Meet the Software Engineer: Davinder Toseland

Growing up, I come from a background where, in my culture, the expectation of me was to settle down after finishing school. My career choice story started when my uncle gave me a fantastic present when I was 14 years old: a computer. I was instantly intrigued about how it worked. This set alight my passion to pursue my now wonderful career in software engineering. I studied a BTEC National Diploma in Computing, after which I went to university and graduated with a BSC (Hons) in Computer Science. Part of my degree involved me researching and writing a PHD level paper on ‘Data Integration’, which was published in the British Library. This got me noticed and I landed two job offers after graduating.

For the past 18 months since joining BAE Systems Digital Intelligence, I’ve been working on a new system to replace a legacy platform for consuming border control data from many sources. The project sits within the DSAB (Digital Services at the Border) programme.

Being part of a team

Even though our official start time is 8.30am, I like to start the day at around 8am because I'm very much a morning person. It doesn’t necessarily mean I'll finish earlier – if I've got my teeth into something I usually carry on until I've completed it. My day normally begins with a stand up team call where each person says what they did yesterday and what they plan to do today, as well as flagging any concerns and asking if they need the Scrum Master to help them unblock an issue. I do like to listen to others because a colleague may be dealing with something that I could help with.

The project I’m working on has a number of teams; I’m part of Team 3 and we all work closely with each other. I’m actually on secondment to Team 3 from Team 1 because they required the experience I gained from my previous team on border crossing (BX) reference data.

The project’s leadership team has gone to great lengths to ensure that members of all teams feel engaged and inspired, and that we’re able to collaborate effectively. We’re encouraged to attend fortnightly sprint ceremonies face to face and have recently combined our sprint ceremonies with other teams, which has been great fun. We’re very fortunate that there are also regular social events organised, such as going to lunch or the pub in the evening. Due to the fun and engaging approach to work and the team interaction, it has been really easy for me to get on well with everyone.

Life as a developer

As developers, we each have chunks of functionality assigned to us in the form of Jira tickets that collectively act towards a sprint goal we’ve previously decided on as a team at the fortnightly sprint ceremonies. The concentrated world of coding is such a wonderful place to be, as you’re trying to solve logical problems. It can be quite intense and consuming and I love it! Every so often, it can be frustrating trying to solve an issue, but this is where I lean on the benefit of having nearly 28 years in the software industry! Because in the coding world, it's a well-known fact that when you've been struggling with something for a long time, it’s better to step away and then come back to it. 

This works for me 9 times out 10. As soon as you come back, often after a night’s sleep, the solution is staring you right in the face. That’s why I remember to follow that rule earlier into the problem rather than later. 

While we're talking about 'tricks of the trade', the number of times I've decided to ask a question, either via email/chat, and then deleted it is too many to count! That's because I've formulated the problem in my head to write down, but half way through, the solution has come to me. This is also a well-known phenomenon in the coding world and is now known as 'rubber ducking'. It’s simply choosing an object e.g. a rubber duck, and talking to it. It’s common amongst coders to say 'thanks for being a rubber duck'! 

Although it’s great getting lost in the coding world, I do call myself a team player. I strongly believe in discussing issues with my colleagues and collectively resolving them. I’m pleased to be in the great position of working in a company that really does encourage colleague interaction and gives us the time we need for the more complex issues.

Work-life balance

I have predominantly worked from home since 2008, and I’m very strict with myself that I get out at lunch time and do some sort of exercise. I’ll alternate between going to the gym and walking to the shops which is a 3 mile return journey. I find it keeps my mind healthy and allows me to compartmentalise ‘stuff’ in my head.

I tend to log off at the end of the day at around 5.30pm. I like to leave my work in a state where I look forward to starting the next phase in the morning. But, as I said at the beginning, I can sometimes go on past that time if I’ve got a flow of logic going in my head and I really want to see it through. I’ll have thought about my evening meal during the day. It will usually be a one pot dish with either salad or veg, I’ll put that on the hob whilst I pour a glass of Cava and as it’s cooking also clean/tidy bits of the house. After dinner, I’ll settle down on the sofa at around 8ish with my husband (and my son, if he’s not revising for exams) and watch a TV series. It’s my ideal way to round out a day.