I'm not the OP, but here's what I did at NASA that I found interesting:
- Developed the space lidar that will measure the polar ice cap melting
- Created a dashboard to monitor a spacecraft in deep space (and then ran ops for it)
- Developed learning models on a top500 supercomputer
- Optimization of 1000-GPU (yes) detailed simulation of the earth's magnetosphere
Yes, I knew that the industry will pay more, but honestly, I was young and just wanted to have a good time and stay around family in the area. The other jobs in the area didn't seem as exciting.
For highlights, after NSA I went to Intel and worked on early CMOS camera image sensors - you could put processor logic in the same die. Then went to a small company that designed Iridium Satellite communications chips - personal satellite communications from anywhere in the world! - as well as hyperspectral imaging spy satellites - instead of just Bayer RGB, you had 1000 wavelengths of sensor per pixel.. good for identification. Then went on as a consultant to help companies & startups make their first ASICs, as well as make GPUs at ATI, including XBox360's GPU - probably the longest produced game system.
After that I went directly into fashion where I got to make a fashion magazine that included contributors like Cindy Crawford and other top fashion industry people, based solely on our creative draw (I never pay contributors, but each issue kept getting higher-and-higher profile contributors), and now engage with thousands of top fashion brands, dealing with the art, tech, and business aspects, an industry still largely separate from Silicon Valley.
- Developed the space lidar that will measure the polar ice cap melting
- Created a dashboard to monitor a spacecraft in deep space (and then ran ops for it)
- Developed learning models on a top500 supercomputer
- Optimization of 1000-GPU (yes) detailed simulation of the earth's magnetosphere
Yes, I knew that the industry will pay more, but honestly, I was young and just wanted to have a good time and stay around family in the area. The other jobs in the area didn't seem as exciting.