The path from University Graduate to Software Developer
Meet Anthony, Hayden, and Maciej, three Uni of Herts alumni who started their careers at Tier 2 Consulting as Computer Science Graduates.
Hear their journey to becoming fully-fledged Software Developers as they share what it’s really like to work in the software industry, and advice to anyone interested in the field.
So, what does a graduate software developer do?
Maciej explains, “As a junior software developer, you’ll go through the required training to get up to speed and familiarise yourself with your first project and team. Learning on the job is the best way.”
Anthony adds, “Back when I was in a graduate role, my first activities were to take responsibility of handling the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) process for several integrations developed for a public sector body. At the time, it was quite intimidating!”
When Hayden first joined Tier 2, he started with a month of training on the Spring Boot framework. He says, “I then worked on support for one of the projects alongside another developer, setting up the work environment and using various tools. I learnt coding standards from across the industry and what is expected from us here at Tier 2.”
Is software engineering hard?
Anthony had done some small freelance pieces online before joining Tier 2. He explains how using the knowledge from his degree was still a considerable challenge.
“While University gives you a basic understanding of programming languages, ‘logical thinking’, data structures etc – real-world implementations are understandably a lot more difficult!” he says.
Maciej adds that he learnt a few new technologies, frameworks, and processes at Tier 2 that he hadn’t studied – including CI/CD , Agile, and stand-ups.
Can you become a Software Developer with no previous work experience?
Yes! Both Maciej and Hayden joined Tier 2 without working in the field before, and Anthony joined in 2018 straight after graduating.
Is Software Development for me?
“Give it a try and see if you enjoy it,” Maciej says, “I would advise spending some time to go through an online course for any of the OOP languages and seeing if you enjoy it before applying for a Uni course.”
Is Software Development fun?
It may come as a surprise that software development and coding requires a lot of technical creativity.
Maciej discovered this through wood workshopping, “I’ve always enjoyed the creation process no matter what it was. Before my studies, I did a few wood workshops, which are fairly similar – the only difference is that the final product is not tangible!”
Anthony explains how he first became interested in development; “The seemingly endless possibilities with technology in our day to day life has always interested me. Being able to contribute a piece of work used by lots of real people always seemed like it would be satisfying. P.S. It is!”
Advice to Graduates starting out in Software Development?
“Don’t be afraid to ask questions,” says Hayden, “Even though I spent three years learning a lot about concepts and techniques that make strong contributions to my role, there was still plenty for me to learn about, and there’s still a lot I haven’t discovered yet.”
Anthony agrees, “Questions can provoke thought processes in others – it is natural to be learning all the time. While it can seem intimidating at first, as long as you have patience and communicate, you will learn a great deal of technical information.”
“Look into frameworks that the course might not even mention but are widely used by developers” Maciej adds, “A good example is Spring and Hibernate backend frameworks for Java, which are used across multiple projects here at Tier 2.”
Tips to someone interested in studying software development?
“Do as many programming challenges as you can!” says Anthony, “Take a look at industry standards (Docker, principles of Functional Programming, Java stream API, Git etc.), and see if there are any tutorials that can provide some familiarity with these.”
Hayden advises that ‘Googling’ everything is also a legitimate strategy.
“Teach yourself to use the right terms and syntax (for your search engine of choice) to formulate the best searches,” he says, “And make notes of things you would like to remember so that you become less dependent on it.”
Would you recommend working at Tier 2 to new Graduates?
Hayden, “Absolutely.”
Maciej, “Yes – Tier 2 provide many opportunities for you to get hands on experience in multiple fields.”
Anthony, “I would. I’ve learnt a lot in my roles at Tier 2, and have met some amazing people. My time has been (and is!) really enjoyable.”
Do you have what it takes to join Tier 2?
Tier 2 Consulting support local people through employment opportunities and graduate recruitment programs, recruiting local talent to deliver their software development services.
In 2022, Tier 2 was officially named a ‘Great Place to Work’ following a staff survey. We’re always looking for new talent, so if you think you have what it takes, and want to join a Great Place to Work, we want to hear from you.
Become recognised as an expert in your field within the fast-paced IT environment, and view careers at Tier 2 Consulting.
