Ben Sullivan’s journey isn’t your typical tech origin story. After graduating from the Makers bootcamp, he landed his first engineering role and is now working on machine learning pipelines in one of the UK’s most respected scientific institutions.

In this blog, Ben shares what life really looks like on the other side of Makers and what he’s learned in his first few months on the job.

This post originally appeared on Ben's blog here. 

In my last post, I shared how I went from veterinary surgeon to software engineer via the magic of Makers Academy. When I wrote it, I was wrapping up my first six months in tech and about to move into a machine learning team. I’ve now been in my new role for a couple of months, and I’m absolutely loving it. 

Before making the switch, I tried to get a handle on what the day-to-day would actually look like. I read everything I could and talked to anyone who’d listen, but I struggled to get a proper grasp of what the nitty-gritty of a software engineering day would involve.

Partly, I suspect, because there’s no such thing as a ‘typical day’. It’s worth stressing: one of the beauties of software engineering is the incredible variety. You could be doing front-end for a startup, back-end for a FinTech giant, full-stack for an SME. You could dive into machine learning, cybersecurity, robotics, or even nerd it out at a FAANG. The possibilities are genuinely endless.

What follows is my own experience — a blend of different days throughout my week, condensed into one hypothetical day. It’s not perfect or exhaustive, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what being a software engineer is like for me.

How I Start My Day

First thing: check Teams. It’s a great way to let colleagues know you’re alive and well, share what you’ll be working on, and exchange the occasional bit of banter or music recommendation. Then catch up on emails and any other messages, checking my calendar for meetings (there are always meetings).

Then: dive into my current ticket. Right now, that happens to be changing how we journal files from a visualisation tool in our weather forecasting pipeline. Clearly, this could vary wildly depending on your role.

The morning stand-up comes next. The Marmite of the agile world — I happen to love it, but I know plenty who don’t. It’s short and sharp: “What did you work on yesterday, what are you doing today, any blockers?” For me, it’s a lovely chance to see colleagues and avoid those dreaded merge conflicts.

Working on ML pipelines

In my current role, I work with machine learning engineers, data scientists, and the occasional weather guru. Much of my time goes into improving data pipelines — making sure data flows correctly through our systems so models and dashboards actually work.

Occasionally I get to pair program — that’s where two developers work on the same code together. It’s brilliant for learning when it happens, though it’s not as common as I’d like.

Context-switching is real, by the way. I’ve learned to block out focused time and set clear priorities. Otherwise, I’d be jumping between tasks all day and getting nowhere.

Sprint Planning and Refinement

If I’m being brutally honest, I hate sprint planning. There, I said it. It’s necessary, I accept, but I find it boring. The PM and tech lead decide what we’ll tackle over the next two weeks while the rest of us try to stay engaged.

Backlog refinement is weirdly more enjoyable. We go through tickets in intricate detail, defining what ‘done’ actually means and estimating time on the Fibonacci scale (1, 2, 3, 5, 8…). This was an eye-opener for me — time estimation is taken seriously. Really seriously. I was genuinely surprised by how much time we dedicate to it, though I now see why.

Code Reviews and Continuous Learning

Code reviews might be my favourite part of the job. Reading colleagues’ pull requests is such a brilliant learning tool. My advice to anyone starting out: get stuck in, even if you can’t add much at first. Just practice reading other people’s code and trying to understand their choices.

We’re actively encouraged to spend time on structured learning too — courses, documentation, experimenting with new tools. The tech landscape moves fast, so this isn’t optional.

Sprint Reviews and Retrospectives

End of sprint means sprint review (showing what we’ve built) and retrospective (reflecting on how we worked). Reviews are fine — it’s satisfying to demo completed work. Retros range from genuinely productive to slightly gimmicky, depending on which ‘fun’ tool the PM has discovered that week. The basic questions remain: what went well, what didn’t, what should we change?

The Unexpected Bits

Not every day is glamorous. I spend a surprising amount of time reading documentation, figuring out why something broke (usually something I did), and writing documentation that I desperately hope someone else will read so I don’t have to explain it verbally.

We also have some genuinely fun stuff:

• Random coffee — automated pairing for coffee chats. Some of my best conversations have come from this
• Weekly team meetings — everything from nature walks to guest speakers
• Communities of practice — knowledge sharing across departments
• Lunchtime board games — this just makes me happy

The Best Part of the Job?

What I love most is how dynamic and collaborative it is. Each day brings something different, whether that’s wrestling with a tricky bug, pair programming, or finally getting that pipeline to work properly.

The culture of continuous learning means there’s always room to grow. And those morning stand-ups I mentioned? They bring structure to what could otherwise be chaos.

Looking back, I feel incredibly lucky to have made this switch at an age when many feel trapped. Software engineering has challenged me in ways I didn’t expect, and that’s exactly what I wanted.

So, What’s Next?

I’m still early in my journey, but I’ve already seen how much opportunity there is if you’re willing to adapt and keep learning. My role as a Foundation Scientific Software Engineer at the Met Office challenges me daily — in the best possible way.

Whether you’re considering a career switch or just curious about life in tech, I hope this gives you a glimpse. And maybe, just maybe, a reason to take the leap yourself.

If you have questions after reading this, please reach out — I’d love to hear from you.

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