#GradStories Neasa Tang, Software Engineer, Product Development, Guidewire

What are the main tasks in a typical week?

development is a key part of my job I work in both front end and back end development, primarily in Java and react. We have stand-ups every morning where everyone on the team will give an update on what they're doing what they will be doing and if they're stuck in a problem people can try to help out. We also do code reviews every two weeks. We have a product demo for those involved in a project and we also aim to have a release every month.

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

Problem solving is definitely a key skill that you need to have. There is no way you can do this job without having good problem solving skills. If you don't enjoy trying to solve puzzles essentially you're not going to enjoy it. There's a reason why maths is usually a minimum requirement for computer science.

Another key skill would be communication. I don't think this just applies to my role specifically. It applies to any sort of job out there you're working in a team. You want to be able to talk to each other and communicate with each other well. If you're stuck on something you shouldn't be scared to ask for help.

What do you love about your job?

What I love most about my job is essentially the ability to create something out of nothing. I love being able to visualize the product that I'm helping to build, it really gives me a good sense of accomplishment especially if I'm working on a problem and I've spent ages trying to fix it and solve the issue. Once I find a solution it's just really rewarding.

How did you get into your job?

I was in my final year in trinity and I was applying to jobs at the time. My friend brought up guidewire and I was like sure why not apply to it. So I did a lot of interview prep which involved coding questions and once I felt ready I applied and just went through the whole interview process. They asked me some theory questions and then they gave me more programming questions to solve and I had a long on-site interview that looks at the cultural fit and technical skills.

What skill should students develop?

I think having a basic knowledge of coding is super important because that's all we do essentially. If you don't understand the fundamentals you're going to really struggle. It doesn't even matter what language it's in once you know the fundamentals of any language you can apply it to other stuff as well.