The old adage of "find a job you love and never work a day in your life"
has certainly proven true for Leah Spontaneo. She's a computer systems analyst
and software engineer for a video game company in California.
"There is never a day when I don't learn something new," says Spontaneo.
"I'm constantly growing as both a person and as an engineer. I don't often
go into work feeling like it's going to drain me. It doesn't feel like a job.
It's something I genuinely enjoy."
Systems analyst Curtis Linton enjoys his work now, but he learned a hard
lesson early on: always have a backup. "Early in my career, I decided to tackle
an update on a LAN (local area network) server early one morning, thinking
it would be done before anyone else came into the office," he remembers. "Later,
at about 9 a.m., I was in the office of the company president explaining why
the network would be down for a day until I could get a technician in to help
me restore the server."
Finding technological answers to business problems is one of the main things
a systems analyst does.
"I really enjoy the problem solving for the sense of accomplishment," says
Sharon Hader. She's a senior systems analyst. "Business changes constantly,
so you aren't always doing the same thing. It is challenging to come up with
various solutions to people's problems."
Spontaneo loves that aspect of the job. "Solving puzzles has always been
an interest of mine," she says. "I like finding logical solutions to different
problems. The fact that I can now couple that to the video game industry and
work on another area I'm passionate about is an added bonus."
But she does admit it's not always easy. "Picking up new technologies and
trying not to second guess yourself on a new team [is hard]," says Spontaneo.
"Coming into a new team where there is already a large system of code and
architecture, it can often be intimidating trying to learn it all.
"Sometimes you feel like you don't know what you're doing and you're worried
about messing up or looking like you don't know your field. Early on in your
career, it's important to get used to asking questions and knowing how to
research new tech in the field."
But despite the challenges, she highly recommends this field. "It's challenging
and rewarding. If it's something you enjoy, the sky really is the limit in
terms of what you can do going down this career path. You could become a solutions
architect or go the more managerial route."
"Take a look around and see how much of even day-to-day life
is based around something that is influenced by a computer system," says Linton.
"The field is never going to go away, and seems to be locked in to becoming
even more essential over time."