Owlnotes.com

I work as a senior software engineer for a dot com company in San Francisco, California.

A senior software engineer has different responsibilities for different companies. For this job, I lead a team of developers and others to produce our website. Our business is based on a website, and I manage developers and other people to help build and maintain that website.

We specialize in helping people find reservations for restaurants around the world. We have presence in the United States, Japan, France, Germany, Canada, Mexico, and Spain.

It has a lot to do with computers. The consumer uses the computer to make a reservation, similar to booking a flight or reserving a hotel room or reserving a rent-a-car. You can go our website for your particular cuisine where you live or where you are going to travel to, you can make a reservation for a restaurant. You can search by type Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, or American. Whatever type of food you want, you can find restaurants that are available at the time you need.

I am one of the people in charge of the technical aspects of the website. There are computer developers and engineers, and we all share the responsibility for maintaining the technical aspects of the website. That is one of my many responsibilities.

My particular company has presence in countries all around the world, so we have small offices everywhere and people that work remotely. I do not travel that much; I stay in one place.
Others in my company do when doing research.

Haha, I wish! No, we have other people in the company who do that.

I always liked to play with computers when I was growing up; it has always been a hobby of mine. In college, I realized that it was more than a hobby; it could be a profession that I could see myself enjoying.

I originally started as a consultant, which is still in the computer industry field. After doing consulting for three years, I decided to do more programming and get more involved with computers.

I went to Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. My undergraduate degree was in computer science.

I had two internships. One was a consulting internship, through the college. They helped local businesses with their web maps, like computer information. I did that in the summer of my junior year. In the summer of my senior year, I worked for a private consulting company. Basically, I worked in the computer world, helping them with big projects and their development.

I worked as a systems integration consultant after I graduated college. I helped build computer systems for other companies. I did consultant work for companies like major fast food chains and a large heating and air conditioning equipment company.

In between my first job and this job, I actually worked as a computer programmer for a small start up dot com company for five years.

Not every day is the same. Usually, it is nine hours at work. We arrive at work from anywhere between 8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. as long as you put in your hours at work, the start time is pretty flexible.

I work about 45 hours in the office, and then probably another five to ten hours at home.

My day consists of going to meetings to discuss different aspects of the development and software of the website. I talk to other people and make sure issues are taken care of in regards to getting stuff done on time. There is also a part of my day where I have to talk to other members of my team in order to plan for the future. Overall, a lot of time is spent managing the project, meaning a particular field of the website, but not necessarily everything on the website.

I interact with the marketing team, who develops different marketing ideas for the company and the restaurants. I also work with the product management team. Their whole responsibility is to try and figure out what could be the product of the website. I interact with other team members who find new restaurants, so I personally don't get to go to restaurants, but I work with other people who do.

I work from home during the evenings a lot. If there is additional work that needs to be done, I can log in and work from home. I do most of my networking work at home. People can work from home regularly; I usually do not though, because I live close to the office and can come in pretty easily. Other people who live further away work from home more than I do, since it can be more difficult to come in the office every day. It is something that other companies definitely do more. Different companies have different policies.

I can do a lot of things through my personal computer and the Internet. It is almost like being in front of your computer at work, although you are home, and I can get a lot of things can get done that way. At work, I mostly have meetings with developers and company teams.

I do not know exactly what my company offers their starting employees who are new college graduates. I guess for other companies it would be around $50,000. But, again this is in general, and only a guess, at best.

I think the best thing about computers is it is generally a fast moving field. There is always new technology and new things to learn, so people out of college do not have that big of a disadvantage when they are new, because they have learned the new technologies through their college experience. We continue to learn the new technologies through work and development. So, moving up in the computer field is pretty likely and quick.

No, it does not really affect my social life. I work at home because I know I can focus on stuff, and it does not happen every day. It happens once a week, maybe. It just involves being flexible, and it is not that hard for me. I am on my way to Tahoe right now, so I can travel and have fun, even though I have to work at night sometimes.

It is definitely important. There are always deadlines, and you have to manage your time. There are days where I will come in really early, and there are some days I will leave really late. For example, Monday we are doing a new deployment on the website. So I will start work later; I probably will not leave until midnight. I will probably still work eight to ten hours, but will start work later in the day. It is just managing your time and remembering your deadlines which is important in any career, not just in the computer field.

The positive aspects are for myself is that I've always loved computers and technology, and I get to work with all those things on a daily basis in my position. I work with a lot of people who are fun to work with, so it keeps things positive. Working with this company also lets me work with the restaurant industry; I get to hear about restaurants, and learn about PR and media-related things and different aspects of restaurants around the world.

Negative aspects? Actually, the job is pretty good. I do have to work at managing my time which is not just for my job, but for any job you might have. You have to get your work done and deliver your projects on time.

It is hard to say if the computer science sector is going in a different direction. Different fields within computers have more investment in them than others. Overall, I think different aspects may be affected more, but there are places that will not feel an effect, while others will feel it a lot. I still think it is a good, stable field.

The computer engineering field is pretty broad, so it hard to pick just one trend. Overall, it would have to do with websites and the ability to get more things on the Internet these days. All the social aspects of the Internet that are being added, like with Facebook and other social networks, are getting pretty popular. People like interacting through things like blogs, and interaction with others through the Internet is growing every day.

No, you do not have to be, but it does help. If you have experience from another job, then it is probably easier for you, and you do not have to have a computer science background. If you worked in another aspect of the computer industry, you do not necessarily have to have a computer science degree. There are always people who enter the field right out of college. It is not necessary, but it helps a lot.

Internships are always helpful. Work for a couple months during the summers or during the school year in your field of choice to get a feel not only for the company, but for the industry as well. And, as always, talk to people in the field. Colleges and universities have really good career resources that can put you in touch with alumni who are in your field. So, reach out and find out whether you can find people who work in your chosen field, and try to find out where they work and what they do.

I guess talking to people that have established positions in the industry have graduated from college would be helpful. Computer research and development are two big aspects of the field today. Do your research on different companies and what they stand for. Then you can decide what you want.