I was, as usual, nervous before this interview; however, I am glad I arrived at
USAA early. It was difficult for me to locate her considering the vastness of the building and I was not allowed to just enter. I called her as I could not enter the building and she came to get me. There was a slight issue as I did not know that I have to bring my id, so we just had the interview in the lobby. While it was a bit awkward for me that I had to admit to not having my id, it was still a great interview and being in the lobby did not make a significant difference as it was essentially empty. When I asked Mrs. Pandurangan about what the career entails, she spent a considerable amount of time describing the Software Development Life Cycle. I had never heard this term prior to the interview, so it was extremely informative. I gained an understanding of the steps: understanding the business requirements, analyzing the requirements and designing, developing, testing, deploying, and moving the project into production. She also described the transition into Agile Development. I learned that initially a factory method was used and it was ineffective as business operations grew complex. This changed into the waterfall method, which required large changes to happen at once and then be brought into production. Mrs. Pandurangan explained that this was terrible as it took too much time to make changes and consumers were getting upset about the slow rate at which software was released. She illustrated that this set the stage for the introduction of agile development, which requires that small bits of code are sent part by part so that changes happen in minor steps. She detailed that agile development principles often require for developers to practice full-stack development- a new movement within Software Development. Mrs. Pandurangan emphasized the importance of a broad skillset as all developers need to have a basic understanding of each part of the development process. She stopped her explanation of the principle to state that this is difficult for a lot of companies as it requires that workers are reskilled. This went on to her expressing the importance of a T-shaped or Pi-shaped knowledge. This means that it is important to have a broad scope of knowledge with a specialization in one or two areas. The main breadth of skills includes a programming language- such as Java-, UI, Cloud, Database, CICD, and analytics. While commending agile principles, Mrs. Pandurangan did say that, from her perspective, agile principles do not fit well in the globalization of development as the principles are better for co- located teams. She additionally described that after agile techniques, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence are an important transition in that now, instead of coding, developers need to build models. While discussing the workplace, she described how businesses often transition between centralized and decentralized teams. She explained that this is beneficial since developers can learn from their fellow workers in centralized settings and developers can work on their own coding skills and be more accountable for their work in decentralized settings. Mrs. Pandurangan also provided me with extensive advice. She emphasized that everyone in the technical industry needs to have the curiosity to continuously learn otherwise they will not enjoy their job and will not be successful. Additionally, she expressed that networking, communication skills, and people skills are vital in all careers but especially in the software field. Another piece of advice she gave me is to finalize an overall area of interest whether its medical or aerospace. This is so I can take some college courses within the field. She also suggested that after I get a job, I spend 10 years switching across jobs and gaining exposure. After that, my goal should be stability. I was also told, as I learned in all my other interviews and research, to get hands on practice. Considering how much this piece of advice has been repeated, I am certain that it is instrumental. She also suggested that I add details about the hands on projects as I complete them onto my resume along with certifications. She also suggested that after I am employed and am a position that has more say that I should pay attention to the technologies that my competitors are using. Mrs. Pandurangan advised me to not have a preset mind and be open as she has seen that many millennials tend to get frustrated when they have to work on something new or unfamiliar. Furthermore, she cautioned me to understand that coding for a business can be much more frustrating than coding individually as sometimes you have to depend on someone elses code before programming your part. Overall, I found this interview to be exceptional as I truly learned a lot. Mrs. Panduranagan was amazing in explaining everything with great detail. Through this opportunity, I understood what it is like to code software for businesses. I also truly appreciate all the great advice she gave me and will definitely utilize it in the future.