Software Architect at Apprion, Inc.
In late February of this year, Apprion, Inc. hired me on as a software architect. This is a step up from my previous roles as a senior software engineer, but because Apprion is a tiny, fast-moving startup company, I still get to be a hands-on architect. Accordingly, I have divided my time more or less equally among the various tasks of research; design; prototyping; and coding. It just doesn’t get any better than that. I believe that this role will suffice for a decade or two, if not the rest of my computer engineering career. That’s a tremendously useful thing, because in the absence of any concerns about promotion, I can focus on injecting ideas and designs into the organization, without being overly concerned with attribution.
Apprion buys the computers, a double-sided laser printer, and the target hardware. I, in turn, buy whatever professional books I feel like reading, and happily spend nights and weekends devouring them as fast as I can. Purchasing these books with my own funds allows me to mix in topics that some people might not recognize as being relevant, nor even in the same field. However, design and especially invention require a mindset—and a reading list—that is not overly confined to the apparent problem at hand.