Gunamay Sachdev is a current Computer Science student at King’s College London. In this entry of Global Placement Stories, Gunamay Sachdev talks about his misconceptions on being a software engineer and what it actually entails.
This time last year was vastly different to now. I wasn’t even thinking of doing a year in industry, just focused on applying for internships and work experience for the summer. However, a lot has changed since then. I considered the possibility of doing a placement year, and decided to reach out to a manager from my last work experience, who willingly offered me a placement year job with them.
Before starting, I had no idea what the typical day to day life of a software engineer was like. Was it 100% coding in a dark room like in the movies? Was there little social interaction and lots of energy drinks?
Well, I can confirm that is not the case (thankfully!). Since starting my placement, I’ve learned so much more than I ever imagined. I never realised how much other tasks go into being a software engineer, such as regular refinement meetings to create story points, training sessions to help improve your current skillset and much more.