What I Do
I am a problem solver. I like developing technology, especially software, to solve problems. In the past, I have solved problems in the scientific (physics) arena and in the area of big business. For a while now, the types of problems I would like to solve deal with sustainability. This is a broad topic that I am exploring in my section - Unless. The main skills I bring to the table fall into two camps. The first is the ablity to listen to the customer, understand what they really need (as opposed to what they think they need) and to translate that into technical terms that my fellow developers can understand. The second is the ability to blend the mathematical rigors of scientific problems with a focus on ease of use and robustness reqiured for commerical programming.
SAP
Industry Units Aerospace/Defence & Engineering/Construction
My professional life (other than my brief stints at teaching) is dominated by my time at SAP. For those who are not familiar with SAP, it is the 3rd largest software manufacturer in the world (behind Microsoft and Oracle). It is a German company that dominates the Enterprise Resource Planning arena. This is for large Fortune 1000 companies who want a common system to run their sales, production, financial, purchasing, and human resources. When I first joined SAP, my interviewer explained that there are no complex mathematical algorithms to work on - this would be very different from my thesis work. He was right, but instead of mathematical complexity, SAP brought enormous complexity in the form of systems engineering - everything is connected to everything else and f you pull on one strand, you better be prepared to follow it through the whole process, because the consequences can be far reaching.
I have been a software developer for SAP for over 10 years, rising to the level of Development Architect. I started in the development center in Palo Alto with the Industry unit for Aerospace and Defense where, among other things, I supported Air New Zealand Engineering Services. This necessitated several trips to New Zealand - definitely the best perk of the job.
I then moved into the newly formed Industry unit for Engineering and Construction to support and eventually lead the development for the Homebuilding Industry solution. This solution was focused on supporting the Make to Order process for large homebuilders who build “custom” homes based on a few models and lots of options.
Custom Development
After a year in this position (and a total of 3 years at SAP), I moved across the US to the newly formed Custom Development group based at the SAP American headquarters in Newtown Square, PA. Despite SAP’s enormous code base, wide ranging functionality, and built in customization options, many customers find it necessary to extend or modify the SAP standard in order to meet their business requirements. This is where the Custom Development group gets involved. In the 7 years I have been with SAP Custom Development, I have worked on a variety of projects in almost all of SAP’s products - which is saying quite a bit given that their flagship product, ERP, passed the 100 million lines of code milestone a few years back and they have several other products. My role now as an architect is to quickly evaluate the customer’s requirements and determine a solution approach. Given we only have a handful of architects in the US and we are supposed to respond to requests in just about any area of SAP, this requires very fast thinking and an ability to quickly learn new functionality as well as new business processes. I now have been the lead architect on several long running projects leading a global development team. One of these projects was for the first Custom Composite Application at SAP. The architecture followed SAP's Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture philosophy and integrated Java, ABAP and .Net technologies. This project was on the bleeding edge in terms of SAP technology (we were well past the past the leading edge) and we provided the first real-world testing for many parts of the SAP NetWeaver technology stack. Beyond the technical challenges, I also had to coordinate developers in 5 different countries in 6 locations in 5 different time zones. My latest project was a global custom application for managing resources in the Professional Services industry. This web-based application leveraged the latest user interface technology from SAP and succeeded where several previous projects failed.
Additional Activities
While at SAP, I have had the opportunity to teach classes, even create a class. I have also presented several times at conferences. I am quite comfortable speaking to a large audience on technical subjects. I have been sought out by the sales and marketing team to present to customers due to my ability to convey complex technical concepts in an understandable manner.
I have programmed in FORTRAN, C, C++, Java (both SE and EE), as well as SAP’s proprietary language, ABAP. I have spent quite a bit of time developing new applications with the focus on usability, performance as well as modularity for future growth. I have even presented a lecture series on Object Oriented Analysis and Design.