The old proverb, Where there’s mud, there’s brass, means that complicated tasks often hide golden opportunities. For software engineers, mud may refer to the technical complexity of software development in regulated industries such as health care, financial technology, aviation AND logistics.
Engineered space engineering can seem off-putting due to its seemingly arbitrary complexity, especially to those who entered the field for its elegance and minimalism. Those willing to navigate these complexities often find excellent professional opportunities, including leadership roles and high-impact projects.
If this interests you, here are three key skills for engineers looking to enter regulated industries.
3 skills needed by engineers to work in regulated activities
- Enthusiasm for test-driven development.
- Ability to work cross-functionally.
- Knowledge of practices common to regulated industries.
1. Enthusiasm for test-driven development
Regulated industries benefit disproportionately test-driven development, because it helps show stakeholders that the team is managing processes and changes correctly. In these sectors, frequent testing of the necessary scenarios facilitates compliance checks.
For example, when developing an application that acts as a health record, you will need to demonstrate over and over again that all clinical data records, displays, and changes are captured in a tamper-proof manner. Having test cases and a corresponding report showing that this scenario is supported will be useful for many of the audits and attestations required for certification and regulatory compliance.
Some industries even offer testing systems, such as Inferno for electronic health record certification, to help with compliance. Understanding the specifics of auditing or testing within these industries is critical for engineers.
Overall, developing testable applications and adopting test-driven development will improve your ability to deliver projects and make you an attractive candidate for opportunities as an engineer in regulated industries.
2. Ability to work cross-functionally
Effective collaboration between different functional areas such as legal, compatibilityAND finance it is crucial in regulated sectors. Implementation projects often involve roles such as regulatory affairs, legal advisors and consultants. Engineers must be able to explain their methods for meeting requirements and solving problems with clear illustrations.
For example, many regulated industries require data to be classified, and different types of data have different protection requirements. Being able to clearly explain to a cross-functional team how classification works in order to gain buy-in from each department is a prerequisite for technical leadership on these projects.
Although it may seem absurdly tactical, everyday engineering tools are often very useful to cross-functional teams in regulated spaces. When a compliance officer asks for specific jargon-laden workflows, such as change approval or request collection, look to the workflows you already perform, such as code review and bug triage, as a potential way to meet these requests.
Change approvals, for example, can be directly linked to code reviews. In some regulated environments, a peer who does not have the same manager as the submitter must approve the code review to satisfy the change approval requirements. This is an example of a compliance workflow based on a developer’s daily workflow.
In addition, engineers are not always experienced in managing suppliers, budgets and cost estimates for projects in regulated industries. Exposure here, in a leading or supporting role, can significantly contribute to later career development. In addition, obtaining regulatory approvals or certifications often improves visibility within management teams.
The ability to work cross-functionally, particularly with legal, compliance and finance teams, will increase the engineer’s effectiveness in delivering projects in regulated spaces. Such projects have the added benefit of increased visibility and impact.
3. Knowledge of practices common to regulated industries
Although they differ greatly from a functional perspective, the regulated industries share many engineering practices. For example, logging, role-based access, change management, and authentication are essential components of many compliance frameworks and can be very similar, if not identical, in healthcare finance and technology roles. Knowledge and experience implementing these features and processes are reusable and marketable skills for an engineer.
In terms of best practices, modern techniques like infrastructure as code and using source control to track complex configurations helps ensure accurate settings, critical to compliance. These processes are often tested during reviews and audits, and using them effectively can be a superpower.
For example, role-based access control is a common requirement in many regulated systems. Teams that use configuration tools that give accounts the appropriate permissions spend less time maintaining compliance and have easier auditing.
Learning to use compliance tools like Vanta or SecureFrame is eye-opening as it reveals common controls across industries. For example, the same configuration you use to maintain log files in SOC 2, Type II compliance can serve you the same way when you need to be HIPAA certified. This is a clear case where an engineer can learn a skill once and then reuse it across projects and across different regulated sectors.
A thorough understanding of authentication and how to implement different types of authentication systems, such as using an identity provider like Okta, is also very helpful. The use of Identity Providers (IDPs) is common in many regulated industries.
Put onDon’t let the regulations scare you
Move around mud The development of applications in regulated sectors requires the development of key skills and the acquisition of new experiences. These efforts not only improve your value to companies and your company-wide visibility as an engineer, but also open the door to significant opportunities, allowing you to find the dirt beneath the brass.