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My Job Description… I manage a department called “Engineering Support Services” at a major software development firm. Our job is to help the software development departments to create new products. Our department consists of two groups: people who manage computer networks used by 300 engineers; and technicians who maintain a software library and a state-of-the-art testing lab containing hundreds of computers, printers, and scanners. Because we need to ensure compatibility with a wide range of other computers, no two pieces of equipment in the testing lab are alike. And How I Got It… From the first computer I built from a kit in high school to the introductory programming courses I took in college, I have always been fascinated with computers. Since it always seemed like so much ‘fun,’ I never thought I would end up in the computer business someday, actually ‘getting paid to play.’ My liberal arts degree concentrated on English Literature and Philosophy, and my first professional job was at a bank, analyzing corporate financial statements. But even while at the bank, I became known as the “go-to guy” whenever peers got stuck using a computer. When I figured out that banking wasn’t for me, I got a job as a junior programmer, mostly teaching myself from books whatever programming language was needed. It’s a lot like foreign languages; once you know one computer language, the rest come easily. I also learned about computer networks (and the hub computers, called ‘servers’), when my department decided to replace our mainframe with new, distributed computers. I took the opportunity to take on systems administration work, managing and ‘tweaking’ the servers themselves. There’s no better way to learn about servers than building new ones from scratch. This combination of skills in software development and systems administration is what made me ideally suited to manage an engineering support group at a large software company. And Why I Was Well Suited For It (And It For Me)… I love learning about new technologies, and this was a great job for staying on the cutting edge of the computer industry. Because we had to test our newest programs on the newest hardware (from all manufacturers), we worked in a computer lab filled with a huge range of the latest “goodies” in technology, ranging from sophisticated video imaging equipment to the latest computers. By knowing about all these hi-tech products, when our new software was released, we could be sure it would work on other computer systems that were released within weeks of our products. Keeping all this in sync required learning technical details about things the public didn’t even know existed yet. Can you believe part of my group’s job was to investigate, test, and issue opinions on these new technologies? How cool is that?! When I’m Not Working, I’m… Skydiving! You’d never guess from my profession in computers that I spent several years instructing and competing on the weekends as a skydiver. I started this sport on a dare but loved it so much that I continued. Although I still skydive a few times a year, my free weekends are now spent taking flying trapeze classes. No, I’m not looking to change careers again and join the circus…it’s just a great way to forget about the office for a while and do something outrageous. |
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