[ChrisMarshallNY]

I worked the majority of my career at an optical equipment manufacturer. It was technical, but in a very old-fashioned sense (sometimes, too "old-fashioned").

One of the reasons that I stayed there, was because I was satisfied that most applications of our products were for artistic, creative, or scientific purposes. I felt decent about working there.

Also, the culture was very focused on delivering the very best to our end-users. Unlike almost every tech company in existence, these days, the company was not interested in selling itself.

[9283409232]

This is what I mean. Thanks for giving an example. There are very normal not sexy companies that need engineers.

[turnsout]

What was the company? Sounds cool!

[ChrisMarshallNY]

I don't usually mention the name in public, but it is one of the top Japanese camera manufacturers (Starts with "N").

They weren't always peaceful, though. Their Nishi-Oi factory had a rail and mount system for submarine periscopes.

[turnsout]

Oh, very cool! I’m also a photographer, so that sounds like a dream job. Any advice on breaking into this space as a software developer?

[ChrisMarshallNY]

Many of the top manufacturers are non-American, and have a very "staid" corporate culture. The best are German or Japanese, so learning about those cultures is helpful.

In my case, I had done a lot of "extracurricular" learning and work, which was attractive to the people that interviewed me. Like I said in another post, on another thread, I have always enjoyed doing tech, and spend most of my free time, working on software.

I also come from a hardware background. My experience in connecting software to hardware was important. I should mention that most hardware companies treat software rather casually. I hope that's starting to change.

The job market, these days, is drastically different from what it was, but I suspect that these companies may be more "traditional" than a lot of tech companies.

[turnsout]

That is all very helpful—thank you! And your comment about how hardware companies approach software 100% matches what I've observed in consulting. The idea of combining my love of photography and my software skillset at a more traditional company is actually very appealing to me at the moment. Thanks for the inspiration!

[ChrisMarshallNY]

I wish you the very best. Photography, video, and image processing are all very exciting fields, right now.