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Whether it’s writing sophisticated code, crafting scalable systems, or collaborating with non-technical teams to ship the features users want most, Software Engineers play a pivotal role in developing the technologies powering modern organizations and businesses.
Below, we’ll take a deeper look at a typical day in the life of a Software Engineer. We’ll explain what they do, how they work, and what you need to know if you’re considering software engineering as a career path.
What do Software Engineers do in their day-to-day jobs?
Software engineering is a technical profession spanning a range of disciplines and skill sets. In their day-to-day work, Software Engineers focus on the necessary components to develop software applications—from interpreting user requirements to writing and debugging code and bringing systems to life in a production environment.
On any given day, a Software Engineer might engage in several core activities critical to their role. Some of these include:
- Coding and Development: A Software Engineer's bread and butter? Writing code. Software Engineers write code to develope new features for software applications, create patches (or updates) to existing software, or to optimize to enhance performance.
- Testing and Debugging: Software Engineers run various tests to ensure software functions under different conditions. Debugging takes place when tests reveal issues or bugs and the engineering team must identify and solve these problems.
- Reviewing Code: Collaboration is a key aspect of software engineering. One way Software Engineers collaborate is through code reviews. Software Engineers will often manually review each other’s code for quality assurance, ensuring it integrates seamlessly within existing systems.
How Software Engineers collaborate with other teams
Outsiders — taking their cues from popular depictions of coding and coders — might assume Software Engineers spend most of their time engrossed in heads-down work, generating large quantities of code in isolation. In reality, Software Engineers spend a significant portion of their day collaborating with fellow Engineers and peers from other disciplines across an organization.
Some examples of this collaboration include:
- Participating in daily standups. Engineering teams often work in sprints, or two- to four-week cycles during which the team focuses on achieving specific goals. Short, daily standups (often only 15 minutes long) are a touchstone of this process. In these meetings, Software Engineers provide concise updates to team members and managers, describing what they did yesterday, what they'll work on today, and if they're experiencing any blockers or other problems.
- Meeting with cross-functional teams. Software Engineers often collaborate with teams across the organization, such as product, customer experience, and product marketing. The engineering team might work with other teams to prioritize new feature requests from users, align on a product development roadmap, and optimize user flows from the marketing website to in-product environments. Engineers must communicate complex technical details, limitations and possibilities, and project progress to both technical and non-technical team members in these meetings.
It’s important to remember that day-to-day collaboration for a Software Engineer varies widely depending on factors specific to the structure of a team, the stage of a product, and the type of company they work for.
A typical day in the life of a Software Engineer
Bearing in mind again that the daily responsibilities of a Software Engineer depend on factors like level of seniority and the type of company they work for, here’s what a typical day-in-the-life might look like.
What tools do Software Engineers use on a daily basis?
Software Engineers use various tools for both technical aspects of their job and collaboration with stakeholders across the organization.
Stack Overflow’s 2023 Developer Survey(opens new window) details some of the most common coding languages and tools for communication and project management for Software Engineers. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.
Most popular coding languages for Software Engineers
According to the survey, JavaScript is the most commonly used programming language among respondents, followed closely by HTML and CSS. Here’s the breakdown by percentage of contributors who used each language:
- JavaScript: 63.61%
- HTML/CSS: 52.97%
- Python: 49.28%
- SQL: 48.66%
- TypeScript: 38.87%
Most popular web frameworks for Software Engineers
Depending on roles and responsibilities, Software Engineers often also use web development frameworks to maintain and develop web sites or web applications. These frameworks make developing web applications easier and more efficient for Software Engineers by providing built-in tools or libraries.
According to the Stack Overflow survey, these were the most popular web development frameworks in 2023:
1. Node.js
2. React
3.jQuery
4. Express
5. Angular
How Software Engineers use AI in the workplace
AI is inserting itself into workflows in tons of business contexts, and software engineering is no exception.
Stack Overflow added a new section to its developer survey in 2023 to measure sentiment and use of AI tools among developers and Software Engineers. Nearly 44% of respondents report using AI tools in the development process. But only 2.85 percent surveyed claimed to “highly trust” the outputs of AI tools. Clearly, AI tools add value to engineering workflows, but a human touch is needed to ensure the final product is accurate and functional.
Some of the most common tasks Software Engineers use AI tools for include:
- Writing code (82.55% of respondents)
- Debugging and getting help (48.89%)
- Documenting code (34.37%)
- Learning about a codebase (30.1%)
- Testing code (23.87%)
What collaboration tools do Software Engineers use?
Outside of daily standups, Software Engineers rely on asynchronous tools, such as project management software, to collaborate with peers and check the status of projects. Collaboration tools allow software teams to track issues, plan development sprints, and gain visibility into all facets of a project throughout the development cycle.
According to the Stack Overflow survey, Jira is the most commonly used asynchronous tool for professional developers, including Software Engineers. A lot of this popularity is due to its abilities to support Agile frameworks, such as Scrum and Kanban.
Other popular async tools for Software Engineer collaboration include:
- Confluence
- Markdown file
- Trello
- Notion
What’s it like working as a Software Engineer? Perspectives from Multiverse apprentices
Software engineering is a dynamic, rapidly growing career path. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the median annual take home pay(opens new window) for Software Developers was $130,160 per year in 2023. Job growth for these professions is expected to grow 25% by 2032 — much faster than the average for all other professions.
In addition to high salaries and the chance to work in a dynamic industry, Software Engineers can enjoy the opportunity to work on valuable, complex problems for companies — a chance many of them relish.
One of these professionals is Reese Gosain(opens new window), a Software Developer at ConvergeOne. Reese joined Multiverse after a stint at Vanderbilt University. But he quickly realized that the traditional classroom format wasn’t right for him.
Instead, he completed an Applied Full-Stack Software Engineering Apprenticeship with Multiverse, where he learned the necessary technical skills and frameworks to make his dream come true.
“Today, I’m working as a software developer where I build reporting and auditing tools
for my company,” Reese says. “I feel lucky to have been placed at a company that is committed to my growth and training.”
Ciara Stafford, another former Multiverse apprentice, transitioned into software engineering and is now a Software Engineer at Clover, an open-architecture point-of-sale solution.
Her experience with Multiverse equipped her(opens new window) with job-ready skills she uses in her day-to-day work.
“Two main languages that we really focus on with my team are Python and Bash,” Stafford says. “Our manager, Adam, exposes us so much to these languages and these coding challenges that he gives us, almost every day.”
The fast pace of technological change means Software Engineers make continuous improvement and learning a core part of their day-to-day work. With the right skills and mindset, a career as a Software Engineer can be an exciting challenge.
Apply for a Multiverse apprenticeship and get paid to become a Software Engineer
When it comes to becoming a Software Engineer, would-be professionals like yourself have a variety of choices. But Multiverse is the only program that pays you to learn to code while equipping you with the job-ready durable and technical skills you need to take your career to the next level.
Looking to launch your career as a Software Engineer? Look no further than Multiverse’s Applied Full-Stack Software Engineering Apprenticeship. It only takes a few minutes to apply(opens new window).
