Question

Major interviewed (IT specialist)

Conducting an informational interview with a professional currently working in a career field that interests you. You are not permitted to interview parents or other close family members, but you are welcome to interview family friends/colleagues. Interviews can be done either over-the-phone or in-person, and they should last approximately 20-30 minutes. You are encouraged to consider the questions below, but you will likely need to include additional questions of your own to gather enough information for the assignment.

• How long have you worked in this field? Where else have you worked? Did you make a career change at any point in your life?
• What is your educational background? What did you do in college to prepare for the professional world?
• How did you become interested in this field?
• What is your current position title, and what do you do in your role? What are the typical work hours, responsibilities, etc.?
• What skills, abilities, and personal attributes are essential to success in this field?
• What is something you encountered that you didn't expect when pursuing this career path?
• What advice would you give your younger self?

Once you have conducted your interview, you will complete a 2-page report (double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 pt. font, and 1-inch margins) that includes two parts:

• A breakdown of the interview, itself. This can either be in Q&A format or paragraph form. (1-page minimum)
• Your thoughts following the interview. What did you learn? What piece(s) of information will stick with you the most? Does their position/career path still interest you? Do you have any concerns about following a similar path?

Answer 1

I have provided the details of my friend in the interview section. The second part however, requires you to write about the things you learnt from this interview. I advise you to complete it yourself since its against the rules and I cant help you with that.

THE INTERVIEW

Question: Where are you working currently? And how long have you been working here?

Answer: I am currently working at Infosys. I have been working here for almost two years now.

Question: What is your current position title, and what do you do in your role?

Answer: I work as a Software Developer. I work with a very capable team to build the softwares that the company uses for either its employees or for its consumers. The projects do vary and usually I get to select (from the options available for my job role) the projects I want to work on. So its mostly interesting. But sometimes we do get assigned to projects we don't really want to work on.

Question: What are the typical work hours?

Answer: The work hours are from 9 am to 5 pm. But its not that simple. Sometimes I end up doing nothing at the office because work is non-existent. There is literally nothing to do. But on other times we have to work on weekends to complete our projects.

Question: How long have you worked in this field? Where else have you worked?

Answer: I have been working in this organisation itself since the beginning of my career. So I have not worked anywhere else.

Question: Did you make a career change at any point in your life?

Answer: I did not change my job at any point because this is my first job. But I did do something similar. I graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree from my college but ended up working as a Software Developer.

Question: How did you become interested in this field?

Answer: As I mentioned, I studied Mechanical Engineering at my college. I had realised after my first two semesters that I hate this subject and choosing a career in this field would be unwise. At the time, I had a friend who was very good at coding. He would always show me the things he made using his coding skills and I would be very fascinated. So I decided to try it myself and got interested in it.

Question: What did you do in college to prepare for the professional world?

Answer: At first I was doing random things at my college and tried to get involved in as many coding competitions as possible. But in the third year I realised that I would have to make projects to make my resume stand out. So I worked on 3 really good projects. And I think those three projects and my love for coding are the primary reasons I got the job.

Question: What skills, abilities, and personal attributes are essential to success in this field?

Answer: The skills required are coding and good communication skills. While the coding part helps you make the projects, the communication skills help you convey your thoughts to your team members effectively. Also team work and discipline are really important. You need to stick to the deadlines while working in a group which can be hard sometimes.

Question: What is something you encountered that you didn't expect when pursuing this career path?

Answer: I think the irregularity of the amount of work we have to do is the most unexpected. I never thought there would be no work at some occasions and too much work on others. Also I heavily underestimated the role of good communication skills in this field. Its almost as important as the coding part itself.

Question: What advice would you give your younger self?

Answer: To start coding earlier. Also to focus on my communication skills. And most importantly I would advice my younger self to choose my options according to my interests.