Do software engineers spend thier whole lives infront of the computer, programming?

It depends on a couple things. Mostly the employer. I have worked as a programmer for a company 9am-5pm monday through friday. It was great for "a life" Now I work, overtime is restricted so I only have 40 hours a week - but close to a deadline it opens up and I typically put in an extra 10-20 hours. Some people put in over 100 hours a week and truly don't have a life. I spend every weekend outside, either go to the mountains - horse back riding. Sometimes a barbecue. I threw an all chocolate new year's eve party that was fantastic. It's very possible to be social - and have crazy hours. If you have any specific questions about details of work and/or life in relation to work feel free to email me, [email protected], and we can talk more.

There are lots of software engineering jobs where you won't spend a lot of time in front of a computer writing code. Of course when you start out, you likely will be a coder and will likely spend much of your time working on code with a team of other people. Most likely you will be fixing bugs or implementing code that was designed by someone else. But, after you build up a little experience, there are several paths to take that don't lead to coding. A software design architect spends very little time writing code. They spend more of their time brainstorming on a white board with others or writing software architecture documents that describe the routines that will be used, major data structures and functions that will be needed, logic paths, etc. These things are then given to coders who will impliment it. An architect may also spend time thinking of new features for a product and describing how those features will work. He or she might visit customers to see what they want to do, and then figure out how those requests can fit into the product they are building. You also have the potential to go into roles like technical marketing or technical sales. In these roles you might be traveling more, going to trade shows, helping customers use your products, and so on, and you likely will never write a single line of code. I graduated with a computer engineering degree, but now I do mostly market research and analysis. I explain to other people what the implications of technology are, why one technology might be better or worse than another, what kinds of trends are affecting software and hardware, and so on. I haven't written any code in the past 10 years. Talk to a few people that work in high tech companies, and you'll be surprised at how many of them have computer or software degrees but are not working in programming.

No! they don't . Although it may not be easy; but it is a good course, you can earn a living from it and not have to work all of your life.

Yes..........and they don't spend all their working life in front of screens. There are meetings and more meetings and a lot of time on the phone ...... and the good ones are constantly upgrading themselves with courses and learning new things. The most important thing if you ask them about their jobs is the company they work for.

my cousin is a programmer. he works ~50hrs/week a little more than normal, but they're right, the closer to a breakthrough you get, the more time youl spend with burning eyes.. I am a programmer myself, with a major life, GF, active sports...loads of friends.. its a nice paying job, i like it...

It depends upon your employer. Some spend 80+ hours every week programming and get paid outrageous salaries for it. Others have more reasonable work weeks and a variety of projects, but they don't get paid as much. It also gets more sane as you get older - mostly the young ones paying their dues work crazy hours and the more senior employees get to have a life.

I'm sure they try - but speaking from experience, when you are on the verge of programming something new or learning something new, the closer you get the more it draws you to the computer.