Week In The Life Of A Staff Software Engineer

Aryaman Sharda
8 min readFeb 19, 2024

If you’ve spent any time on YouTube, chances are you’ve seen those “Day In The Life Of A Software Engineer” videos. They’re often staged portrayals of elaborate morning routines and luxury high-rise apartments with cinematography that rivals Hollywood.

These videos excel at portraying an idyllic day: from sunrise yoga classes to artisanal coffee brewing to rock climbing montages. However, for all their visual appeal, there’s often a glaring oversight: a genuine perspective of what it’s like to work as a software engineer.

Debugging, problem-solving, technical discussions, collaboration, code reviews, release planning, and other critical aspects of the job receive at most a passing mention.

So, over this past week, I’ve kept detailed records of my workday in order to provide a realistic view of a typical workweek as a Staff iOS Software Engineer at Turo.

It’s likely more detailed than most people care to see, but when I was first exploring this career, this is the kind of play-by-play I was looking for.

I’ve replaced real project names with fake ones (movie names) just to be on the safe side and I’ve intentionally been a bit vague with the details in some areas.I like my job and I want to keep it. 🤫

Monday

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Aryaman Sharda

Staff iOS Engineer @ Turo. Previously, Scoop Technologies & Porsche Digital