William Froehle

Career Interview
November 29, 2015
Software Developer
When choosing a future career its always a good idea to have options always available.
Other things you must consider is if you enjoy this type of work. For instance, working as a
software developer youre going to spend an immense amount of time in this career developing
or maintaining software. Finding out if that time is well spent is up to you. Software is a strange
phenomenon, most would never know how it operates, just that it works or doesnt for the
individual. What do you mostly think about when I ask you to explain a software developer?
Most would assume a code monkey working 50+ hours a week typing away on a keyboard. Or
perhaps one soul individual working on a program with an endless stream of coffee nearby to
caffeinate their way to completion.
As a software developer you will have a plethora of options available to you. Starting off
theres always a need to develop software. In todays world its near impossible to find an
industry without some form of software; video games, chips for vehicles, simulators, and mobile
development. These just barely scratch the surface of all the different products requiring
software. The job outlook for a software developer is quite immense. An online source available
from the United States Department of Labor, under a site name of Bureau of Labor Statistics or
BLS. According to BLS, employment of software developers is projected to grow 22 percent

from 2012 to 2022. (BLS) Having excellent job outlook is amazing and all, but what does it
pay? U.S. Economy has a median of $88,500 to $97,960 depending if youre developing for
computer systems design or product manufacturing. Generally working as a software developer
will require you to have a bachelors degree generally in computer science or software
engineering. Although job experience isnt required you will have experience with the code
either through coding in classes or personal projects. Many times you can even be hired just for
your job experience, but having a degree is an excellent safety net.
Paul Ward from Select Health has been an immense help in clearing some of the
misconceptions of this career path. Ward has over 6 years of job experience with UVU, IBM,
Word Perfect, Software Studios, and currently Select Health. Being an experienced developer
with a wide background he was able to give me some insight about this career. Most might
assume that programmers would work alone. Yet they actually work together in teams, splitting
the work load among different individuals increases development time. Not only will you be
working with other team members on a project. Clients or end-user as they are referred to, are
who the development of the programs are designed for. Designing around the end-user is crucial
if you wish to create a successful product. The end-user is whom the program will be mainly
used by. If the end-user finds the software clunky and ill-efficient I doubt you will see their
business again. Developers also need to consider an approximate time of completion for the enduser. Often times people think a developer will spend tremendous amounts of time coding in
order to keep a project on track. When really Ward spends about 20% - 30% of his time coding.
Rest is spent meeting with end-users and sorting any problems that might occur during projects.

Rarely you may be needed off hours to assist other developers. Sometimes other developers
may need help if a job goes bad or if they need additional help during weekends(Ward).
Working as a software developer sadly, will require writing. Its inevitable to escape this
fact. My least favorite part of the job is having to follow all the documentation and specific
protocols (Ward). Yet the usage of writing is much more crucial than one might think. Greg
Anderson along with David Ferro, and Robert Hilton, all who have an extensive history in
software engineering, elaborate of the importance of writing in the computer science field.
Novice programmers often wonder why they should write anything down (Anderson). A
common occurrence when dealing with code is youll find bugs. Bugs are either the program is
unable to understand a command or the program is not working as intended. When writing code
its near impossible to write a full-fledged program without running across a bug. Something you
should be mindful about is you wont always be working on your code (Anderson). Working on
someone elses work can be difficult on how they decided to organize the project. The program
could be whats called spaghetti code where information of a function is spread out within the
code. Working on code thats been written a couple years back can be a challenge depending how
well its organized (Ward).Good habits to form early is keeping a record of bugs youve come
across no matter how simple the problem is to fix. This helps distinguish patterns and better
response to repeat bugs. This way if the same problem occurred, they can easily hunt down the
problem and repair the issue. Other information to keep track of are features or add-ons
requested by the end-user. Forgetting to implement features can lead to major delays depending
on the stage of development.

Speaking of development theres actually multiple ways or tracks to take when designing
software. If you or a team were to jump into a project without a design plan would lead to
disastrous results. The first more traditional way to develop is called waterfall. Waterfall consists
of generally five different layers. Layers being; requirements, design, implementation,
verification, and maintenance. Requirements is quite simple but can expand as the project moves
forward. These are set by the end-user with whats to be expected of the program and different
functions available. Design is breaking apart the big picture into smaller, easier to develop
chunks. Using smaller pieces allows the developers to easily create organization within the
program and development process. Implementation is creating or writing the code. Here is where
logic errors or bugs are found and worked around because of different quirks in coding
languages. Verification is displaying the finished product to the end-user. Ensuring all is within
their set requirements. Maintenance can be a bit trivial. Some cases its not needed but as a
software ages the platform it was first built on can change drastically. Causing the program to no
longer function as intended. Different coding languages have different advantages to others. But
having experience with C Sharp, Java Script, and PL SQL is a great way to diversify your
palette. These languages range from the back end or database of the program with PL SQL. To
Java Script which is used to Make the screen dance (Ward).
Originally wanting to become a Network Technician, interviewing Paul Ward has helped
me see the different paths available for anyone working with software. The flexibility avaliable
in this career ranges from working with Disney on two year projects, to simple two day projects.
Myself Im not particular working on one job for more than a couple months as ill simply lose

interest. Knowing Internships are avaliable at Wards facility will allow me to truly experience
what work with other developers and teams will be like. Learning more about software
development has perked my interest in diving deeper and possibly embracing this career choice.
If I were to take the dive, I would get my 4 year degree of computer science at either Utah State
University or University of Utah as those are my top two choices currently.

Work Cited
Anderson, Greg, David Ferro, and Robert Hilton. "Chapter 12." Connecting with
Computer Science. 2nd ed. Boston: Thomson, 2005. 419-424. Print.
"Software Developers." Www.bls.gov. N.p., 8 Jan. 2014. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.
Ward, Paul. Personal interview. 12 November 2015.

Interview Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

How do you use writing in your day to day life?

Howd you find this job?
What required education did you need?
Work you need to take home?
Is this job under strict supervision?
Deadlines?
What are the prospects for future advancements in your career?

8. Favorite/ least favorite part of the job?

9. What would you have done differently?
10. What was something you didnt expect when entering this career?