4 Things They Don't Tell You When You Start Your Career As A Software Engineer
When I became a Software Engineer, I was always told about this greenfield project by recruiters I would get to work on, I seemed to have a lot of language specific tests in interviews, Maths was a significant part of my degree and the ‘no estimates’ movement was making a lot of noise.
There are 4 things that you learn when you gain experience as a Software Engineer that you either didn’t get told, or fly in the face of your experience when entering the industry.
1. Needing Advance Maths is a Myth
I have worked on some complex projects in complex industries during my tenure. I have worked on trading platforms for some of the world’s leading financial organisations all the way through to advertising search platforms dealing with significant scale across the world and have never used advanced maths.
Sure, you will need to use it at points, I would argue the level is rudimentary.
The logic flow and patterns have always been more complex than the maths at this level in our industry advancements. So much of it is buried under layers of abstraction before most of us ever get to interact with it.
There are exceptions to this rule. I can image working on software for the aeronautical industry, rocket guidance, or scientific research to name a few examples. The number of engineers in these roles is a significant minority.
If you want to have a great career as a Software Engineer, you do not need advanced math.