Comments on: Interview with Craig “cass-hacks” http://johnmu.com/interview-with-craig/ John Mueller's technical website tips and tricks Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:21:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Craig http://johnmu.com/interview-with-craig/comment-page-1/#comment-146 Craig Mon, 03 Sep 2007 02:24:54 +0000 http://johnmu.com/interview-with-craig/#comment-146 Matt - I segued from nuclear engineering to IT mainly by getting involved more and more in the control system side of things. Initially I was working on the hardware that interfaced control systems to the vacuum pumps, high voltage power supplies and various other electromechanical controllers. Little by little I started working more on the user interface aspect of the control systems to the point of rewriting systems provided by primary vendors to make them more user friendly and less clunky. From there, I changed companies and went to work with a group developing authorization verification technology, contrasted with user authentication. What that basically means is that it doesn't matter who you are, only whether or not you can prove you are authorized. I got into that group mainly to do coding but soon segued into applying the technology to controlling access to audio files, initially using Real Networks client server architecture and from there segued to working on the MPEG standards for DRM. From there, I went the consulting route and do pretty much anything that comes along, one of the things that came along being building a huge database. I guess you could say that I'm a lot like you in many regards, a "Jack of all trades". Cristina - One could say I've moved around a lot and done many different things while never going anywhere and doing always the same thing. One way or another I always find myself in the role of a "firefighter" of sorts. Wherever there is a problem or something in need of doing that no one else has a clue as to what or how to do it, I seem to end up the "lucky" one who gets tasked with whatever needs doing. Case in point, I've lately been working with databases but later this month will be off to Geneva to present for standardization a communication architecture I developed a number of years ago. The database work and the architecture work are totally unrelated except, they needed doing and I was the stupid one who said I could do it. Another way to describe my past, in a previous company I worked for, Fuji Xerox, my official title, as found on my business cards was, "Corporate Samuarai". My job description, "remove obstacles". ;-) Matt – I segued from nuclear engineering to IT mainly by getting involved more and more in the control system side of things. Initially I was working on the hardware that interfaced control systems to the vacuum pumps, high voltage power supplies and various other electromechanical controllers. Little by little I started working more on the user interface aspect of the control systems to the point of rewriting systems provided by primary vendors to make them more user friendly and less clunky.

From there, I changed companies and went to work with a group developing authorization verification technology, contrasted with user authentication. What that basically means is that it doesn’t matter who you are, only whether or not you can prove you are authorized. I got into that group mainly to do coding but soon segued into applying the technology to controlling access to audio files, initially using Real Networks client server architecture and from there segued to working on the MPEG standards for DRM.

From there, I went the consulting route and do pretty much anything that comes along, one of the things that came along being building a huge database.

I guess you could say that I’m a lot like you in many regards, a “Jack of all trades”.

Cristina – One could say I’ve moved around a lot and done many different things while never going anywhere and doing always the same thing.

One way or another I always find myself in the role of a “firefighter” of sorts. Wherever there is a problem or something in need of doing that no one else has a clue as to what or how to do it, I seem to end up the “lucky” one who gets tasked with whatever needs doing.

Case in point, I’ve lately been working with databases but later this month will be off to Geneva to present for standardization a communication architecture I developed a number of years ago. The database work and the architecture work are totally unrelated except, they needed doing and I was the stupid one who said I could do it.

Another way to describe my past, in a previous company I worked for, Fuji Xerox, my official title, as found on my business cards was, “Corporate Samuarai”. My job description, “remove obstacles”. ;-)

]]> By: Christina http://johnmu.com/interview-with-craig/comment-page-1/#comment-121 Christina Thu, 30 Aug 2007 04:38:03 +0000 http://johnmu.com/interview-with-craig/#comment-121 Very interesting interview. Yet I still feel Craig remains an enigma :) Alien? Hmmm.... yes, it might fit. Hints of your achievements which almost seem to span several lifetimes ... I feel we'd need to peel a few more layers off Craig to see what makes him tick. Might there be another installment? Very interesting interview. Yet I still feel Craig remains an enigma :)
Alien? Hmmm…. yes, it might fit.

Hints of your achievements which almost seem to span several lifetimes …

I feel we’d need to peel a few more layers off Craig to see what makes him tick.
Might there be another installment?

]]> By: Matt http://johnmu.com/interview-with-craig/comment-page-1/#comment-111 Matt Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:09:22 +0000 http://johnmu.com/interview-with-craig/#comment-111 Craig - Great interview - totally interesting. I'd be really interested to know how you moved from working with nuclear technology to inventory management and IT? Also, as a nuclear technologist, have you seen this 'Google Tech Talk' on fusion reactors? Do you have any opinions about it? video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606 Cheers, M Craig – Great interview – totally interesting.

I’d be really interested to know how you moved from working with nuclear technology to inventory management and IT?

Also, as a nuclear technologist, have you seen this ‘Google Tech Talk’ on fusion reactors? Do you have any opinions about it?

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606

Cheers,

M

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