bit.
4. Aptitude is important. This is very important for a college graduate as almost every software company asks you questions on it even though you won’t be using much of it once you get the job.
5. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Practice coding on sites like leetcode, HackerEarth, etc. For the people who find it boring, don’t make a big deal out of it. Just reward yourself after solving 5 questions. (Don’t think of visiting adult websites as a reward for hard work. Trust me, it can affect you in a negative way in the long run).
6. Have fun. Don’t forget to have fun in your college life as you will make lots of unforgettable memories and friends but that’s what everyone says. The real reason is this is the last time you are free to do stuff with your friends so make the most of it.

Conclusion

The effort is not much at all if you start learning things from the beginning. For professionals, it’s not late at all, just start today with consistency and things will start happening.

Things you will never regret:

1. Learning and Practicing
2. Creating a passion for a job you can do well
3. Traveling (do it a lot once you get the job)
4. And most importantly, the money you make in the software development field

Things you will regret:

1. Procrastination
2. Thinking learning is lame (it happens especially during the pandemic)
3. Not traveling much
4. Not commenting after reading this article.

My social media links are below for anyone who wants to connect.
Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram