Category Archives: Career

Information on jobs and careers in science and engineering.

Who Killed the Software Engineer?

Computer Science Education: Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? by Dr. Robert B.K. Dewar and Dr. Edmond Schonberg

Over the last few years we have noticed worrisome trends in CS education. The following represents a summary of those trends:
1. Mathematics requirements in CS programs are shrinking.
2. The development of programming skills in several languages is giving way to cookbook approaches using large libraries and special-purpose packages.
3. The resulting set of skills is insufficient for today’s software industry (in particular for safety and security purposes) and, unfortunately, matches well what the outsourcing industry can offer. We are training easily replaceable professionals.
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As faculty members at New York University for decades, we have regretted the introduction of Java as a first language of instruction for most computer science majors. We have seen how this choice has weakened the formation of our students, as reflected in their performance in systems and architecture courses.
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Every programmer must be comfortable with functional programming and with the important notion of referential transparency. Even though most programmers find imperative programming more intuitive, they must recognize that in many contexts that a functional, stateless style is clear, natural, easy to understand, and efficient to boot.

An additional benefit of the practice of Lisp is that the program is written in what amounts to abstract syntax, namely the internal representation that most compilers use between parsing and code generation. Knowing Lisp is thus an excellent preparation for any software work that involves language processing.

This is an excellent article: any CS students or those considering careers as programmers definitely should read this. Also read: Computer Science Education.

via: Who Killed the Software Engineer?

Dewar, a professor emeritus of computer science at New York University, believes that U.S. colleges are turning out programmers who are – there’s no nice way to say this – essentially incompetent.

The Role of Science in Economy

Role of Science in Economy by Suh Nam-pyo, president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology:

Over the past 30 years, Korea, led by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), has established a strong base fostering innovation in science and technology, leading to impressive industrial and economic development.
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organizations that can deal with both science and technology such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), IBM research laboratories and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have had a major impact on the economy as well as on science and technology.
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National Laboratories should not compete with these industrial firms in these areas where industry is active. National Laboratories should rather work on more advanced technologies that industry will need in the future but not working at this time. As scientific fields advance and as technologies become sophisticated, new ideas are often synthesized at the interface between various disciplines of science and technology. This means that highly monolithic, single disciplinary research laboratories will not likely generate new exciting ideas.
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Korea must follow the example of the U.S. in developing its research universities. By doing so, it too can create a new industrial base through research and technological innovation.

Good article making many of points I have posted about often relating to science, technology and economic success.

Young IT Workers Demands

Young IT workers disillusioned, hard to hold, survey says

more than 50% of respondents described those teen and 20-something employees as the “toughest generation to manage.”
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“Millennials are coming in with high expectations and are disillusioned about the reality of a work place. They feel they should be rewarded and start at the top, when we all know you have to work your way up.
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“There is a shrinking talent pool of qualified IT professionals and some managers are talking about the graying of their current staff.

The IT job market continues to be very strong. The number of IT jobs continues to grow and remains at an all time high.

Could It Be? Data Shows U.S. Info Tech Jobs Grew 8% In 2007

Estimated employment in IT passed 3.76 million in 2007, based on the average of the BLS’ household surveys throughout the year. In 2006, employment was 3.46 million, for a gain of 292,000 jobs

Computer Science PhD Overview

A nice overview by Mor Harchol-Balter at Carnegie Mellon University on Applying to Ph.D. Programs in Computer Science:

A Ph.D. is a long, in depth research exploration of one topic. By long we’re typically talking about 6 years. By in depth we mean that at the end of the Ph.D. you will be the world expert or close to it in your particular area.
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In contrast, a Ph.D. program typically requires typically less than 10 courses during the entire 6
years (at CMU there are 5 required “core” courses, and 3 required “electives”). The emphasis in the
Ph.D. is not on classes, but rather on research.
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If you choose to be a professor at a research university, your life will consist of the following
tasks: (i) doing research on anything you like, (ii) working with graduate students, (iii) teaching
classes, (iv) applying for grants, (v) flying around to work with other researchers and to give talks
on your research, (vi) doing service for your department and school (like giving this talk). Note that
I say “your life” rather than your job, because for new faculty, your life becomes your job. It’s a
fantastic job/life for me because I love these activities, so I’m happy to work hard at all of them, but
it’s not right for everyone.

The document also offers a list of fellowships including: the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and NDSEG Graduate Fellowship (disclosure: I work for ASEE administering part of the process for these, and other, fellowships – this blog is my own and not associated with ASEE).

Kids in the Lab: Getting High-Schoolers Hooked on Science

Kids in the lab: Getting high-schoolers hooked on science

Ballard is a senior at Madison West High School who is still shy of his 18th birthday. His work with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Eukaryotic Structural Genomics is part of the Youth Apprenticeship Program, an innovative project that gives exceptional high-school students an opportunity to get exposure and experience in their desired careers.

Created in 1991, the program is run by Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development, with collaboration from universities, schools and businesses. Statewide, more than 10,000 students have participated in 22 different program areas.
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Lan says nearly all of her apprentices have gone on to study science as college students, a reward that compensates the time mentors invest working with the young students.

“the [students] don’t really know how science works,” she says. “I think I’m trying to show them, ‘Yes, you can have a career; yes, you can have a family; and yes, you can have fun,'” she says. “Yes, you can do it!”

I attended West High School and enjoyed some science classes. We did unfortunately have one class, biology, where (due to budget cuts, I believe) they let some teachers go, and due to seniority rules for determining what teachers to layoff, we ended up with a teacher that had taught 2nd grade for like 15 years and really didn’t know much about biology. Otherwise the classes were pretty good.

And for Biology we luckily had a smart kid that could answer the other students questions. Though I remember my senior year design of experiments project didn’t go so well: I couldn’t get much to grow at all. So I was not able to actually determine which factors had what influence 🙁

Preparing Computer Science Students for Jobs

in, Preparing Students for Jobs, Michael Mitzenmacher, a computer science professor at Harvard asks past students to comment on how well school prepared them for work.

In a recent “discussion” on another blog, I repeatedly heard the refrain that we ivory-tower pie-in-the-sky university computer science professor types just aren’t preparing students suitably for “real-world” employment. Personally, I think that’s just BS. However, I realize I may have a fairly biased viewpoint. I teach at Harvard, and, if I may say so, our students are generally quite good and do well in the job market. Having spent some time in industry, and, if I may so so, being perhaps more interested than the average theorist about practical issues, I attempt to add “real-world” aspects to my classes, like programming assignments in my undergraduate theory course.
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Please tell me, in your experience, did your education prepare you for your life after in the real world.

via: John Dupuis

Robot Fly

Tinker, Tailor, Robot, Fly

Designing an automated fly implied having the ability to make lightweight, miniature working parts, a process that Wood says took up the bulk of his doctoral study, because of the lack of any previous research on which to draw. “For years, the thrust of our work was ‘How do we do this?'” says Wood. “There was no existing fabrication paradigm, given the scale we were operating on, the speed we wanted to operate with, and things like cost, turnaround, and robustness.” His research group developed and fabricated a laser carving system that could meticulously cut, shape, and bend sheets of carbon fiber and polymer – both strong but lightweight materials – into the necessary microparts.

And how to power those wings to beat 120 times per second? To keep this 60-milligram robot (the weight of a few grains of rice) with a 3-centimeter wingspan to a minimal size and weight, Wood says, you can’t simply use a shrunken version of the heavy DC (direct current) motors used in most robots. So he and his team settled on a simple actuator: in this case, a layered composite that bends when electricity is applied, thereby powering a micro-scale gearbox hooked up to the wings. Wood says the actuator works even better than its biological inspiration. The power density – a measure of power output as a function of mass – of a fly’s wing muscles is around 80 watts per kilogram; Wood’s wing design produces more than 400 watts per kilogram.

The first takeoff occurred late one evening last March, as Wood worked alone in his office, his colleagues gone for the evening. As the fly rose, Wood jumped up in celebration, quickly verified that his camera had captured the flight, and let out a sigh of relief.

Young Geneticists Making a Difference

After an early phase of discouragement, Johannes Krause was able to follow his long interest in genetics and even link it to another passion of his, paleoanthropology. Krause initially chose to study biochemistry at the University of Leipzig. But “I was almost about to quit” at the frustration of learning much more about basic chemistry than biology, he says. However, in the third year of his bachelor’s degree, he took some specialised courses in genetics as an Erasmus student at the University College Cork in Ireland that revived his interest for the field.

Back in Leipzig, a summer internship on comparing gene expression between humans and chimpanzees at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology sparked Krause’s enthusiasm for good. He stayed on in the lab as a research assistant for 2 years before graduating in 2005. While there, Krause helped develop a biological method to read large pieces of ancient DNA, sequence the complete mitochondrial genome of the mammoth from fossil samples, and place it in the context of evolution. “Johannes has great technical skill and the judgment to distinguish a good project from a blind alley. Like few others he can see the interesting pattern that can hide in sometimes confusing data,” Svante PÃ¤Ã¤bo, his principal investigator, writes in an e-mail to Science Careers.

Google Investing Huge Sums in Renewable Energy and is Hiring

Towards more renewable energy posted to Google’s blog by Larry Page, Co-Founder and President of Products:

Promising technologies already exist that could be developed to deliver renewable energy cheaper than coal. We think the time is ripe to build rapidly on the tremendous work on renewable energy. For example, I believe that solar thermal technology provides a very plausible path to generating cheaper electricity. By combining talented technologists, great partners and large investments, we have an opportunity to quickly push this technology forward. Our goal is to build 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. We are optimistic that this can be done within years, not decades. If we succeed, it would likely provide a path to replacing a substantial portion of the world’s electricity needs with renewable energy sources.

To lead this effort, we’re looking for a world-class team. We need creative and motivated entrepreneurs and technologists with expertise in a broad range of areas, including materials science, physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, land acquisition and management, power transmission and substations, construction, and regulatory issues. Join us. And if you’re interested, read about our previous work toward a clean energy future

Very cool. And I think something Google might be able to pull off well. It is also true this may be a distraction and not work well. For many companies that would be my guess for how it would play out. Google has done an exceptional job of allowing engineers to do what they do best. And I think there is a chance they can translate that into effectively managing such a project as this. Google continues to try what they believe even if that is not the conventional path. Good for them.

Continue reading →

Engineering Education Study Debate

Engineering education study draws industry fire by George Leopold, EE Times:

In a radio debate with Salzman on the NPR program “Science Friday,” Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett blasted Salzman’s “backward-looking analysis.” Said Barrett: “The U.S. cannot be successful if we are only ‘average’ ” in math and science. “[S]aying we’re ‘OK’ because we’re average just can’t be right. That’s backward looking. That’s not looking ahead at competition with India, China, Russia and others that are putting heavy emphasis on education.”
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Salzman did, however, conceded one point to his critics, acknowledging that the engineering field in the U.S. isn’t what it used to be. As a profession, “engineering is not a field that has a bright future,” he said. Quoting an engineer interviewed for the Urban Institute study, Salzman said, “It was a great ride, but it’s over.”

Previous posts on the study (The Importance of Science Education – Math and Science Education Assessment). I doubt the engineering ride is over – but everyone is entitled to their opinion. As I have said many times the economic future will be greatly influenced by science and engineering. Those countries that succeed in creating a positive economic climate for science and engineering development will find economic rewards those that fail to do so will suffer. The USA has come through a period where they received great economic benefit from science and engineering supremacy. There is little doubt other centers of excellence will emerge and gain the benefits. But if the USA were to actually fall backward (not just see the relative position decline as other countries gained ground) that will be a serious problem and one I think is unlikely.