I was asked by @richquick to quickly (yeah, yeah) put together a lightening talk for #YRS2013 Glasgow. The topic was roughly A Career in Software Development. So, I put together some thoughts based on my opinion and experiences. I didn't even consider career directions like QA or Release Engineer.

1. A career in
Software
Development
Phil @leggetter #YRS2013

2. A bit about me
Phil @leggetter
http://www.leggetter.co.uk
* Because these are my opinions I want you to have a bit of information about me. It's
a basis on which you can decide whether or not to take any notice about what I'm
going to say.
* Stirling Uni - Software Engineering 2001
* First job at Caplin Systems in London (who I work with now) - I don't feel I was a
great dev when I left University. But I became a reasonable by applying Software
Engineering practices in industry.
* I've worked for a company delivering cutting edge technology to financial
organisations
* I've also worked for 1 largish company ESRI and 2 startups - VeriSIM and Pusher
* I've been bootstrapped trying to create a service
* My current job is back at the company I started with
* My job is a "Developer Evangelist". I've seen great things in this job but I am biased
towards community-based companies and technologies. Not closed corporate ones. I
believe that even corporate organisations are going to have to open up and that
startup and corporate principles are merging slightly.
* And I've written a book - http://realtimewebapp.com

3. You
* You clearly enjoy software development. You're at YRS. If you follow your passion
for technology you'll have a career.

4. * You're at Young Rewired State 2013
* You're career has already started
* In fact your career started with your first line of code

5. ● Keep coding
● Grow knowledge
● Continue/Start sharing
○ Code
○ Blog
○ Talk
● Stay/Get involved
○ Events like Young Rewired State
○ General tech events
○ Hack events
○ Open Source projects
Where do you go from here?
* Stay/Get involved - all great ways to learn and share
* Start building your CV / Social profile
* All these are simply things that you should probably do throughout your career -
starting now

6. How to Code?
Hack v Engineer?
* Hacking is a fantastic way of fast prototyping, proving concepts and achieving things
quickly. But it doesn't always result in the best code.
* But IMHO to build a quality software product or services you need to be a Software
Engineer
* Some upfront design
* Development processes - find one that works for you and the people you work
with. But have one.
* Testing should be core to your development process
* Continuous integration
* Software development trends will change - be aware of them. You may even set
them.

7. University?
* My personal opinion is that most people will get a lot from University. Socially and
academically.
* But, for a career in software development it isn't 100% essential for all companies.
* The ability to demonstrate you are a good developer through code examples and
communication can be enough.

8. You first job?
● Already had one?
● Contracting
● Permanent
● Do your own thing
● May not exist yet!
● Juggle?
○ Don't let a job title define you

9. Where to work?
● Gaming
● Digital Agency
● Finance
● Tech for Tech
● Big/Small company?
● ...
* There's lots of choice. Don't be constrained by traditional and obvious trends.

10. Career Progression
● Dev, Team Lead, Line Manager, Dev
Manager, CTO
● Dev, Team Lead, Line Manager, Dev
Evangelist (Marketing), ?
● Dev + CTO + CEO
?
The options really depend on:
* Who you are
* What industries you are involved in
* These roles and opportunities are available
Again, the roles may not even exist yet.

11. Follow Your Passions
* You clearly enjoy software development. You're at YRS. If you follow your passion
for technology you'll have a career.

12. Questions?