A Day in the Life of a Viper Innovations Software Engineer
At Viper Innovations, software engineering isn’t just about writing code — it’s about solving real-world problems, collaborating across disciplines, and constantly learning. In this article, we follow two of Viper’s software engineers, Alex Sheppard and Yang Chen, to explore what their workdays look like, what challenges they tackle, and how their focus on innovation, quality, and wellbeing ultimately benefits Viper’s global customers with connected technology solutions like PlatformVi.
What does a Viper software engineer do?
There are lots of definitions of what software engineers do, and if you google or ask an AI assistant, it will say something like ‘a software engineer designs, builds, tests and maintains software systems supporting client solutions and the business’s infrastructure’. This is one part of what Alex, Yang and their colleagues do, but there’s so much more to the role than what’s on the internet, not least of which is how customer-focused the teams are.
“Before joining Viper, I spent 12 years in financial services IT, working in a large software-focused environment,” explains Principal Software Engineer Alex, who recently joined Viper’s Portishead global headquarters. “Moving to Viper was a fresh challenge — here, software is just one part of a broader engineering ecosystem.”
Day-to-day Alex now works alongside Viper’s multi-disciplinary engineering department, consisting of R&D, electronic, embedded and hardware specialists, which means he gets to develop and then see how the code interacts with physical products. “That’s a big shift from my previous role, and it’s made the work more tangible and exciting,” he adds.
Aberdeen office-based Software Engineer Yang came into software engineering through a different route and has a slightly different focus: “I studied business analysis and networking,” he says, “then transitioned via a developer bootcamp into software engineering.” Yang has worked at Viper for seven years now, starting his career working on CableGuardian for the rail industry before transitioning to support PlatformVi’s subsea asset management capabilities.
“I’ve seen the software team double,” says Yang, “and our role has evolved from supporting hardware to being a core part of Viper’s integrated and connected tech offering, directly supporting our colleagues and our customers.”
A typical day in the life of a software engineer, if there is such a day
“Is there a typical day for any of us in the software team?” jokes Alex. “I’m an early bird — I start by checking emails and messages, then have breakfast while catching up on tech news. Before our 9:30 morning stand-up, when the team assembles via Teams to discuss the day’s plan, I use the quiet time to experiment with new tools or features.
“As well as learning, collaboration is key in our team, so I spend a lot of time reviewing code, jumping on calls, and sharing screens. This applies to connecting with and supporting our customers directly. If I wrap up my tasks early, I use the time to learn something new or test out ideas. We work in two-week sprints, and I always try to keep our team talking to each other — it’s amazing how much more you get from a quick chat than a long message thread.”
Yang’s day is structured differently but has similar themes – collaboration, learning and development, with personal wellbeing also playing a role, all consistent with Viper’s strong company values.
“I start my day around 8:45am, using the time before our stand-up to study — I’m working toward a professional Java certification. Viper encourages personal development, and I’ve set learning goals as part of my objectives.
“After the stand-up, I dive into development tasks, switching between front-end, back-end, and even pipeline work. At lunch, I go for a run — it helps keep me mentally fresh, finishing around 6:00pm after updating my diary of what I’ve learned each day, which helps me reflect and grow.”
Tackling those day-to-day challenges that improve solutions
According to Alex, one day-to-day challenge is helping users get the most out of new technology solutions and connectivity, particularly if its new to them and requires new ways of working: “We want customers to maximise value from the data within interconnected solutions like PlatformVi that deliver rich and holistic datasets and make decisions based on it — securely.
PlatformVi by Viper Innovations
“That means building authentication and authorisation mechanisms that let the right people in and show them only what’s relevant. We also deal with performance — our products are interconnected and collect data constantly to feed technology solutions like PlatformVi. So, users expect fast, responsive interfaces. With devices deployed globally, we’re always thinking about how to retrieve data reliably and securely, even from remote locations.”
Yang continues the security and getting the best from data theme: “We’ve worked on VPN solutions that allow customers to pull data through their internal networks securely. That came directly from customer feedback. We work hard to listen to our users and respond quickly to customer needs, whether they are internal customers like our engineering colleagues, or the external customers of Viper solutions.
“We also think a lot about data presentation and visualisation. It’s not uncommon for users to rely on Excel and macros. Now, we’re building interconnected dashboards that show trends, highlight issues, and help users make decisions faster and more accurately.”
Software engineering: the best (and not-so-best) bits
“What do we love? Well, mostly everything,” quips Alex, with a smile. “I enjoy building security automation and testing — I like to break things and then fix them. It’s satisfying to trace a bug, solve it, and release a fix quickly. That responsiveness is something our customers really value.”
In contrast, following a stack trace into messy or unfamiliar code from third parties can be frustrating, and this is one of Alex’s least favourite tasks: “It’s part of the job, but it’s not the most fun.”
Yang loves the variety, saying: “One day I’m writing Java logic, the next I’m working on front-end design or database scripts. I also enjoy learning — whether it’s new tech or better ways to solve problems. Being part of a collaborative, multitalented team means I get to wear many hats.”
What are Yang’s not-so-best bits? “Documentation. It’s essential, but convincing smart people to do the boring bits — like writing things down properly — is always a challenge. Still, it’s important for long-term clarity and maintenance, and we get it done thoroughly.”
Collaboration, innovation, and wellbeing: why it matters
At Viper, software engineering is more than just development — it’s about collaboration across teams, continuous learning, and personal wellbeing. Alex and Yang’s stories show how a supportive, innovative culture leads to better products and greater, highly focused, customer support, faster problem-solving, and ultimately, greater value for Viper’s customers.
Whether it’s subsea operators or rail engineers, the software team is helping customers make smarter decisions, faster — and doing it with passion, precision, and purpose.