The IT scene might pose a fat wallet and shiny world but not everything is well with the software engineers. Along with the codings and semantics, the software developers have to tackle a number of challenges that at times might lead to delayed delivery and extreme work pressure. It's to stress here that the challenges are not just technical but operational and physical as well.
Semantic divergence
Semantic divergence is one of the top challenges faced by software engineers. They work in a scenario where it's really important to have standards for information exchange & modeling. Unfortunately, the standards of software engineering, mostly OMG-promulgated as well as web standards (mostly W3C promulgated) are seem to be navigating in various incompatible directions. You know what, the very notion that representations (semantic) at run-time must be different from representations at the development-time, is wrong, wastage of effort and decadent of the technical opportunity.
Physical challenges
Software engineering is physically demanding as well. YES! The job of an IT professional demands him to stay stuck to his computer screen for an extensive 9 l-o-n-g hours at a stretch and such a lengthy period in the same posture is just menacing for the body. The end result is stiff neck, burning, sore back and aching fingers. Please don't confuse your life with work and do invest some time in healthy diet and exercises that are specifically meant for software engineers.
No such user inputs
This is one of the things that make life hard for software engineers. In fact, unavailability of user input is usually the #1 factor behind ineffective software projects. One of the major reasons of that unavailability is that the clients are too busy to provide the engineer with the inputs. Absence of user input means no clear understanding of what is actually expected from the engineer which automatically leads to handicapped and futile projects. Poor relation between the IT pros and the user is another major factor here.
Operational challenges
According to a seasoned software developer who has been in the industry for over a decade now, the operational challenges are more handicapping than technical ones. These include dealing with an irrational management, poor bonding with cut-throat competitive mean colleagues, illogical clients demanding out of the world stuff and so on. A stupid insensitive and impractical manager can make one feel really miserable, no matter how hardworking you are – and there have been cases where almost the entire team was forced to leave the office just because of an unmindful manager.
Deadlines too tight
Ask any software engineer to state one thing that bugs the most software developers, it would be unrealistic deadlines. Strong deadlines are good to create a mild pressure on the project which eliminates the risk of unnecessary lapse of time but over-ambitious too tight deadlines are suffocating anyday. It has led to a very workplace scenario where the techies are forced to think nothing beyond their projects and deadlines- that has eventually affected their personal & social life and sometimes the mental harmony.
All the software engineers out there- it's high time that you get a reality check.