Day in the life of
Android Developer – Juliet Dreamhunter
I have a Master’s in Computer Science and worked as an Android developer for four years.
My typical day
My typical day would start with checking work emails and reviewing the code of my team members, followed by a daily status meeting with the team. Usually the higher your position is, the more meetings you have during the day.
The rest of the day is basically writing the code non-stop, whether it’s adding new features or fixing existing bugs. It may look boring from the outside but you are actually facing challenges, solving problems, and finding solutions to make the product better for the end user. It’s actually exciting when you love your project and are really aligned with the goal to make it amazing.
If the workload is low, I would allow myself a couple of coffee breaks during the day to chat with my coworkers about technology and personal stuff.
Pros
The pros and cons of being a software developer highly depend on the project you are working on and the company you are part of. For example, one company I used to work for has a Happy Hour every Friday with pizza and board games. I also had a lot of fun with my coworkers on events like Halloween parties or surprise rafting at one of the corporate parties. If you find the right company for you, it can feel like a second family.
Other than all the fun outside working hours, I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment that you get every time you conquer a difficult task. When something can’t seem to be working no matter what you try, and then it finally works, it’s such an amazing feeling! And you make customers happy, too.
The biggest perk for me is the ability to constantly evolve and learn new things in the process, as technology does not stand still and you gotta keep up!
Cons
It’s not only fun, of course. Sometimes you can spend a week dealing with a random bug that clients complain about but you can’t even reproduce. Sometimes you might work overtime in order to deliver a new feature as promised. Sometimes you can find yourself in the middle of deploying an important fix while your husband or wife already went to bed. But it’s not every day, and it’s still worth it in the end.
Advice for aspiring developers
I would say that being a developer is more fitting for introverts. If you prefer working with people but still wanna be in IT industry, maybe look at management-related positions or marketing first. Developers spend lots of time immersed in the code, alone. But they are the core of any software product!
You can build a product without a tester, a manager, even a designer, but a developer is crucial. You can take one dev and he or she will create something. But if you take a huge team of every single role but developer, no product will actually happen. Just for a perspective.
If you are interested in Android development, follow a Google Developers channel on Youtube, they post a lot of up-to-date information about the Android world. There is also a good introduction course to Android on Coursera, where I believe you can enroll for free and start learning from the best teachers.
The best thing about being a developer is that you rarely need something more than a laptop for work. Thus, you can work remotely, travel, work from home, with a view, or from a cafe somewhere, just be sure to have a good Internet connection. That’s the most freedom you can possibly get in the corporate world, I guess. You don’t even need a desk, really. I used to work in a bean bag chair a lot!
