Jonathan Austin: ARM graduate

JOB Graduate engineer
EMPLOYER ARM
QUALIFICATIONS MEng information and computer engineering, University of Cambridge (2010)

I’ve always enjoyed using computers and like to program as a hobby. I did a year in industry with Sharp before university and completed three summer internships while at Cambridge: one with my current employer, one with a science education charity and one conducting a business project for the university. These experiences clarified that technical work interested me most.

Open-source technologies

My employer designs semiconductor intellectual property. I work in a team that adapts versions of the open-source operating system Linux, eg Ubuntu and Debian, as many organisations run these on top of ARM systems. My role is to improve how applications that run on Linux run on our products. We release our work at least quarterly, for which I document everything I have done. Upstreaming is an important part of my job; this involves persuading the programmers of the original software to incorporate our amends into the official version.

A typical task is cross-compiling, ie creating an executable file on one system that will be run on another. This involves taking a software package, trying to cross-compile it, seeing how well it works (or getting it to work at all), then making it work better.

I enjoy working with a huge range of different software tools and languages. I’ve worked with tools written in eight or nine programming languages, have seen lots of examples of good code and have made very specific adaptations to them. I also enjoy working closely with talented colleagues; all my work ties in with other people’s, both in my team and elsewhere, so we communicate a great deal.

I’ve had formal training since joining, but have found that the best way to learn is to talk through a specific problem with a more experienced colleague. I’m also able to take time out to read up on the relevant technologies I need to know about.

An Ubuntu conference

I’m usually office-based but recently spent a week at an Ubuntu conference in Budapest, attended by technologists from different organisations. The focus was on discussing the best ways to take the technology forward – there were six discussion slots a day on different topics and I was free to attend whichever I thought would be most relevant. It was a great experience for a geek! I also had the chance to do a bit of sightseeing in the evenings and at lunchtime.

I can choose my hours and typically work 10.00 am to 7.00 pm. My interests outside work also revolve around technology: I’m currently building a media centre. It’s great that what I’m paid to do is pretty much what I’d be doing anyway.

I love working on things that haven’t been done before, knowing that no one knows ‘the answer’, or even if it will be possible to find one. Sometimes I can spend ages feeling as if I’m not getting anywhere with a problem, but the satisfaction of solving it is the best aspect of the job.