Now that I’ve become a programmer, I know my path has only just started. I started my first fulltime job and it has been a lot of fun applying things I’ve learned within my internships and school. However, I now understand what it requires for a Software Engineer to maintain their skills over the years. While my job is specifically centered around web development, I built many skills within low level development with courses in Operating Systems and Parallelism and a lot of practice with C.

While I also enjoy Web Development, I greatly enjoyed low level programming and would like to somehow maintain my skills in the area, but since I don’t get a chance to do so in my job, it is up to me to either practice outside of work or look for a work place that allows me to practice those skills. This reflection has given me the understanding that where I work can shape what skills I build and retain over my career.

All in all, now that I have built the basic skills as a programmer and have some experience in a workplace, I have gained greater understanding of how choices affect a career trajectory.