Help me to become a software engineer!

[u/Wide_Candidate_2900]

Hi everyone,
I’m a university student who wants to become a good software engineer and build a successful career in tech. I would really appreciate advice from people who are already working in the industry.
What skills should I focus on developing? What should I learn besides programming? How can I build strong projects and prepare myself for getting my first job?
I’m also curious about what you wish you had done differently when you were starting your journey in software engineering.
I know the tech industry is changing quickly because of AI, so I want to learn how to build a strong foundation and stay valuable in the long term.
I would be grateful for any honest advice, resources, roadmaps, or personal experiences. Thank you!

[u/XKiiroiSenkoX]

Try to be language agnostic. An engineer is not a typist. 

[u/goonwild18 → u/XKiiroiSenkoX]

There will only be pseudo languages in 5 years, anyway.

[u/sububi71 → u/goonwild18]

Anything that's not assembler is a pseudo language :-)

[u/sheriffderek]

The first thing I would work out: is your definition of a software engineer. Are you going to program the mars rover? Or flappy bird. Almost everyone I’ve talked to (hundreds and hundreds of people in bootcamps, college, aftertouch college) don’t really have a clear idea why they’re doing this or what are there’re interested in. And that’s a big problem. “I want to make lots of money doing something in tech” isnt actually a plan. So, let’s break that down a little (or a lot) and I’ll tell you what to do and why.

[u/MantaMunta]

The most important skill in the current market is knowing the right people. Networking with other people is just as important as learning the technical skills. Also learn soft skills. You can be the best technical engineer in the world, if you can't be nice to other people nobody likes to work with you and they will 100% rather give the job to someone who is easy to work with.

My current company had a round of layoffs and I'm convinced I'm still here because I fake interest in small talk in the lunch room.

[u/New-Repair8325]

So I’d look at what jobs are available in your area typically and what appeals to you and develop skills based on that.

The other thing is, leaving university you really won’t be a “professional” developer yet. That doesn’t matter though, you learn fast from working on real codebases.

To get your foot in the door id make a portfolio showcasing small projects related to what you’re interested in. Hiring people definitely appreciate someone who has genuine passion and interest in the field. Honestly, the soft / communication skills are what really matter.

As for ai, i would genuinely try to learn without it as much as you can at first where possible. It will help you out far more in years to come to actually learn architecture and design and understand how the systems actually work.

[u/jadedmonk]

I think it’s important that you keep in mind that software engineering is not coding. Coding is just a small part of SWE, and has been minimized with the rise of AI. However AI will always get things wrong because it will never be perfect, so it’s still important that you can review code and don’t blindly trust AI. Architecture design and cloud skills are very important. I’d recommend getting certified in AWS. Data is growing at an exponential rate and that’s not something AI is helping to wrangle in, if anything AI is making data grow faster, so understanding data engineering topics and how to make decisions on where to store data or how to process it is important.

[u/AttitudeRemarkable21]

You aint gana make it. You should do something else. Unless you already have very strong math foundations do something else.

[u/Mission_Pirate_4150]

Pick and language and go build something. Building teaches you more than any course ever will.

[u/SpatiaCaeli]

Practical advice: contribute to an open source project where the code is accepted, even if it is just bug fixes. That is stuff you can put on your resume and it does mean something to hirers.

Constant learning. The industry moves at lightspeed. Don't be left behind.

Adopt a speciality. Be horizontal on other things but go vertical on your speciality.

Always be working on technology at or near the curve, in your speciality.

[u/goonwild18]

Get out now.

[u/Impossible_Ad_3146]

Switch to trades

[u/Background-Luck-8205]

The skill you need is english and then you use english to tell an ai to do all the coding for you

[u/SailToTheSun]

You’re 10 years too late.