On Tuesday, April 26th, the Math Department hosted another worker in the math field to students and staff. The featured person was Charles Williams a software engineer from Citadel Investment Company.
Dozens of students were in attendance throughout the three lunch periods to listen in on what Williams’ profession was all about.
Senior Clara Shaw attended the event and enjoyed the experience. “It was a great way to bring into perspective what the engineer profession is like and I think what the Math Department is doing by showcasing these jobs are great,” she said.
Being a software engineer, Williams writes programs that involve calculating the stock markets, investments, and funding for the company. Other jobs that require software engineers include video game, audio as well as programming and music development.
To become a software engineer, a person should receive a bachelor’s degree in computer science or software engineering. More difficult jobs with more pay may require more education, like a graduate degree.
The work also covers the field of designing web sites, interfaces, and orders and services on a web site. It also involves promoting businesses throughout the Internet. To make a program, it involves algebra, geometry, and pre-calc math. It stresses heavily on simple math computations and being accustomed to the Graphic Arts and Computer Science is a great start to get an idea on what the job is like.
Above all, Williams’ most important perk in becoming a software engineer is creativity. Many programs an engineer will make will be from one’s own ideas and they can control what they want to put into a program.
There are some steps that software engineers go through when making programs. The first step is to understand the requirements at hand and looking at them thoroughly. Next is designing a specific algorithm that will be used to make a program work. Following that is implementing the program into a web site, game, etc. Finally testing is conducted to make sure it works and there are no problems. Finally, the product is released to the public and the process restarts.
