So to allow my son the benefit of an alternative perspective, I told Isaac I wouldn't write my answers down to his engineering interview (even though I had already captured a blog post of my answers). This allowed him the opportunity to interview an engineer he isn't directly related to and who operates in a different capacity in engineering than I do.
Isaac (with interviewee's blessing) was kind enough to share his final product with me for blog consumption. To protect the innocent, Isaac went to the effort to redact all references to the individual he interviewed prior to sharing. I have since replaced all his red <REDACTED> statements with "interviewee" for ease of translation (yes, the smart-assed-ness is strong in this one... I'm quite proud.) ;o)
I found both the engineer's answers and Isaac's compilation of the interview well worth sharing, enjoy!
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Project Lead the Way
Principles of Engineering
Professional Interview
Isaac Littler
2-7-16
Introduction
This essay is on the interview of a software engineer at an avionics company. Engineering is a broad career field, and specialization is important, and choosing your specialty is a difficult choice. Interviewing current engineers to get an idea as to what their specialization entails can make this choice easier.
There are three parts to this essay. The professional background gives important contextual knowledge of the interviewee. The professional interview restates the questions asked to interviewee and provides interviewee exact answers. Finally, the personal reflection provides a personal assessment of the interview and its importance in consideration of future career paths.
Professional Background
-redacted-
Professional Interview
In this section, the questions asked to interviewee were restated and interviewee exact answers were transcribed. When asked to describe interviewee engineering field, interviewee said, “I am a software engineer for a supplier of avionics equipment for civil and military aircraft. The software we produce runs the gamut from safety critical flight controls to mission oriented tactical applications. Over the years I’ve worked on the full range.”
Interviewee title is “Principal Software Engineer.” When asked to describe interviewee particular job and duties, interviewee said, “I’ve been working on Internal Research and Development (IR&D) and Science and Technology (S&T) programs for the last few years. On these programs I’ve worked in small teams or individually to develop and integrate prototype software. I’m considered a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in a few areas and as such, I’ve also had to support business development activities like developing demonstration systems, attending trade shows and conferences, and supporting product road map development.”
Interviewee average work schedule in interviewee words is, “My work schedule is pretty flexible. While the “core” hours of our company are 7:30 am to 4:30 pm, I typically work from about 6 -2:30. I adjust my work hours as necessary to accommodate afternoon meetings or errands I need to run. I try to keep my work down to 40 hours a week to be make time for myself and my family. We’ve recently started to become more “connected” at work, but I try not to let work leak over into my home-life. This is easier for me that some since, I am tend to be an individual contributor, meaning that I’m not responsible for any other employees.”
Interviewee was then asked to describe interviewee educational background. “I attended a class A high school. There were no college placement classes of any interest to me. I took a basic computer science class and math up to algebra. I then attended ISU first just taking general engineering classes, but deciding on Computer Engineering by the end of the first semester. I took no particular specialized track through the program, but did tend to favor Computer Science classes over Electrical Engineer classes. I worked IT during the summer and staffed a computer lab during the year. I graduated in 4 years with no coops or internships.”
Interviewee thoughts on doing anything differently in relation to career or education were “In college, I worked to get out in 4 years and start working. In retrospect it would have probably have been better to take a bit longer, but gain some more perspective. I should have actively tried for coops/internships at schools outside of interviewee, and likely outside of the aerospace industry. The extra experience would have been helpful even if I ended up back in my current position. I also might have considered working somewhere else after graduation for a while, again to find a different perspective. I might also have stayed in school longer and gotten a master’s degree, possibly in Aerospace Engineering. This mostly goes to just wanting more perspective, but I would like to have gotten a master’s in some technical area. I might also have taken a few business classes. I hate that side of my job and try to avoid it, but it is always useful to have a bit more knowledge.”
Interviewee’s advice for someone aiming for a similar career path was “Don’t focus on a particular area too quickly, try to gain a broad background of knowledge. Being able to pull ideas from different areas is always helpful even if you do end up specializing at a later time. Don’t get wound up too much in schedule and budget, take the time to experiment and do things right the first time. It will pay off in the long run. Software you’ve written will never go away and often you won’t be given the opportunity to go back and fix it.”
The next question was if interviewee was happy with chosen career, responded with “Most days. I’ve mostly never been terribly career oriented and tried to steer my career in a particular direction. I just relied on doing good work to advance. This can mean that I end up doing things I wouldn’t prefer, but I imagine that can happen to anyone. I tend to like things best when I’m interested, actively engaged, and learning something from a project. Beyond that and earning a good paycheck I don’t have any particular career goals.”
When asked if interviewee considered the pay satisfactory interviewee said “Yes. I would prefer more base salary and less incentive pay, but that seems to be standard in the industry particular for higher level engineers. I would also prefer some of the benefits we had when I first started 15 years ago, but again reduction in benefits seems to be an industry trend.”
When asked the importance of mathematics in chosen career path, interviewee replied “Honestly most days not very, but every once in awhile I have to implement something with a heavy mathematical component to it and I have to dig out my text books. The wealth of information on Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha is amazingly useful as well. I’ve been able to look up things in a few days that took me months when I first started. Mostly what I end up dealing with are coordinate system transformations and input filtering. Being a larger company any of the really heavy lifting in that area is usually assigned to the PhDs and analysts. After that the software engineers need to be able to understand what is going on, but we don’t generally have to do the derivations.”
Interviewee response to the question on if there are any personal characteristics that interviewee considers unique to engineering was “I wouldn’t say any particular characteristic is unique to engineering, but individuals having certain sets of characteristics are more likely to do well at engineering. The first characteristic typically cited would be to be detail oriented. With me this means I have the tendency to focus on the minutia of a problem. This is a very important attribute, but you have to be able to balance it with an ability to step back and see the larger system. When you are seeing the larger system you need to be able see connections between portions of a system and visualize how they interact. Creativity is useful, particularly if you are interested in a designer/architect role. However, the scope of the creativity is different than in other professions. Engineers tend to have a more constrained environment in which to operate. This can be from regulator oversight, company procedures, or other constraints.”
Finally, when asked about the stress the workload causes interviewee responded, “Workload is another thing I try not to let get to me. If I’m working hard on something and it isn’t getting done I usually just say it will get done later. That doesn’t always work, and occasionally I do end up with extra hours or sleepless nights, but not often. The most stressful part of my job the last few years has been the uncertainty caused by the churn and lack of clear direction from senior leadership in the areas I’ve been working. It is hard to be enthusiastic or committed to working on something when you know it may not be what you are working on next month or even next week.”
Interviewee added some additional questions and answers that did not seem particularly relevant but will be included for completeness. “What is your quest? I seek the Holy Grail. What is your favorite color? Magenta. What is the ground speed velocity of an unladen swallow? African or European?” It should be noted that interviewee both asked and answered these questions over email.
Personal Reflection
This interview was very helpful for me, as I have always considered going down a similar path to interviewee. Both my parents work for the same company. It is very interesting seeing the similarities and differences between interviewee job/experiences and my parents'. The hours interviewee works was definitely a surprise to me, as both of my parents tend to work more. I feel that the difference in hours can be attributed to difference in career goals, as he aimed for forty hour weeks. Interviewee is less career focused, and not interested in leadership roles. Interviewee’s advice on gaining background knowledge is definitely something I will consider when signing up for classes in college. The interview in general was very encouraging for me. For interviewee to say that for the most part interviewee can keep work and life separate, and not let the workload get to interviewee, is definitely an important factor in deciding on my career in engineering, particularly software engineering. This helps quell one fear of mine, in that I would not be able to do the same in such a demanding field.
