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Interesting Work Does anyone on this board do really interesting work. I'm not talking about databases, internet programming / scripting, teaching etc. I'm talking about graphics, games, operating systems, embedded systems, space shuttle type work. You know, the interesting and challenging stuff, the low level stuff talked about in all the graphics and operating system books. The kind of work where it's difficult to get a job without a masters degree and 10 years of experience (ok exaggerated a tad). Not university level research either (boring).
Device drivers.
Mitch & Murray (from downtown)
What are your objective criteria for "interesting"?
Entrepreneur
I'm a high school dropout with no degree and I designed one system that's used on the shuttle.
Nanoo
Hi Carl
Do I know you blank?
Nanook
I do video games for PS2, GameCube, and XBox. Depending on who you are, it's not as cool as it sounds.
Moosebumps
Personally, I take umbrage at the idea that databases aren't interesting. (= I've been working on a package that uses mostly older, unsexy technology -- but it allows my users to have data-driven conversations they've never dreamed of having, which in turn lets them change what they do to more effectively help people. Personally, I find that much more interesting than writing yet another fighting game.
Sam Livingston-Gray
I do games for PC, PS2 and Xbox. Well, I used to. These days I just do endless Maya scripts and plugins.
Insert half smiley here.
Note: lest my tone sound a bit depressing, I personally quite like having something on the screen at the end, and I've come to rather appreciate the maths too :)
Insert half smiley here.
I'm starting a new job next week that *I* am dying to get into, but most of you would probably hate. [grin]
Philo.
Half Smiley, let's see if I get this right-
Philo.
Nanook
>> "I'm starting a new job next week that *I* am dying to get into, but most of you would probably hate. [grin]"
JJ
Effectively, sales. I don't want to go into details until I start. Don't want to jinx it. :)
Philo.
interesting work you do on your own. As far as games, the code maintainability doesn't exist.
Tom Vu
Graphics & just a little bit of device drivers.
ted
I wouldn't consider any of the stuff you listed very interesting.
oops
Yeah. Reading about development is far more interesting and doesn't involve that at all!!!
Philo.
Well, if you consider an embedded system for doing medical ultrsound imaging interesting (I do) then ... yes.
sgf
I used to think what I did was elite. I work in the research center of a software company. My coworkers are mathematicians, electrical engineers, and computer scientists. Many of them have PhD's in their fields. We do the kind of stuff you call interesting. And I thought so too, until I met a bunch guys that were building a gravity wave inferometer in space.
JD
I don't know dude, keeping boos sure sounds like fun to me.
Oooh! I'm scared!
"on a project lasting 10 years"
Philo.
what a place to ask!
i like i
Im making this awesome inventory system right now! It keeps track of things by listing them in all a database. The the users can like search and stuff to find out what things they have in store and how many and stuff. Way Cool!
Eric DeBois
Not directly answering your question, but in my study of knowledge representations, it struck me a couple days ago that entering logical statements about the universe into a database is kinda interesting. Which is weird, because right up to then, databases seemed the most horribly boring subject in computerdom. But perhaps databases needed this image of boringness to fit in well with average businesses. The only large company I can imagine that appears creatively greedy is Microsoft, and even that's probably changing due to the stock price.
Tayssir John Gabbour
My job is just for the money. I seek fulfillment elsewhere.
ted
Did you just discover Prolog, Tayssir?
K
I make clocks.
AJS
Game development, especially if you're into a senior position, is challenging and fulfilling. (The pay isn't.) You get to architect VERY complicated systems, play with math, play with hardware, tweak/optimize things, and you have a chance of actually using and probably enjoying the software you've built (unlike, e.g. bank software).
Phoenix
Real-time process control has been interesting to me... but I find whatever is next to be interesting.
Yes. I'd looked at some of prolog implemented a couple times (older lisp books always do that), but you're pretty much right. If you want to talk about it, feel free to click my name, or we can discuss here if you think it's interesting to the original poster.
Tayssir John Gabbour
From a job perspective, I work with databases. I wouldn't want to do anything else as I have found DB to be a very interesting topic for me.
m
Graphics device drivers. It gets pretty weird at some points and you get blank stares when you try to explain to non-technical people what you do but it can be pretty interesting. Playing with HW emulators (FPGAs) that allow you to test your driver on a device that is vapour ware and then getting the physical device and making it work is pretty good. Having customers complain about nit-picky little bugs and bumping into OS bugs that have to be worked around sucks. Also, as every where I guess, office politics blow chunks.
Fred
I write a custom app to be used by Fog Creek's internal staff.
o'my
I work on B2B and ecommerce type stuff, which isn't terribly exciting, but architecting things "the right way" I find quite rewarding. Applying good design principles to a system as it grows in complexity is interesting, even if the problem domain itself isn't.
Jim Rankin
I used to work on graphics drivers. There were things I hated about it, but one of the coolest things was getting visual feedback: when you booted with your latest build, you'd see pretty darn quick whether that little performance tweak broke BitBlts so bad you could barely see to shut down the system.
Thomas
I work with the measurement of large mirrors for NASA space telescopes.
David Fischer
David,
Smart Ass
Five years of financial applications, all in large multi-nationals with dilbert cartoons stuck all over cubicle walls.
Realist
What is "interesting"? I have found a number of things so during my time in this industry, but for different reasons. Financial stuff was interesting (all those millions depending on my code, yummmm), embedded stuff was interesting (nice to do optimization for example) and a nice buzz when you go into a shop and say "I made that!". Actually, yeah, "I made that" is what is interesting for me about s/ware development, assuming it is not a steaming great PoS foisted on me by management.
I develop research software (data analysis, etc.) for a large pharmaceutical company. Sometimes I get to work on problems that few other people have encountered: How should we analyze output X from multi-million $ machine Y?
Devil's Advocate
i was really looking for interesting work in or around the saint louis mo area i will be back.... the positions i have had so far are normal but interesting to me tow truck driver, taxi driver, delivery of lost luggage from the local airport... now these are interesting to me as i like to drive and meet new people
phillip dale stotler
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