Intergraph Corporation
Automating Everything (but on a Unix Machine)
Huntsville, AL
February 1992 - April 1993
This was a really cool, really interesting, really challenging, really rewarding job. Transformational for me.
My Big Responsibility there was: Intergraph Hydraulic Cert and Support Lead.
Huntsville is great town, "small" but having a truly world class technology base (including a Space Center). If you already have a family, it's a great place to raise them. No reason to ever leave.
Lot's of cool stuff to do. While buying a mountain bike there (because there a big hills), I stumbled upon a flyer for Rocket City Airsports where I learned to Hang Glide. I learned to play "real" volleyball (indoor sixes), had my first Sushi (in a restaurant contiguous to a gas station (of course?)) and cappuccino. Move Huntsville closer to an ocean...
I had zero knowledge of MicroStation and InRoads when I started. When I was told that MicroStation (version 3.4) had 2^32 positional units (instead of double-precision accuracy) and that "it's completely adequate" I felt a little lied to, but v8 took care of that.
Learned MicroStation and InRoads - through much certification and phone support. I was sent to the Swindon, England office for three weeks to work with the European experts for InRail certification. I later certified the early releases of InSpan, Intergraph's Bridge Geometry Package.
My bosses named me the Water Resources Products Certification and Support Lead, which was my primary responsibility for my last eight months there. That is fully detailed here: Intergraph Hydraulic Cert and Support Lead.
I was very proud of being able to transform a product from limited applicability (it literally stopped under pressure) to a solution that became viable throughout the market. That was my first legitimate Big Impact, an Industry Transformation.
Other highlights included:
- first live demo at a conference (with my mentor Kevin Lucht)
- first overseas trip (two weeks in Swindon, England, Certifying InRail with engineers from all over Europe (they made fun of me because I had never actually been on train before (apparently, Disney's monorail doesn't count). "In the States, if we can't drive, we FLY!")
- Certified InSpan, Intergraph's first crack at a Bridge Geometry package. Verified the numbers in Excel (of course).
InRoads impressed me enough that I needed to use it in production. I moved back to Orlando to work at HNTB as an InRoads Designer (and to get back to where I belong: near a beach).
As Water Resources Support Lead, I established relationships with people around the country. It seemed I talked to Sophia Bhatia of San Diego Data Processing Corporation (SDDPC) on a near-daily basis.
Two years after leaving Intergraph, I moved to San Diego to do contract work for Sophia and SDDPC to help integrate InSewer with GIS per the EPA's requirements to waive Secondary Treatment of San Diego's Wastewater. Three months stretched to five years. I've lived in San Diego now 25 years.