Ask HN: How did you become a software engineer?

> How did I get into programming?

I was doing a chemistry degree, and suddenly being able to code was a requirement. There were no classes, no recommended material. Just 'welcome to this 6-week lab. Python experience is required'. Surprisingly while I got OK at programming that wasn't a great experience, so I stayed away for a while.

When I graduated my focus was actuary, then data science (because that was starting to take off at the time). I had a fair amount of interest but I wasn't fairly committed. I worked as a mathematical modeller for a while, that was when I started coding again.

About a year later I took an internship at a call center I'd worked at during university summer breaks. They wanted me to analyze insurance claims data to predict fraud. It failed massively but they still kept me around, but the work moved towards software engineering. I enjoyed it enough to stick around.

> What is your experience with university?

The English system sucks. My degree is Chem, I wanted to add more maths and some CS. This was impossible on both counts with the universities module system. Chem takes up so much time while theoretically you can take modules from other schools, it doesn't work in practice. It sounds like you're in UK - if you want flexibility, go to Scotland for your degree. (Kinda OT but I'd rather take maths than CS.)

Most UK science degrees expect but don't teach programming. I have data points supporting this from almost all the top 50 universities. The assumption is students are bright enough to work it out on their own time. This actually holds up to an extent, but the standard and style of scientists programming is a long way from industry.

The degree is absolutely worth it. Spending 3-4 years focusing on studying to an expert level will give you transferable skills you won't get anywhere else. This difference is eminently observable to me now, not just from my experiences but from observing colleagues.

> How did you get first paid work

Internship at an organisation I had friends high up in. I kinda lucked into this one.

> What do you do now and what do you love/hate about your job?

Lead engineer at an early startup, but leaving for a senior engineer role at a late startup. I love the problem solving aspect, and being surrounded by really interesting bright people.

I don't like the way errors compound. Programming is really hard, producing excellent code takes time, effort, and often knowledge. It's easy to make mistakes. Many mistakes don't cause observable bugs, but harm the long term maintainability of the product. Over time, these build up, meaning large projects can become maintenance nightmares. I've become a bit of a specialist in un-fucking these, but I really hate doing it.

Turned my MUD addiction into a MUD development addiction. Learned all kinds of stuff (Linux, SQL, a little PHP) while building those games. Eventually went to school, didn't do well in Comp Sci, changed majors to an unrelated degree. Graduated and found a software eng position in the same field as my degree (print) and got on the tech path after that (tech startups, Reddit, Twitter).

I got into programming when I was 12 as part of a TAG program.

Interestingly, though, I didn't intend to go into programming. My interest was digital electronics. However, as a 12 year old boy in a poor family, I couldn't afford to buy parts -- but programming is free as long as you have access to a computer (I'm in my mid 50s, when I was 12, access to a computer was rare).

I've been programming ever since -- and once I started doing it professionally (in my early 20s), I resumed my interest in electronics and carry that on to this day as a hobby.

I got my first paid work through a personal contact.

I won't comment about how I feel about my job right now, because I'm deeply burnt out and have no positive feelings about it. Once I figure out how to overcome my burnout, I'm sure that my love of it will return. I hope.

I started programming in C when I was 12. Computers had always interested me so this was a natural progression. This predated regular internet access (if I was lucky I could get on once a day) so I was entirely dependent on books, all of which are outdated now. What got me hooked was the precision of specifying instructions to computers, controlling what went on behind the scenes. This interest has always been my hook to the subject so it's of little surprise I write firmware for small microcontrollers now.

    What is your experience with university? Did you get a degree, was it worth it, do you think it helped you find work, what did you love/hate about uni?

I went to UIUC for Computer Science and it definitely improved my prospects. My path through college was a bit weird so I was actually in my early 20s when I went in. I was one of the most experienced coders upon entry but that is a really small part of what you need to do well. Up until then my knowledge was entirely practical and I didn't know any of the mathematics or algorithms behind what we do. Those topics along with a rigorous dive into subjects like computer architecture have proven extremely useful since leaving the university. Simply having a top engineering school on my resume has also opened a lot of doors.

    How did you get your first paid work (family & friends, internship, freelance, full-time)?

When I was 16 I got fired from a summer job at a fast food joint and decided it was time to start making money coding. I began offering services writing small PHP applications online, starting at $16/hr and working my way up to $100/hr by the time I stopped in college. It was a great way to make money when I was younger, but the work itself was really boring and the way I structured the business would not support anything more than side gigs. My first "real" programming job was given to me at age 19 by an older friend/mentor who was the director of web development for a regional mortgage lender.

    What do you do now and what do you love/hate about your job?

I write embedded software for IoT power meters and love it -- I also really like that my company helps third world countries get reliable power for the first time. This company is pretty small and I have tended to like this environment more than giant corporations (I've worked for Intel and Qualcomm in the past). It wouldn't surprise me if I end up back at a big company at some point since they pay more, but I really like where I am at the moment.

0. I think my original idle interest was watching my cousin build simple games with Basic and HyperCard. We were both around 10 I think? This was all unknowable magic to me.

1. In high school I was recording music and wanted to share it with the world. There was nothing like SoundCloud yet. So I built my own site. I started with Dreamweaver…

2. My then girlfriend decided to learn HTML and rebuild her personal site. I thought that was cool as heck and did the same.

3. I got tired of manually updating HTML, learned enough PHP and SQL to hobble together a basic content-driven template system.

4. By this point I was interested in programming for its own right, but continued to iterate on my own site until I had effectively built a more general purpose CMS. (It was super cool for the early oughts! It had in-situ design agnostic content editing)

5. That landed me my first programming job, with a company making their own custom CMS. This was basically brochureware work for a few years.

6. A buddy and previous coworker asked me to do a quick 2 week contract rebuilding a marketing website for the startup he was at.

7. They liked me so much they kept me on full time. I eventually led their frontend team, gradually moved backend and wound up designing distributed systems for their cloud integrations.