Comment by rednafi
Could you elaborate on this a bit?
> But for a software engineer, the amount of programming feels low. It's more like creating quick scripts.
I feel like it’s the other way around. When I worked as a data analyst (before transitioning to a data scientist and eventually a full-fledged SWE), my experience was quite different. As a DA, I mostly wrote aggregation queries, built dashboards, and did some Python, Pandas, and Notebook munging.
On the other hand, SWE is a different world. I guess it depends on the type of SWE you are and the nature of the organization you work for. At a large-scale organization, as an SWE, I did far more programming work than I ever did as a DA.
That said, there are different ways to cope and build skills—it takes time. I do side projects and, more importantly, write about them regularly [1]. Since I have to publish something each week, it forces me to think about different problems and seek out new technologies to try out so I can write about them. I also write about things I’ve figured out at work, which has been immensely helpful. Over the years, this act of actively seeking knowledge has added up and become substantial.
More than once, people have reached out with job offers just because they stumbled across my writing on Hacker News or other social media platforms.
Your approach might be different. Find something tangential to programming and work on it outside of work hours. Even a few hours per week adds up. For me, it’s side projects and writing. For you, it might be something else.
[1]: https://rednafi.com
I think I explained myself poorly.
> At a large-scale organization, as an SWE, I did far more programming work than I ever did as a DA.
Yea, this is what I meant. The amount of programming I do now as a DA feels low (since I'm a software engineer historically, that's what I meant with "but for a software engineer" - a bit of a confusing sentence). Well specifically, the amount of engineering feels low.
> That said, there are different ways to cope and build skills—it takes time. I do side projects and, more importantly, write about them regularly [1].
Good point, to what extent do employers see this as experience though? It's my experience they don't care at all. Maybe I'm looking at this wrong. The reason I'd do it is (1) I want to keep on building and (2) I want to keep on building experience as a SWE that employers will be impressed by. I'm not sure if I want to switch back, but for now I want to keep that option open.
> More than once, people have reached out with job offers just because they stumbled across my writing on Hacker News or other social media platforms.
I guess you answered your question here. I think it's good enough to test it out :)
> As a DA, I mostly wrote aggregation queries, built dashboards, and did some Python, Pandas, and Notebook munging.
Yea, I see a lot of SQL queries here, notebook stuff (so also Python/Pandas) and dashboarding. It's probably a 50/50 split. I have a suspicion that my manager wants me more on the programming side of things though. So far me as well. I'm allowed to pick any tool I find right for the job. I already wrote a bash script today.