Alumni Profile – Ellie

 

Name: Ellie
From: North Devon
A-level Subjects: Maths, Further Maths, Computer Science
Currently: Software Engineer at Coinbase

What dose the work of an infrastructure software engineer involve?

I currently work on the tooling and infrastructure that all our applications and products run on top of.

What attracted you to it?

I love solving problems! Software engineering has a wealth of problems to solve, and due to the nature of computers there’s infinite ways of solving them. There’s always new challenges and new things to learn.

What does a standard day look like?

I usually start work mid-morning and catch up on what has happened in other time zones. Usually followed by replying to questions/messages I’ve had overnight, some code review, and then work on the projects I’m responsible for! There’s a lot more communication involved than people tend to assume, so it’s really not just sat coding all day.

What skills do you need?

The ability to learn new concepts quickly and think things through logically. Otherwise, good communication and written English skills.

What has been your highlight so far?

Honestly my career has been very varied so far, so I can’t really pick something out!

What is next for you?

I’m probably going to be sticking where I am for a while, there’s lots of interesting challenges coming up and plenty to learn.

What advice would you give someone who is interested in becoming a software engineer?

Build as many things as you can and be ok with failing! Every project is an opportunity to learn something new, and the next one will be better.

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