The points in this article match what's in the book "Poems for Software Developers". https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMNR4G39 Like the article says, you'll probably not get a greenfield projects, you are going to spend a lot of times in meetings, and you aren't going to just be left alone to code. You will have to work with people on a team. Knowing the technical aspects of programming is one challenge, but another challenge is coordinating the effort of developers to drive to a goal, on time, and according to requirements. That coordination effort is a lot of what the experience working as a software developer is all about.