Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Tag: software engineer

  • Steve Claridge, Software Engineer

    Tell me about your job, career, or calling. How did you get into this line of work?

    I’m a software engineer. I started out working for a company that built PC software for hospital radiology departments, then I worked for an academic publisher and then for the molecular imaging department of a corporate behemoth. After those jobs I wanted to get more into the Web and joined another academic publisher, which is where I am today, I build and maintain numerous websites and other systems.

    I got my first computer when I was about eight years old, it was a ZX Spectrum 48k. A few friends had a Spectrum too and we spent countless hours playing all of the great games that were released for the machine; classics like Horace Goes Skiing and Jet Set Willy had us glued for hours but look and play horribly when compared to today’s XBox and Playstation blockbusters.

    It was those games that got me into software development: I didn’t just want to play them I had to know how they worked too. I taught myself how to program the Spectrum so I could make my own games. I wanted to make games for a living, which I never quite did but my fascination with software took me into programming for businesses and website development.

    What is the best part of your job, career, or calling?

    Software development is constantly evolving and new ideas and ways to write programs are appearing all the time. I’ve been writing software professionally for 19 years and I’m still learning new things every day. That’s the most exciting thing. You have to stay on your toes, keep learning, finding new and better ways of creating. Software development is still a fairly young discipline and we’re all still really working out the best way to go about it! People are pushing it in all different directions and it is very interesting to watch and learn from.

    What are some of the challenges?

    Most offices these days are open-plan, which isn’t great for someone with a hearing problem. There’s a lot of noise coming from all directions and hearing is a challenge. I am constantly surprised by how well, and how far, other people can hear across the open-plan desks – I’ll be having a conversation with someone next to me and another person from several desks down will chip into the conversation, how can they hear from way down there?! I have to constantly remind myself that others can, and will be, listening into the conversation I’m having at my desk. If we ever shuffle seats then I try and get a seat with a wall at my back so that the directions that voices are coming from is reduced a little bit.

    The telephone is of course a major problem. I’m generally not great with phones but the office is worst of all, the background noise makes it impossible to hear, especially if its a call involving more than two people, its really hard to follow multiple voices. And meetings where people are using desk-phones are the bane of my life! I use instant messaging system like Skype as much as I can instead of phoning but often people want the human element of a phone call, where I can I book a meting room for myself and use a phone on loud speaker, not having the handset pressed to my ear works better for me.

    Medium to large meetings are often difficult, especially when multiple people are talking. It’s not just difficult to hear in large rooms but it is very hard for me to localize the voice – I can often hear what someone aid but am not sure who said it! If I’m booking a meeting myself then I always make sure I book a small meeting room in a quiet part of the building and I always get a good seat with a wall behind me and everyone facing me – a little preparation goes a long way.

    What was it like growing up deaf/hard of hearing?

    I was diagnosed with a mild hearing loss when I was five. My parents got me a pair of behind-the-ear aids from the NHS, which I wore some of the time, mostly at school. I hated them. I think I wore aids at school until I was about eleven and was moving up to secondary-school – from then on, until I left school I didn’t wear them much at all. I knew I was missing some stuff but I was still getting by OK with close-by conversations and, to be honest, missing some stuff and muddling by seemed far better than wearing hearing aids to 13-year-old me. People were largely OK with my aids and I don’t remember getting teased about them at all, my reasons for not wearing them were all in my own head. By the time I was 13-15 my hearing was getting a bit worse and hearing teachers was probably the hardest part of school. Would I have done better in school if I’d worn my hearing aids? Absolutely. My grades were OK but they could have been much better had I heard what was going on!

    I stupidly thought I was getting away with hiding my hearing loss, but of course I wasn’t. People knew, probably everyone knew but no-one really mentioned it, only on occasions friends with jibe a little about it but nothing nasty – it was those times that I got a bit of a wake up call and realized how much I was missing.

    What advice would you give a deaf/HH person who is looking for a job, career or calling like yours?

    I don’t think a hearing problem should negatively affect your ability to work in software development. More and more companies are using remote teams and communicate mostly using Skype and email, which would be idea for some with hearing loss – these companies tend to be startups or smaller businesses.

    For larger companies, open-plan offices are very popular, if you get the choice of where to sit then think about the best place for you to hear; try and sit with your back to a wall, a corner seat would be the best as you minimize the sounds around you.

    I have always, always, told potential employers about my hearing loss at interviews. If you try and hide it then you are setting yourself up for big problems down the line. If I enter an interview and I can hear everyone OK then I don’t mention it straight away, I leave it to the end so that I’ve hopefully already shown them I can communicate OK it certain circumstances. But always mention it and be honest about it.

    For anyone wanting to get into software development a portfolio is a must. That would be an obvious thing for an artist or a graphic designer but most programmers don’t create one. If you have a strong body of work to show then you are already ahead of most people.

    Steve’s site: Hearing Aid Know

     

  • Todd Hlavacek, Software Engineer

    Todd Hlavacek software engineerTell me about your job, career, or calling. How did you get into this line of work?

    I’m a software engineer.  I knew back when I was a gangly teenager sitting in front of my Apple IIgs writing BASIC that I wanted to be in the computer field writing code.  Ever since that epiphany, I worked my butt off to get in the field.

    What is the best part of what you do?

    Solving the world’s problems.  🙂  Seriously, an analogy comes to mind here.  Think of Michelangelo working on the Statue of David.  He had a vision of what he wanted the statue to become.  The result of his hard labor was a beautiful statue.  It’s the same way I feel with my work.  The best part of what I do is I get something in the form of written requirements for a “problem,” and I work using some or all of the skills I have to get to the end result — a beautiful statue written in software code.

    What are some of the challenges?

    Admittedly, in a field like this, my deafness would be more of a hindrance, but fortunately, technology has progressed to the point where there are engineers, hearing, deaf and even blind, who do work remotely.  In order for them to do their jobs effectively as remote engineers, tools have to be utilized over the internet that I as a deaf engineer have benefited from greatly —

    1. Instant Messaging
    2. Go-To Meeting (similar to Microsoft’s old NetMeeting)
    3. Video Conferencing where other call in, and I can call in using Video Relay from home
    4. Smartphones — believe it or not — because now with the capability to text, IM and all on a smartphone, deaf engineers now can be a part of the “on-call” rotation with other hearing colleagues.

    One challenge still remains — face to face brainstorming and design meetings where my presence is needed.  I use sign language interpreting services for that.

    As I tell people when they encounter a deaf engineer — “Being Deaf only means that we use a different language than English to communicate orally and verbally, it does not of and by itself mean that we can’t do the job that any able-bodied engineer speaking a different language than English can do.”

    What was it like growing up/becoming Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing?

    Gosh, this is both an easy and difficult question to answer.  You see, I grew up with a deaf brother in a hearing family using Total Communication.  My mom never subscribed to the “oral only” or “Sign language only” methodologies.  She wanted to give my brother and I all tools from which we could utilize to be successful later in life.  Little did we both know growing up that we both would later use speech and sign language at one time or another throughout our lives wherever applicable — at home or at work.  I fought against one methodology and embraced the other.

    So, while growing up deaf was hard, I was fortunate in that I had a mother who fought for me.  I had access to other deaf/hard of hearing friends along with a good education.  So growing up was good, but not easy. Today’s deaf/hard of hearing children have it far much easier, I’d think, with a wide range of activities, organizations, and the like out there.

    What advice would you give a D/deaf/HH person who is looking for a job, career or calling like yours?

    I would say this:

    Number one, play around with the activities that will lead to your calling NOW instead of waiting until college.  Don’t just say, “I want to work with aeronautics” and sit and play games on your X360.  Find out all about aeronautics, do activities, etc.

    For example, I played with BASIC programming, along with other computer related stuff, back when I was a teenager — way before high school and through high school.  I knew right then it was for me.  I never changed majors in college.  The first major I went into was the one I graduated with.

    So, having stated that, if you are not sure but want to wait, don’t.  Find ways to do these activities, whether it be volunteering for a not for profit organization, or doing self-paced study online (there are plenty of them online these days), or taking community college classes.

    Number two, remember the saying:  “All work makes Jack/Jill a dull person” and conversely, “All play makes Jack/JIll an unhappy person.”  Find a balance in life between your pursuit of the calling and some play time.  Don’t sacrifice your social aspect in your relentless pursuit of your calling.  Don’t sacrifice your hard work by doing too much play time.  You’ll live for 80+ years, so be mindful of that.  You’ll find that your social life does in fact help you with your professional life, and vice versa.

    Number three, enjoy life.  Enjoy doing the work you want to do.  The day you stop enjoying it is the day you need to take a second look at whether the calling is for you or not.  I’ve been in this field for over 15 years now and I still feel the same excitement that I did the first day on the job.  I love what I do.