So... guess who is a software engineer?

[dandymcgee]

But the first week was fucking awesome. Got a brand new i7 PC with 12 gigs of RAM. Did a whole bunch of training, but I finally got to get my hands dirty on Friday. My first assignment was to debug a fucked flash RAM module. First we sent it back to the electrical guys, because it didn't work. Then they sent it back because it did work. Then I was assigned to prove that it wasn't a software error.

I found out that our software was choking on a cock, because one of the pins was stuck on logic high. Needless to say, we shipped it back to hardware.

Sweet deal. Nice to hear you're enjoying it so far.

[EccentricDuck]

Nice one, Im amazed that you havent been hired by a big corporation yet.

That's exactly where I DON'T want to work. I interviewed with several.

You've always striked me as somewhat entrepreneurial - would that be accurate?

I ask partially because finding work environments that support an entrepreneurial attitude intrigues me personally. It's funny, but most managers I've had either get along with me really well or hardly at all. One of those experiences was at my second job in retail sales after my general manager changed - I went from being treated as someone up and coming with potential to someone who was different than the other salespeople in my department and therefore less trust-able.

I was the youngest full-time guy who other sales people would sometimes go to when customers had difficult questions - and I organized the inventory that no one else would touch unless management was breathing down their necks (for me it was an opportunity to really see what hardware we had available), and I negotiated a raise for it. The latter manager was apparently fired a little while after I quit when the shrink (theft) budget soared because he couldn't keep a handle on it, but when he first came to the store he marked a total change in the environment for me.

Learning to read what kind of environment is a good fit and what isn't has become incredibly important to me. Until I can get my own thing up running and paying the bills, I need to make money at something.

What led you to be interested in the place you're now at?

[Falco Girgis]

You've always striked me as somewhat entrepreneurial - would that be accurate?

Extremely.

What led you to be interested in the place you're now at?

Several things. First of all, in Huntsville, Alabama, most companies are either government contractors for the Army or government contractors for NASA. Lots of ignorant people think that contracting is amazing work, but Kendall and I both cooped as government contractors and know what a nightmare it really is. It's an atmosphere that breeds stagnation, apathy, and pretty much discourages any sort of learning or productivity. The last place we wanted to be was back at a government contractor.

During my final semester, Adtran hosted a "senior design competition." After slaving away to the point of partial sanity loss on our Lunar Rover project, I decided to enter it into the competition. We won, which gave us an invite to Adtran's "senior design showcase" along with the winners of universities in the neighboring states. After an extremely painful all-nighter during which I literally almost murdered one of my team-mates, we presented the rover. Kendall was present as well, just as support (she wasn't part of the project). We were both approached by engineering managers who were interested in recruiting us.

Everybody that I know who has dealt with Adtran says that they are the most highly recommended company in all of northern Alabama. They are also very entrepreneurial minded and genuinely care about their employees. There's no bureaucratic bullshit here. Hard work is earns deserved reward and recognition. A man who steps up to the plate and assumes responsibility advances. That's how it should be.

The real biggest contributing factor was the engineering aspect. Computer Engineers are schooled in half electrical engineering, half computer science. We specialize in embedded platforms, architecture, operating systems, and that small little niche area where hardware and software meet. Unfortunately the job market is just so software-oriented these days, that 90% of us ultimately wind up as computer scientists coding Java and C# for some PC software.

I really didn't want to be doing that kind of work. Call me arrogant all that you want, but I honestly chose my degree, because I felt like I would learn far more from going to a lower, hardware level than I would going to higher levels into JIT and scripting languages. At Adtran, almost all of our development is embedded platforms. I've heard that managers generally reject CS majors at the door (Kendall got super lucky). Since I've been here, I've worked two different embedded architectures (PPC and MIPS), I have come into contact with FPGAs, I have had to screw with soldering ICs, I've had to move resistors around, and I've already learned a huge amount.

We manufacture routing products for ISPs. So we're kind of like Cisco for AT&T, Verizon, and carriers. We get to work with ADSL, T1, T3, and even fiber technology--all in an embedded environment. My particular group is doing Voice over IP (VoiP) technologies, so there's lots of interfacing DSPs and exciting shit. And while I'm pretty seasoned at the actual development, I'd be shitting you if I said I was a networking expert. I have more to learn there than any other area.

Pretty much, I like this job, because I'm motivated to learn here. I'm not doing something that I'm already good at. I'm doing something that I hope to some day be good at.

[EccentricDuck]

Computer Engineers are schooled in half electrical engineering, half computer science. We specialize in embedded platforms, architecture, operating systems, and that small little niche area where hardware and software meet. Unfortunately the job market is just so software-oriented these days, that 90% of us ultimately wind up as computer scientists coding Java and C# for some PC software.

Yeah, a friend of mine here in Vancouver is going to graduate next year from Systems Engineering at SFU. The guy despises high level programming but likes working instead with hardware, robotics, and embedded systems (C is about as high level as he gets). He'd like to stay here in the Greater Vancouver area after he graduates, but the problem is that in Canada nearly all the hardware jobs are down east in Ontario or Quebec. We have a huge software sector here, but unless you're involved with cutting edge research at one of the universities or have years of experience it's hard to land a good hardware gig**.

I really didn't want to be doing that kind of work. Call me arrogant all that you want, but I honestly chose my degree, because I felt like I would learn far more from going to a lower, hardware level than I would going to higher levels into JIT and scripting languages.

Nah, I wouldn't call that arrogant - I'd just say you know what you want and there's nothing wrong with that. I've seen too many friends get sucked into going the "practical" or "easy" route and then lose their ambition - you're far better off going for what you want.

Pretty much, I like this job, because I'm motivated to learn here. I'm not doing something that I'm already good at. I'm doing something that I hope to some day be good at.

That sounds awesome.

**Actually Edmonton, where we both used to live, is not bad for hardware jobs with all the specialized manufacturing/engineering services; but I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to go back. The place is basically the springboard city for northern Canadian oilfield development. It's actually got a pretty diverse economy, but there's an attitude there at most places that's anti-growth - it's about the here and now. The city grew out of an oil economy and it seems like the general attitude is you're hired for the here and now to get the current work done - long-term employee growth be damned.

[TheBuzzSaw]

But everyone knows that Java/JIT is faster than C/C++ anyway!

[Falco Girgis]

But everyone knows that Java/JIT is faster than C/C++ anyway!

Especially in the embedded world.

[EccentricDuck]

But everyone knows that Java/JIT is faster than C/C++ anyway!

Especially in the embedded world.

Lol, nah, Java will never be faster. The theoretical concept that JIT can optimize on the fly is good and all, and it may win out on the occasional operation, but I'm not naive enough to think it's actually faster overall or will ever be (too many levels of indirection to get a simple instruction set through the pipeline to ever do a better job of optimizing it in the majority of cases).

In order to make all those runtime optimizations, you've got to have a stupidly complicated runtime environment that on its own uses a ton of resources. It still runs pretty good, but when I'm running something serious I've always got that big chunk of memory pulled away for the java virtual machine to use and some of my processor dedicated to just keeping it running. Java's fast enough for most things, but it'll never get what C can get running native instructions without a VM.

Maybe it's possible that it'll be done better in the future and some language will come out that's higher level and faster than C, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm more concerned with building things quickly and effectively with the tools I have.

[Ginto8]

stuff

learn2sarcasm

Although JIT-type programs could run faster... if the interpretation gets done in hardware. Honestly, that's the only possibility that would make the speed comparable, much less faster.

[EccentricDuck]

stuff

learn2sarcasm

Although JIT-type programs could run faster... if the interpretation gets done in hardware. Honestly, that's the only possibility that would make the speed comparable, much less faster.

Lol, my bad.

[TheBuzzSaw]

I debated putting that sarcasm tag on the end. It's always a gamble trying to omit it. I just figured enough people here knew how into C/C++ I am and how opposed I am to Java/C#.