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.
But
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 just about everything needs 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. Software is such a
booming industry that this job is ranked number one as Best Technology Jobs By (Bratcher).
With such a high demand there will certainly be more jobs available as well, The Bureau of
Labor Statistics projects a whopping 22.8 percent employment growth for software developers
between 2012 and 2022 (Bratcher).

Although not often, you will occasionally need to dedicate large portions of time coding.
I spend maybe 20%-30% of my time coding, rest is getting together with end-users or
interacting with other people.(Ward). More often instead of spending time coding, you are
actually collaborating with others in a team discussing different problems and solutions. Or
simply finding out what the client wants, often referred to as the end-user. The end-user is the
one using the software after its been fully developed, tested, and marketed. You are required to
work with the end-users since thats who the software is being developed for. The software must
have specific features, formats, restrictions, and presentation set by the end-user (Ward).
My least favorite part of the job is having to follow all the documentation and specific
protocols (Ward). Novice programmers often wonder why they should write anything
down (Anderson). When in reality its a critical part of managing program development. A
common occurrence when dealing with code languages, you will happen across bugs. Bugs that
because the program to completely stop working, features to break, or cause memory leaks.
Something you should be mindful about is you wont always be working on your code. Chances
are you dont get to work on only your own programs.(Anderson)The software you try to finish
may completely break with any changes or the current code is cluttered and unorganized.
Documentation and creating a debugging log is critical if the project is to be completed by
multiple people. The information you need to keep track are any features the end-user requires,
bug fixes with information on date fixed and which revision. This way if the same problem
occurred, they can easily hunt down the problem and repair the issue. Working for IBM I would

do maintenance code on education games...working on other developers work and creating fixes
can be a nightmare or not depending on how well it was documented at the time (Ward)
Depending which company you decide to work for can dictate your work load and hours..
The environment is laid back, but there are crunch times depending on how testing the
software went. (Ward) Benefits include healthcare, dental, pension, and 401k that match up to
4%. This company [Select Health] doesnt pay the best, but working thirty-five to fifty hours a
week while having a family. You cant really beat that. (Ward) Other places might also offer
vision insurance, life insurance, and upwards to a month of vacation time.
I used to work for Word Perfect and Software Studios, many years back they moved
their facility to Canada. For better interest of their employees, they hosted a job fair. Thats how
I found out about Select Health.(Ward) Networking with other individuals is key when looking
for a job. Many employers give information to employees about hiring positions or other
requirements that the public may not know about. Therefore getting your name know by many in
your career choice is essential in order to get the job experience you need. Majority of
employers are looking for people with many years of job experience, over individuals with
degrees. For example Ward has 6 years of job experience with UVU, IBM, Word Perfect,
Software Studios, and Select Health. He entered this career by having interest in coding and
striving to create new things. But its highly recommended that you get a 4 year degree as well
experience with coding in C Sharp, Java Script, and PL SQL. 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 on software. Knowing such a wide range
of options is out is helping push me towards becoming a Software Developer. Software
developers are needed in just about every field, someone has to create and maintain a database
for large corporations, factories, and other kinds of manufacturing. Stereotypes placed by the
public and media make programmers and developers seem like someone thats secluded, weird,
computer whiz, talks to computers for social interaction. When in reality your meeting with endusers receiving program specs, features, and feedback. You end up spending about twenty to
thirty percent of your time actually coding. Rest is spent collaborating with team members or
with end-users. A misconception that I thought was associated with developers was, if you run
into a wall during development. You need to hurdle this wall yourself, you have little interacting
with other members. By being present in the work area at Select Health, listening you can hear
employees figuring out a weird quirk or a bug they cant seem to crack. Knowing that Mr.
Wards facility deal with one to three day projects has captivated my interest knowing projects
can be much shorter and diverse in end-user program specs. Mr. Ward was informative during
the entire interview, showing me the different programs his team used and a current project hes
been developing. In fact hearing from Mr. Ward that internships are always available at his
facility, Im interested in giving this career path a chance and possibly get a four year degree in
Computer Science.

Explain the different types of developments like waterfall. Then explain a flow chart and how
developing this is a developers job. Job pay national average and average in Utah.
Work Cited
Anderson, Greg, David Ferro, and Robert Hilton. "Chapter 12." Connecting with
Computer Science. 2nd ed. Boston: Thomson, 2005. 419-20. Print.
Bratcher, Emily H. Software Developer. Job Overview. Money.usnews.com, n.d. web.
20 November. 2015.
Ward, Paul. Personal interview. 12 November 2015.
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/softwaredevelopers.htm#tab-6

Interview Questions:
1. How do you use writing in your day to day life?
2. Howd you find this job?
3. What required education did you need?
4. Work you need to take home?
5. Is this job under strict supervision?
6. Deadlines?
7. 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?