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4. Understanding the Workplace

As we covered in Chapter 1.1, software engineers build, test, and maintain software systems.

But what does that actually look like day-to-day? Who will you work with? And how does your role fit into the larger tech industry?

In this chapter, we’ll explore what shapes your work as a software engineer, the kinds of teams and roles you’ll encounter, and how to navigate the tech industry effectively.

While a software engineer’s day can vary depending on the company, team, and project, there are some common elements that almost everyone experiences:

Writing Maintainable Code​

In school, once your assignment works, you’re done. But in the workplace, code isn’t something you just throw away — it sticks around. And bad code will come back to haunt you.

As a software engineer, you’re expected to write clean, readable, and maintainable code that follows best practices and coding standards. Your code will be read, reviewed, and modified by others — sometimes for years to come.

It’s not enough that your solution works. It needs to be the right solution for the team and the business. That means balancing readability, maintainability, performance, and long-term impact.

Maintaining and Monitoring Software​

Writing code is only part of the job. Once software is live, it’s your responsibility to help keep it running smoothly. This means:

  • Fixing bugs and addressing security vulnerabilities
  • Updating dependencies and libraries
  • Monitoring performance, reliability, and usage patterns
  • Responding to user feedback and change requests

Engineering teams rely on tools like logging, monitoring, and alerting to stay on top of how their systems are performing. Many engineers are also part of on-call rotations to handle production issues that come up outside regular hours.

A big part of your role will be balancing new feature development with maintaining and improving what already exists. It’s all about trade-offs between progress and stability.

Collaborating with Your Team​

Software engineering is a team sport. You’ll rarely work in isolation.

You might be part of a cross-functional team that includes other engineers, designers, product managers, and QA specialists — or part of a more specialized group focused on a particular part of the system.

Good communication is essential. You’ll collaborate through technical design documents, documentation, code reviews, and regular team discussions. Giving and receiving feedback is a core part of the job.

We’ll explore team structures in more detail in Chapter 4.5.

It’s Not About Tech — It’s About Solving Problems​

At the end of the day, your job as a software engineer isn’t just to write code. It’s to solve problems.

Whether you work at a startup, a giant tech company, a government agency, or a non-profit, your goal is to build solutions that meet real needs. That means understanding the users, the business goals, and the technical constraints — and delivering value.

What matters isn’t how many lines of code you write — it’s the impact your work has. Software engineers are expensive. If a company could solve the problem in a simpler or cheaper way, they would. The fact that they’re hiring you means they’re counting on you to deliver meaningful results.