Software Engineer in 1843: Ada Lovelace publishes the first algorithm

Most days split between writing new code, reading other people's code during review, fixing bugs, and talking to teammates about what to build next. Meetings, planning and mentoring take up more time than newcomers expect. A senior engineer often writes less code personally than a junior one, spending more time on design decisions, reviews and unblocking others.

Do I need a computer science degree to become a software engineer? No, but it remains the most common and lowest-friction route. A four-year degree teaches algorithms, data structures and systems concepts that are expensive to learn on the job. Bootcamp graduates and self-taught engineers do get hired, especially by smaller companies, but usually need a strong portfolio or open-source work to substitute for the credential.

Is software engineering at risk from AI? Parts of it already are. Tools built into modern code editors now write a large share of routine code — boilerplate, first-draft tests, translations between languages — for engineers who use them regularly. What is much harder to automate is deciding what to build, why, and how a system should be shaped so it survives contact with real users and failure.