Re:Ask HN: Anyone had a positive mentor/mentee experience as...
by bsenftner on Tuesday August 03, 2021 @11:06AM
(#28050088)
I've had two good mentors so far in my 40 years of software:
During undergrad I worked at a research lab, and the professor running the lab wrote what would now be called a lab-wide IoT environment. But this was the 80's and he just called it "MS" for "modeling software" - it modeled "situations", verified/monitored by sensors (cameras, mics, clock) which had software triggers to run processes (send emails, turn on/off lights, run lab maintenance...) so we, the staff, could focus on the reason we were there - our research. How he set up MS, and how our research work ultimately tied into his stack to run our experiments and generate publication graphics taught me so much more than my undergraduate degree. His whole approach was to free us to focus on our other, more important work, and how software like that could be design and implemented.
I was involved in early streaming media. In the late 80's at Philips N.V., several working groups trying to create technology demonstrations of streaming media with early CD-ROMs failed to deliver demonstrations meeting expectations. A European executive from the Netherlands came to the multi-company joint venture in the 'States to try his hand, against local management's wishes. He was politically high at Philips, and the local management simply did not want a Parent Company takeover. I was one of a small team placed under him, and at the time a junior media engineer. His respectful personality and rewarding others management style encouraged his team and I learned the power of empathetic charisma. The guy had style and attributed it to others around him, as if he and his manner were due to us. He taught me to always look at the goal of a software's users, and the superior experience of creating transparent technology that augments a person's needs rather than attempting to take over their attention. Coupling his attitude with my prior automated lab experience enabled us to create a complete media production environment that "plugged into" existing media production teams. Not only did we produce technology demonstrations that became marketed and award winning products, but our production system became a professional product Philips sold to media companies.
During undergrad I worked at a research lab, and the professor running the lab wrote what would now be called a lab-wide IoT environment. But this was the 80's and he just called it "MS" for "modeling software" - it modeled "situations", verified/monitored by sensors (cameras, mics, clock) which had software triggers to run processes (send emails, turn on/off lights, run lab maintenance...) so we, the staff, could focus on the reason we were there - our research. How he set up MS, and how our research work ultimately tied into his stack to run our experiments and generate publication graphics taught me so much more than my undergraduate degree. His whole approach was to free us to focus on our other, more important work, and how software like that could be design and implemented.
I was involved in early streaming media. In the late 80's at Philips N.V., several working groups trying to create technology demonstrations of streaming media with early CD-ROMs failed to deliver demonstrations meeting expectations. A European executive from the Netherlands came to the multi-company joint venture in the 'States to try his hand, against local management's wishes. He was politically high at Philips, and the local management simply did not want a Parent Company takeover. I was one of a small team placed under him, and at the time a junior media engineer. His respectful personality and rewarding others management style encouraged his team and I learned the power of empathetic charisma. The guy had style and attributed it to others around him, as if he and his manner were due to us. He taught me to always look at the goal of a software's users, and the superior experience of creating transparent technology that augments a person's needs rather than attempting to take over their attention. Coupling his attitude with my prior automated lab experience enabled us to create a complete media production environment that "plugged into" existing media production teams. Not only did we produce technology demonstrations that became marketed and award winning products, but our production system became a professional product Philips sold to media companies.