What’s the most fun about your job?
What I consider a priceless part of my job is that I'm judged simply on my
abilities & performance & not on some bogus criteria, such as how good my
office politics are or whether I'm wearing the latest styles. A close
second is that I'm not just allowed to have creativity & initiative but
rather I'm strongly encouraged to exercise those qualities. Unfortunately,
I suspect that this combination is not enjoyed by very many people in the
workforce. I have gotten & continue to get a great deal of satisfaction
from the creative process of using my skills to advance the IT capabilities
of the Borehole Research Group so as to always try to have necessary IT
capabilities in place before the users even realize that they need those
capabilities. Having the opportunity to work with people who are personally
& professionally world class is truly special. I continue to be delighted &
amazed that someone would pay me to have as much fun as I do on the job.
What’s it like trying to get science done at sea?
Trying to accomplish science at sea is always a challenge due to the
constant motion of the ship, isolation & an office/lab setting inside the
ship combined with a potentially dangerous setting out on deck due to ship's
motion mixed with heavy machinery. The true challenge is to come home with
lots of good data even when equipment failures, fatigue & bad weather
sometimes feel like they're all conspiring against you.
What skills or personality traits are important for someone working in your
field?
To effectively work in the IT field, one needs to be curious, be able to
deal with a high level of frustration without losing your focus & be able to
talk with fellow IT peers with all the usual IT jargon yet at the same time
be able to respectfully & successfully explain the same thing to a beginning
computer user with zero IT jargon. An IT person needs to not get attached
to any particular piece of hardware. The latest server will be yesterday's
out of date hardware in 3 years & must be unemotionally replaced without
hesitation when the time comes.
What kinds of projects do you hope to become involved with in the future?
I'm looking forward to my part in implementing all of the neat IT stuff that
Borehole will have. I always enjoy my part in implementing a new IT
capability that we didn't have before which allows us to advance our
science.
What were your favorite and least favorite subjects in school?
As I went through school I tended with each year to favor math & science &
like the arts less. This was partly due to my natural abilities but far
more than that was that I connected much ore with my math & science teachers
& had little in common with most of my English, history, etc., teachers.
