Re: What's your day job?
 

I program submarines for a living (for the past 6 years). It's a 27-million-SLOC system that has had a lifecycle of 20 years with 1000's of developers and multiple companies. We typically have to develop software technology "before it's time", like multi-casting in the 90's, real-time storage of terrabytes of data in the early 2000's, real-time on-demand audio, integration of Fortran, C, C++, and Java into 1 product, etc. There are literally 10's of thousands of sensors that are integrated into the final product, and literally no single company seems to want things to work the same as the other companies. It's both a nightmare and a joy at the same time.

Day by day, I generally solve the hard cross-platform problems. While I've moved away from pure development, I've found a comfortable niche in the government's initiatives to extend the life cycles of legacy systems by transplanting features and functions into areas they weren't originally designed for.

When I get to the robot during build season, I don't want to see a single line of code.

Re: What's your day job?
 

Day job: Treasury Management Consulting Analyst for a super-regional bank.

Night job: Financial Engineer. I write quantitative algo's that are designed to predict market trends, and profit off them. Not for the feint of heart, it has a fair amount of applied math, requires lots of skills that FRC is only the tip of the iceberg for. I'm looking make this a full time job if I can find one (they are not easy to find)!

Re: What's your day job?
 

I'm a digital systems and software design engineer for a high voltage electronics company. I get to design digital controllers and software to run a variety of fun toys, from telecommunications equipment to medical scanners. It's not many jobs that you have to worry about high voltage and radiation hazard if you push the wrong button ;)

Matt

Re: What's your day job?
 

I am in charge of all quality for a privately owned start up manufacturing company. I maintain our quality standards, train the manufacturing employees, maintain our UL requirements, and process & investigate customer claims for our product. I also maintain the matches for over 1,000 different colors on various manufacturing lines. I do get some engineering projects on occasion - currently working on a vision system & just set-up our in-line color eye.

Earlier in my career, I was a mechanical project engineer for a ceiling tile plant.

Re: What's your day job?
 

I . . . am . . . Batman!

Er, uh, ahh, wait, you said "what is your DAY job?"

I build robots. That go to other planets.

Formal title is "Program Executive for Solar System Exploration" for NASA. I have no idea what that actually means or what I am really supposed to be doing, since it seems to change on pretty much a daily basis. But it keeps me employed and I get to play with some really, really cool hardware.

-dave



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Re: What's your day job?
 

It's no big deal, really.

When I describe your job to others based on my understanding of what you do, I say, "He's in charge of space."

Re: What's your day job?
 

I am a teacher of robotics at the middle school level currently. We cover many aspects of STEM education and the application of math and science concepts. This allows me to help students see the applicable situations of things that they learn in other classes (yes, even English).

This is a very rewarding job. Nothing beats seeing students come into my room, having no idea what a servo motor is, or how to program a robot, and seeing them succeed. It doesn't hurt that I get to participate in the VEX Robotics Competition and the FIRST competition.

Re: What's your day job?
 

I am a Theater Technician, which means I run all components to a 450 seat theater. I do lighting, sound, stage managing, set construction, and make sure nobody does anything stupid.

I also am a Video Technician for an arena, which is a fancy way of saying I run a jumbotron. I direct and run camera for various events including hockey and football.

Aside from my day jobs I freelance edit and coach youth cheer.

Huge thanks to FRC for teaching me that I don't want to be a scientist or engineer. Without a video team on Stang I wouldn't have realized how much I love film. Life is so much better when you do what you love rather than what others want you to do.

Re: What's your day job?
 

Bicycle Repairman

Re: What's your day job?
 

I'm a Senior Project Engineer with the Aerospace Corporation and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserves. As a Lieutenant Colonel, I work at the Joint Space Operations Center which provides space situational awareness and command and control for our country. This Air Force commercial is actually filmed at the operations center and everyone in there is a member of the Air Force.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfAHw1kTpvY

A word of caution--it's not exactly like that. The commercial is as close to reality as R2D2 is to FIRST robotics competition--it would be cool to build an R2D2 for a competition though. :)

As an engineer for Aerospace Corporation, I'm working to modernize that operations center. Mostly it's a matter of designing and helping the government acquire the primary computer system that tracks the objects in space and provides that integrated command and control.

Re: What's your day job?
 

I am a student, however I feel that other students might find this post interesting / helpful.

I am a (paid) intern this summer (and have been for the past three summers) at an IT consulting firm. It is fairly small with < 10 full time employees. We do some programming, quite a bit of File Maker, and general tech support. It isn't exactly engineering, however it is solving problems, and it does have you work with all sorts of problems and issues. The experience has been quite valuable in terms of working with people, and solving problems (as I said), and has been somewhere that Gracious Professionalism certainly is necessary. Clients can be upset (I haven't run into too many of these), and as someone who does a lot of phone support for clients, and occasionally goes to client offices, maintaining a professional and personable attitude is quite important.

That's what I do at the moment.
- Oliver

Re: What's your day job?
 

I've worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 30 years.

Currently, I'm the Instrument Engineer, Investigation Scientist and Co-investigator for the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Mars Science Laboratory. MSL is Dave Lavery's really big rover on it's way to Mars (thanks for the ride, Dave)!

In the past, I've worked other missions, including Deep Space One, with an ion engine, and the Magellan mission (radar mapping of Venus).

FIRST students get to experience a project life-cycle in a few months. Our projects can take years of development and operate in space even longer!

Re: What's your day job?
 

I am a manufacturing engineering for Microvention. I focus on access products (microcatheters and etc.) used to help treat aneurysms.

I am in the process development group. So I get to help R&D with new products and figure out how to mass produce them. I also work with the FDA submission proving we can consistently build safe products.

Re: What's your day job?
 

Glenn from Team 359.
Former Electrical Engineer.
B.S. degree in EE, Master's in Business Administration, Secondary Certification in Math, Minor in Math
Waialua High School-Learning Center Coordinator, Co-Technology Cadre Coordinator, Team 359-Lead Teacher, Mentor and Coordinator, Afterschool Programs Grants Coordinator/Project Director. FRC and VEX Instructor. 18 years and counting.
Honolulu Country Club-Banquet Wait Help-limited part time. 22 years and counting.

Re: What's your day job?
 

I am an electrician who was a quality inspector before that. I may not have engineering skills, but I was raised by a mechanic father and understand how to use tools. I try to support our team in whatever way I can. Sometimes, that is only providing meals and making sure areas are clean from debris so we have no safety issues. I also try to be there to cheer the students on when things get low and praise them when they do an excellent job. I am proud of our students both in bad times and good. They make my life a joy.