Misconceptions about Software Engineers
photo courtesy of google.com

On one of my random tours on twitter, I came across this topic on what misconceptions people have about Software engineers or Software developers (I don’t get the hullabaloo concerning the titles but that is a story for another day…)

I am a Software Engineer in Kenya and for the past two years, I have had to explain what I do to practically everybody. I do understand the confusion, especially from Generation X i.e my parents who only knew medicine, teaching and accounting as professions. They have had to learn it the hard way with the pace at which technology is moving. For Millenials though, It is sheer ignorance if you don’t know what a software engineer does. Spare a couple of minutes and “google” that, thank you! ☺️

For most of my career, the biggest misconceptions people have had is that I am the IT guy (or lady in this case). You are the first person people run to when their phones aren’t working, their flash disks are unreadable or they require a quotation for a new laptop. For some, this would probably be a business opportunity but NO! we are not the IT handyman/woman who you call when you can’t switch on your computer because you forgot to plug in the monitor cable. We are the people who design, develop, maintain the websites and applications you use. You know the Facebook app you use? there is a person who created that. That person is a software engineer.

I don’t mind fixing the phones and laptops but I do mind when my competence is placed on a scale for a job that is not mine. Please spare us when we don’t know what the issue is with your machine. We try our best but it doesn’t mean we got all the solutions to your computer problems.

The second misconception is that I am a hacker, lol!

This gets funnier each time I hear it. What is Hollywood and sci-fi movies doing to you guys!? I respect hackers especially ethical hackers whose aim is to raise awareness in cybersecurity but not all of us are hackers. Some of us barely know how to impersonate a user leave alone penetrate a system or create spyware. Our job involves trying to implement the best security policies for your application and not to steal people passwords for illegal practices.

The last misconception that I get to hear is that we are always coding.

gif courtesy of giphy.com

We indeed love our job and it’s our passion but we also have a life and other interests! If you get to know us, you will know we have a whole other life outside code. Our lives don’t revolve around code but it does occupy the majority of our time.

These are the three common misconceptions that I get to hear regarding my career. I am sure that there are many more that I haven’t mentioned but at the end of the day, regardless of what people think you do, find joy in doing your job.
['Raycee Mwatela']
['Software Engineering', 'Technology', 'Software Development', 'Developer', 'Code']