Software Engineering and Technologies

I had the privilege of attending Sangeet Parashar’s Think Tank on “Engineering Your Life Using Software” as a part of the Associate National Lead program. It was a great experience where I got exposed to new ideas and perspectives, met like-minded peers and built my professional network. I would like to share my key takeaways from this think tank.

I was introduced to Blockchain/Cryptographic Technology; specifically, how it is used for Decentralization, Anonymity, and Digital Ownership. In blockchain, decentralization refers to the transfer of control and decision-making from a centralized entity to a distributed network. Further, most blockchains offer anonymity. Blockchain addresses are identifiable with public keys and accessible with private keys. As such, by default, blockchain contains no information on the user's offline identity and ensures anonymity. Finally, due to the nature of blockchain technology, data is prevented from unauthorized, fraudulent changes due to the nature of blockchain technology, which thus helps with the challenges in digital ownership.

I was also told of the daily duties and responsibilities of a software engineer. The major duties include:

• Planning: organizing work items for the day

• Stand Up: meeting with current project members and discussing timelines (members change depending on the project you are working on)

• Design: every engineer has 2-3 projects and need to design solutions for these projects

• Programming: 1:1 or pair programming the desired solution

• Debugging: writing tests for the code and for peers

Overall this think tank was able to broaden my previously scare knowledge on engineering and software.