Name: Nick
Career: Software Analyst
Company Field: Software
Located In: Seattle, Washington
Grew Up In: Redmond, Washington
Graduated From: University of Washington
Majored In: Applied Math (ACMS Program)
Graduated In: 2012

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After College Lifestyles

 

Software Analysis Seattle University of Washington

Nick is a Software Analyst managing a Microsoft SharePoint environment in Seattle, Washington. Nick's job entails project management, software support, and communication with the team in India. Nick provides a lot of useful and inspiration information about job search after college. In addition, you can tour his Seattle, Washington apartment!

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Life of a College Grad Software Analyst

I provide support for a large (used globally) Microsoft SharePoint environment. This SharePoint environment is used to host a business intelligence related internal website and a project management portal. My team and I manage support requests sent to us, and provide enhancements to the environment.

How To Get Into The Field

Like many University of Washington students that graduate in the ACMS program, I started college wanting to graduate with a Computer Science degree. Unfortunately, I didn't get into the Computer Science major, so I decided to join the ACMS program after also looking at the UW's Information School. After I graduated, I still wanted to find a software related position. I spent the summer working a temporary job in a hospital teaching doctors how to use new electronic medical record software. After that, I was able to get a 'real' job through the UW's career fair. I was able to get a job in my field as I had a 'technical related' degree from a good college. The company I now work for heavily recruits from the ACMS program at UW.

What Do You Really Do?

On a day-to-day basis, I monitor the incoming support requests, and work on high priority requests. We have a variety of work items, from quick fixes that take 15 minutes to long term issues/projects that take weeks to complete. There is a team in India, and we communicate with daily status emails and conference calls. There are weekly syncs with the client where we update them on the status of the environment we manage, and gather new business requirements and priorities.

Pros/Cons of Your Job

I like this job as it is in my field and well paying for a first job out of college. There is also a lot of room to grow and many learning experiences. I also like working with web design technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The one thing I don't like is the nightly conference calls, but the team works very hard and I'm glad to have them. Like many jobs, it can be stressful at first. Someone who has a technical mind and a basic understanding of coding principals would do well this job, as well as people who always like to have something to do at their job, the work never ends!

The Life of a College Grad In Seattle, Washington

What's it Like to Live Here?

I think the Seattle area is great, I have been here the majority of my life. I lived in the U District while attending UW, and now have my own place on the Eastside. I like the people, lots of students/young professionals. We have a mild climate with great long summer days (though we locals are perfectly fine of telling outsiders that it always rains, so don't move here!) We have a great natural environment with ample water (Puget Sound, Lake Washington), evergreen forests, and majestic mountain ranges (Cascades and Olympics). The Seattle area has a diverse population like most urban areas, with a notable East Asian influence.

How Did I End Up Here?

I was born in New Hampshire to parents in the states on a temporary work visa, when that expired, the next four years of my life were spent in Australia. When I was seven, my parents were able to get permanent residence in the states, and I've been in the Seattle area ever since.

My Set-Up

I live in an one bedroom apartment in downtown Redmond, WA. My place is close to work. It's also close to the 520 highway, which means decent transportation to anywhere in the Seattle area (though rush hour is a nightmare). I chose this location because it is cheaper than downtown Bellevue, WA and still close to work.

Closing Advice

I'm one of those people that had a hard time thinking about what kind of job I would like out of college. It took me nine months after graduation to get my current job, and a major reason it took so long was because I didn't know the answer to the question "what do I want to do with my life?" After getting a job, I still don't have a good answer to that question, but my future roadmap is becoming clearer. In college I think it's important to do what you are interested in, and then the door will be open for you to get a job doing something you like. Also remember, this is the time when it's ok to make mistakes, when you are still young there are many opportunities to change the course of your life.

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