When I was a college student in the early days, a lot of the events my university hosted always had technology in discussion. Even as a Finance major, I noticed that the recruiting events that were ran by business and accounting firms always allocated some time of their presentation on the growth of technology and how it is changing the industry. I remember hearing technology is advancing and changing everyday so businesses must continue to adapt to these innovations or else they will get left behind by the rest of the industry. It became clear that keeping up with these new advancements of technology was not just a boost for business, but it was survival. Ironically, these firms running the recruiting events sold the tech industry more than they sold themselves; whenever I would go to these events it was never me thinking to myself, “would I work for this company?” or “do I see myself working in this role?” It was always, “is it too late to become a computer science major?”
Because it is clear that whether you are a bank, insurance company, or an airline company, you must have some sort of leverage in technology. Programming was very broad and vague, and I felt that as someone outside of the field I never understood the roles in software engineering. Now, after dedicating a few months to learning code, I am looking for a job role in the field and I figure it is important for me to distinguish the tasks and responsibilities each position has, as well as the current state of the industry.
AR/VR engineer: augmented reality is introducing computer-generated elements, like 3D animations, text, audio and video overlays to the real world. Virtual reality is creating a virtual world for users to interact with. As you can probably imagine, this technology has unlimited potential and it ranges across all industries. According to Hired.com, this role exploded in the hiring scene as it claimed to have an increased in demand of +1400% in 2019.
Computer Vision engineer: involving theoretical and algorithmic development, computer vision engineering is a branch of of artificial intelligence that involves a large sum of data and using this to replicate human processes and behaviors by identifying patterns in images. Other than data analysis, user interface design and research are involved in this field as well. Some projects might include self-driving cars and social media enhancements.
Full-stack engineer: this is a web developer who works with both the back and front end of a website of an application. These developers can tackle databases, systems, servers, and a wide variety of coding languages.
Machine Learning engineer: as a subfield of artificial intelligence, the goal of machine learning is constantly evolving and it is not just focusing on specific tasks for programming machines to perform. It also involves creating programs that enable machines to self-learn and perform specific actions by themselves without specific directions. These actions can be improving systems, operational efficiency, and training, monitoring, testing and deploying algorithms for tasks.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) engineer: NLP combines artificial intelligence, computer science and linguistics together. It involves automated manipulation of speech or text, using this transformation for useful features. This study enables computers to read the text, hear the speech, and interpret it.
Blockchain engineer: blockchain is the specialization of creating and implementing digital solutions, enabling fast data distribution for enterprise solutions. What makes blockchain interesting is that the digital information, or the block, is stored in a public database, or the chain.
In addition to learning about unique positions and their roles, there are a large variety of coding languages as well. Some of these languages serve the same purpose, but what is interesting is the relationship with the demand of coding languages and geographical location. For example, Python is used more in New York than San Francisco according to Hired.com. This is most likely because New York is the financial capital of the U.S., and banks use python for market analysis and trade management platforms. Nonetheless, JavaScript is the most widely used programming language in 2019.
How about the interview? The interviews for software engineering generally includes whiteboard sessions, behavioral interview, and of course the coding exam. One of Hired.com’s key takeaways on its surveys and research was that a majority of software engineers believe that coding exams are irrelevant to the job. Funny enough, coding exams make up the most stressful part of the interview with white-boarding sessions following right behind.
