Job Responsibilities
software development -- 25%
software analysis/troubleshooting -- 25%
Project mgmt/release planning -- 10%
Project requirements determination/estimation -- 15%
software design -- 25%
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Job Requirements
The position requires a Bachelors degree in computer science/IT OR
several years professional programming experience. For the web
aspects of the job, professional experience in XML, Java (J2EE --
JavaBeans, EJB's and webservices), JSP and HTML are required. In
addition, database programming skills, Oracle and JDBC are necessary.
The Lead position requires several years professional experience
in all aspects of the software development lifecycle (design,
development, testing, software release) as well as an
understanding of the functional/business requirements.
Lead Software Engineer is a natural progression from an software
developer that is technically sound in a variety of programming
languages. For this position, the career path includes Project
Management, Manager of a software development team or Technical
architect (designing enterprise software application
architectures). As the lead works closely with the business users,
there are also opportunities to work for the business units in a
non-technical role.
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Uppers
This is a position of exposure. It give you a change to learn a great deal
about interfacing applications (as you have to work with the development teams
to
define the interfaces). You obtain a great deal of business knowledge (as you
are working with the business users to define the functional requirements).
This
position opens up a multitude of opportunities throughout the company.
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Downers
Generally, the workday exceeds 8 hrs.
For most migrations, you are expected to oversee them (which means
working long days or late nights if things do not go as planned).
You may have to be the referee between fueding teams.
Sometimes you get sucked into the project management role.
Generally, you don't have much time for development or end up
working extra hours to get your development tasks complete.
Sometimes the position can be a thankless one (as you tend to
troubleshoot alot of problems).
Majority of the work day can be consumed by a multitude of long
and tedious meetings.
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Lifestyle
It is best for newcomers to have good technical coding skills.
Learning as much as you can technically definately helps. It's
hard to design a software application when you can't code one well.
The outlook for the IT field in general is not that good. There
are quite a few temporary jobs out there, but not too many
permanent jobs. In the future, I think the IT job market will pick
up, but only those that have professional experience and have more
skills than just programming will do well. Right now, we are
competing with India for the programming jobs. My experience with
the Indian companies is that they may be able to program well,
but the testing and design skills are lacking. So those with
software application design aptitude still have a bright future in IT.
The outlook for employment in the telecom industry is grim right
now. Most telecom companies are laying off people. The future
outlook for IT jobs in this industry is also grim. If/when the
economy begins to surge, I expect the job market in this industry
to recover.
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Compensation
base 72K + benefits
bonus 15% of base (this can vary)
stock options can be included as part of bonus compensation
benefits are the usual : medical, dental, vision, life insurance
(up to 200% of base is free, minimal fee for more than that).
20 hrs vacation including sick days for up to 5 years. 1 week of
vacation is added after 5 years.
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Advice to Jobseekers
It is best for newcomers to have good technical coding skills.
Learning as much as you can technically definately helps. It's
hard to design a software application when you can't code one well.
The outlook for the IT field in general is not that good. There
are quite a few temporary jobs out there, but not too many
permanent jobs. In the future, I think the IT job market will pick
up, but only those that have professional experience and have more
skills than just programming will do well. Right now, we are
competing with India for the programming jobs. My experience with
the Indian companies is that they may be able to program well,
but the testing and design skills are lacking. So those with
software application design aptitude still have a bright future in IT.
The outlook for employment in the telecom industry is grim right
now. Most telecom companies are laying off people. The future
outlook for IT jobs in this industry is also grim. If/when the
economy begins to surge, I expect the job market in this industry
to recover.
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