Lessons I’ve learned from 2.5 years of Software Engineering
by Sam Ollason I’ve been programming on and off since I was 16, but it’s only in the last of 2.5 years that it’s fair to say I’ve been working as a software engineer. In that time I have worked in a global team for a large and established investment bank and I am currently the Lead Developer for a revolutionary actuarial software start-up. I have worked with lots of exciting technologies and I have learnt an enormous amount. Here are a some of the key lessons and tips, particularly from my earlier years, that I wish someone had shared with me when I first started. I hope they help you. It doesn’t have to be perfect — just ‘good enough’ We software engineers love building things and naturally we become attached to what we build. If you aren’t a software engineer, imagine building a brand new car from scratch. Imagine spending months or years creating a car using just your brainpower, hard work, determination and team spirit. It was planned to be, and is, faster or better loo