Traveling opportunities as a software engineer?
 

I am a freshman in college, majoring in computer science, information systems. Several people who I have talked to said that this job requires traveling. Is this true? I am talking about domestic and international travel rather than commuter jobs. If not, are there any jobs like CS that require travel at least once or twice a month?

Depends on who you work for and what you do.

If you get into IT consulting, you may need to travel. If you need to deal with clients, it'll involve traveling.

Typical software engineers don't need to travel that much.

I agree, consulting is probably your best bet. Just beware that you wont always be traveling to the most interesting places.

You can say that again!

I'm in IT too. Some IT jobs do require heavy travel, while others don't. I think you have to inquire during the interview and base your decision upon that. In my case I'd rather travel than have to move.

HTSC

Travel shouldn't be the reason...
 

You're much better off finding something you like to do, being good at it and travel on your own dime.

Travel can often result as a byproduct, but a lot of IT is about removing the need to travel (and the expense).

I work for a mid-size software company (approx 275 employees, of which ~70 are developers, aka 'programmers'.) In general the developers don't travel much, if at all, on business. Occasionally they will travel to training or to a particularly complex installation, but by and large that is rare.

However, there are plenty of technical jobs within our software company that *do* involve travel -

- Sales Engineers: These guys & gals back up the slick sales guys in suits and 'talk geek' with the geeks at the customer site. Requires the ability to comfortably hang with salespeople, present in front of an audience etc.

- Professional services: These guys & gals head in after the sale and manage implementations, code custom integrations etc.

- Training: As the name describes, provides technical training.

- Product/program management: Sit between the customers and development & produce the requirements docs that define what the software company is going to build. Typically requires travel to meet with customers, attend trade shows and visit partners.

As you can see, all of these jobs require good 'people skills' so that's something to work on. If you can, see if you can join a toastmasters club (just google it) so work on public speaking etc. If a software company can see that you're both somone who understands the nuts and bolts of tech, but can also be put in front of customers, they will consider you 'gold' and likely promote you into one of the roles above.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.

Is there someone else you are interested in as well?

In the health care industry it seems like many of the traveling jobs are occupied by subject matter experts for the type of software they are training. If it's lab software they'd rather have someone with lab experience. Hospital software they like people with nursing backgrounds. Many people can talk computer with a good level of fluency without an actual degree to back it up...or you could double major.

There are also many Computer jobs that can require intense travel, but I like knowing that I don't always have to sit in front of a computer if I don't have to.

I will echo most of what was said (shortened with . . .). My company works in the Financial Services sector, providing testing software for banks and networks. The sales process, installation and training are all highly technical. Most employees are dedicated to one of those roles, but I move around among all of them because I'm an engineer they can trust in front of the company.

In the last twelve months this has taken me all over domestically as well as Dubai, Belgium, Hungary and Turkey internationally. Most visits are so busy you barely make it away from the client site or hotel . . . and when you are in a relationship your wife or girlfriend may have her own opinions about constant travel. I'm ok, usually gone less than two weeks a month, but some get sucked into this life and barely see their home (look for anyone with more than 1000 posts!).

Greg

Disagree - I do something I'm good at, which does involve a lot of travel. (Currently typing this in another hotel room.......)

If you can find a career you like which involves travel and you like the lifestyle and your partner/family/pets understand (or enjoy) you being away. Go for it! Not only do you get to travel and maybe see a little on business trips - you also build miles and hotel points for free/cheaper vacations when you're off duty.

Consultancy follow a good computer science degree will get you all the travel you can take!

Ah yes, one of my friends does IT travel right. he only goes to the finest places and presents at the finest conferences. He always travels in the front of the plane.

the rest of them get up a 5 am to travel to Chattanooga, or yellow knife, or centeral Ghana or Giana, wherever, and frequently on such short notice that they have to ride in the back of the bus. now, i know they could tell management that they are special, and want more perks, or just walk, and send out resumes trying to note all the experience they as a 45-50yo have and that they want a special new job with upscale travel.

frend one is codesigner of TCP/IP, has good looks and a can of bs that is banned in 48 countries. you do that and you to can ride in the front of the bus.

Not that my experience is universal, but my personal experience would disagree with this statement. I have put up with projects that would have otherwise driven me crazy with boredom or frustration because they gave me the opportunity to go someplace new. There are things I am willing to put up with work on the road that I wouldn't even think about putting up with if I wasn't getting the free travel out of it.

Of course, I still haven't found anything in life that I "love" doing enough to make it my career (*). I, like most people I think, put up with work because we need to work, rather than loving what I do for a living.

Greg

Footnote (*) - well, travelling without any responsibility would be a cool career, but very few people willing to pay me to travel without wanting something in return for it.

Really depends what scale of company you work in. For example, a person I know of is an IT Director for a large, multi-national company, and travels long haul UK->DFW, LAX, SYD, HKG, SIN in a month. Sometimes takes in some of the above twice a month.

Obviously you can't go in at this level, but you can certainly work your way up to it - just depends if you have it in you.

Given recent trends, many software engineers will be presented with a special one-way travel opportunity - to India.

[QUOTE=slawecki;11247355]the rest of them get up a 5 am to travel to Chattanooga, or yellow knife, or central Ghana or Giana, wherever, and frequently on such short notice that they have to ride in the back of the bus. now, i know they could tell management that they are special, and want more perks, or just walk, and send out resumes trying to note all the experience they as a 45-50yo have and that they want a special new job with upscale travel./QUOTE]My god, your friends do indeed need new jobs...

Professional Services travel is almost always scheduled well in advance, so no need for 5am wake-ups, unless that's how you want to roll...

Now, the destination, however, is NEVER up to me... My client in Edmonton used to threaten me with Yellowknife travel in January, whenever they were unhappy about something.

As others have said both in this thread and in *many* others, find a job you like. Sure you like to travel, but do you really want to travel to Pocatello every week?