What's your job about?
I work for REA Group, a leading global digital business, specialising in property. I’m now an associate mobile developer, building new features on the realestate.com mobile app.
So, what does a typical day looks like?
I start my day around 9 am with a coffee and I get straight into reviewing review what I did the day before and sometimes I try out some ideas that came to me overnight (not always!).
Then I have a team stand-up at 9.30. After that, I start to work on my tasks, which could be anything from building a new feature, reviewing other team members' code, or testing a feature built by other team members. When building features, we tend to do pair programming, this is when two software developers code together to drive better code quality. We have zoom free from 12 till 12, so I use this time to do some work and grab lunch, normally around 1 pm. After lunch, I continue my allocated tasks until 5 pm.
What's your background?
I grew up in China and came to Australia after I got my bachelor’s degree in China. I did a master’s degree in Australia, but it was not very tech-related. I wanted to get into the tech industry, so I started to learn coding by myself while doing internships. I then did a coding boot camp and applied for REA Group’s graduate program. I have just finished my one-year graduate program and started my new position as an associate mobile developer in February.
I feel like the decision to switch my possible career from business analysis to software development might be the best decision I have ever made. My educational background was more about management and analysis, but I was intrigued by the tech world and had a bunch of software developer friends, so it just made sense. There’s a community feel in the tech space, people want to share, learn, it makes it fun. Plus, it's awesome working in the same space as your actual friends
Could someone with a different background do your job?
I would say yes, as long as you are passionate and excited about learning. My educational background is not tech-related and I got most of my technical skills by self-learning and attending coding boot camp before I got this job. But what you learn on the job is irreplaceable. I have learned so much over the last 12 months, and I know I will continue to learn. Being a software developer, you learn something new almost every day, so the ability and the passion to learn is critical.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I would say the coolest thing is that I am working with a lot of great and talented people every day. There is a big learning culture here at REA. People are curious and generous with their time.
As a junior-level developer, I learn a lot by pairing with senior developers and asking questions. You feel comfortable speaking up, asking questions which is awesome.
We also have a lot of different tech talks where people from different teams share their knowledge or new technologies. All the developers are growing together.
What are the limitations of your job?
Sitting in front of a monitor for a few hours could be hard for some people. Also, during these working from home days, it’s really easy to have Zoom fatigue (online meeting fatigue) because all meetings and pair programming can only happen via Zoom. I would recommend standing up and walking in your room every hour or taking some walks outdoor.
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