• Question: Any advice for people who want to become a software engineer in the future

    Asked by Amal on 10 Dec 2025.
    • Photo: Chris Neale

      Chris Neale answered on 10 Dec 2025: last edited 10 Dec 2025 10:38

      It’s still critical to lean coding. But even before you learn your first Python or basic program, you need to be able to explain in plain English what the program should do.
      I’m sure you are hearing lots about AI and it’s not clear how much it will and won’t be able to do. Or how much it will be trusted to do. But there is still the idea of “human in the loop”. This is to make sure that the intent (what should this program do) is being met by the program, whether you wrote the code, or an AI did.
      As you progress in your career you will be reviewing other’s code (or maybe using AI tools to help you) but you will have more responsibility over larger projects and more code. So being able to describe, document and diagram complex systems and explain them to others is just as valuable, if not more, than coding alone.

    • Photo: John Easton

      John Easton answered on 10 Dec 2025:

      When starting out it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the myriad of different programming languages, tools and techniques that you could use. I would suggest:
      – choose one languages and get proficient at using it to solve real problems. Once you have learned one, the next one is easier to pick up.
      – understand the basics of how a computer works, how data can be represented and manipulated, etc.
      – remember that writing your bit of software is just part of a bigger process. How do you test what you just wrote? What requirements does your code need to meet? What else does your code need to interact with?
      – Get your soft skills (communications, writing etc) good too. You’re always likely to be part of a bigger team.
      Once you get into a company, that’s when you will figure out what languages, tools and frameworks / techniques / processes they follow and you can go deeper on those.

    • Photo: Uzair Abdullah

      Uzair Abdullah answered on 11 Dec 2025:

      Lots of people think being a software engineer is only about typing code really fast, but that’s only one small part of it. Before you even open a laptop, it’s important to learn how to think like a problem-solver. Software engineers break big problems into tiny steps and spot patterns that help them build solutions. You can practise this anywhere, puzzles, games, even planning how to get your homework done!

      You’ll also hear a lot about new technologies and AI tools that can help you write code. These tools are useful, but they don’t replace your creativity or your ideas. The best software engineers aren’t the ones who know every single programming language, they’re the ones who stay curious, keep learning, and aren’t afraid to try things that don’t work the first time.

      As you get older and work on bigger projects, teamwork becomes super important. You’ll need to share your ideas clearly, listen to others, and build things together. So stay curious, practise solving problems, and don’t be scared of mistakes, they’re how you grow.

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