And so we beat on
For those that care enough to read this but not enough to actually stay in touch with me (speak up, what’s your deal?), I’ve left the Academy and put in with these folks as an applications engineer. I’m closing in on my first month and thought some reflection would be nice.
Subject Matter
It’s always been important to me to be something of an outsider, and at a deeply subconscious level. So what’s the opposite of materials science? Computer science, I’d say (but Dr. Chrazn might disagree).
Having never taken a proper CS course, I find myself surrounded by those skilled in the art, and it’s a blast. Everything I wanted to know about bits and bytes but was afraid to ask, explained by some excellent, patient guys. Very patient.
Efficacy
The product works. Well. No need for a mitigating “for a 1.0 release.” In academia, proof of concept was the name of the game. Learning how to execute like this is why I left the comfort of the lab.
Gender
I can’t tell whether it’s the field, the industry, or the company, but there’s a distinct lack of women around. Hmm. When
Tone
On an engineer to engineer basis it feels just like the lab: good doses of curiosity, excitement and skepticism. Management let’s us play for the most part, and is agile and cunning enough to turn the results of that play into functional product. Hard to beat.
Selling
This is the part I was most worried about. So far it’s been exhilarating. Knowing you can not only help solve someone’s problem but actually do it. Pretty great.
Impact
If you’ve been a devotee of pervasive computing/wireless sensor networks, you’ve heard, and probably buy into, the “future of computing” tales spun by the Academy. If you’ve been paying attention since 2001, you’ve seen it inflate, sort of flounder, and then regain traction in a reserved, cautious manner. And if you’ve done anything remotely successful (har har), chances are you’ve used the TelosB, and that it’s pretty damn reliable.
We’re working hard to bring the same level of confidence to the software experience. I should say “they” because as an app engineer, I’m essentially an internal customer. They, however, are doing a pretty great job, and the software is a pleasure to use if you’ve ever mucked around with TinyOS.
I think this is going to be pretty big.