Introducing Clare - Software Developer at IBM

Hi all,

Okay, so I'm Clare Owens*. I've actually been at Hursley since September 2006, and that time has gone very quickly indeed! I'm actually a full-time student, which often confuses people. Here's the explanation; I'm doing a degree called an EngD (Engineering Doctorate), which is basically an industrial PhD. The ideas is the student spends some of their time at the sponsor company (in my case, IBM!) and some of their time in academia: I'm a computer scientist, and when not at IBM I'm at the University of Southampton. EngD's are designed to bridge academia and industry, and generate research grounded in the 'real world'.

I'm now in my fourth and final year, due to finish at the end of December! So I'm currently in the process of analysing a bunch of data from some experiments I ran last month, and planning a few more studies. Much of the second half of this year will be spent on my thesis.

So, I'm not really a 'standard' IBMer (but it there any such thing?) Certainly, I'm not involved in developing a particular IBM product - my research is into innovative methods for system design, often (but not always!) in the domain of pervasive technologies.

I'm involved in some very cool stuff here at Hursley - for example, I'm running a project as part of an awesome scheme for new grads, and on the side I'm involved in patent work, mentoring and other bits and bobs. I hope to write about these things soon!

Meanwhile, if you have particular questions or want to hear about something specific, please just leave a comment here. You can also find me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/ClareJHooper

That's all for now - catch you round...

*But I'm also known as Clare Hooper, for added confusion :) I keep my maiden name in academia, for consistency across publications.

Introducing Ed - Software Engineer at IBM

Hey, I'm Ed; I joined IBM in September 2008 straight after graduating from Bath Uni. I studied Maths, and it wasn't until my third year placement (in accounting) when I decided that I wanted to work in software (*not* accounting).

Since I joined I've worked on a product called SVC (a wikipedia search for 'IBM SVC' will get you a quick explanation of what it does) - firstly in test and now in L3 support. L3 is the team that deals with the particularly high importance or high complexity issues that our customers encounter in the field (L1 and L2 make up the rest of our support structure), so its a lot more techie that you might expect a support role to be.

For me though, the coolest thing about working at Hursley is the opportunity for 'extra curricular activities' - I get to make educational software for local schools, teach IT lessons to 7 year olds, plan the induction for this year's new starters, and even make video games with a bunch of fellow grads. Our latest project involves wizards with guns: how can that not be cool?

I'm hoping through this blog to explain what it's like to have a day job at the labs, and also how it can open up these other sorts of opportunities for you :)