2019-07-17
A day in a life of a Senior Developer
We caught up with Alex Tse after her recent promotion to a Senior Developer to get a snapshot into what life is like for women in the digital and tech industry…
What does an average Monday look like for you?
As a developer Mondays are the same as pretty much all the other days….coding, coding and more coding! Work varies depending on the projects that I am working on so there is always something exciting going on!
How do you beat the Monday morning blues?
A big cup of Earl Grey tea!
How did you get into this field of work?
Accident. My first degree is business management but my boyfriend at the time (now husband) suggested that I look into working in IT. It was something that I really enjoyed and haven’t looked back since!
How do you manage expectations and opinions?
We work with estimations. We have weekly sessions with our lovely PM (Josie) to estimate all the tickets in our backlog. We will do the same if we have a new project. This means that we know what is expected from us and know when to flag concerns if we don’t feel that we will be able to complete something on time. I like to keep an open channel of communication in the team and I am always first to highlight any concerns.
What are your go-to work tools?
PHPstorm, Openshift, Sequel Pro, JIRA, iTerm, IntelliJ IDEA CE, Virtual Studio Code
Why is diversity important to a team?
Because everyone has a different experience to bring to the discussion. More ideas and varied input is conducive to developing great ideas.
How do you get things done without ruffling feathers?
I try to notify the PM team as soon as I think there will be any issues with my work. I always try to be polite and professional but as a team we get on really well so can’t say this is ever really a problem!
What are the key ingredients to being good at what you do?
- Enthusiasm to learn new skills
- Patience
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions
- A passion for tech
Who is your role model at Tangent and why?
Tom – I have learnt a lot from Tom. He is always learning new things which encourages me to keep up to date with the latest tech knowledge. Tom is also able to focus on the big picture rather than individual tasks, helping me to consider the wider impact of what I do.
What’s the funniest thing that has happened to you at Tangent?
Only yesterday I sat in some brownie and had to ask teammates to check if my jeans were covered in chocolate brownie!!!!!
What’s the silliest sick or leave excuse you’ve ever given?
A couple of years ago, I had a McDonalds chicken sandwich, and I couldn't come to work because of food poisoning.
What advice would you give someone considering this career path?
You have to want it, be open to learning new skills. I would say that developing a knowledge of DevOps and infrastructure would help anyone to become a better coder, it helps when looking at the bigger picture and this is something that I am working on at the moment but wish I had learned at the start!
