Are you involved with any professional affiliations?
To stay abreast of developments in my field, I actively participate in IEEE Computer and IEEE Communications. I am a member of and Colorado Chapter Secretary of INCOSE (International Consortium on Systems Engineering). I am a National Instruments Alliance Program Associate member. If time and finances permitted, I would participate in several other outstanding professional societies...
Describe a professional skill you have developed in your most recent job.
A recent and current client of mine, Esterel Technologies, for whom I provide technical pre-sales services, introduced me to the use of formal languages (specifically Esterel and Lustre) for the implementation of deterministic control systems.
Their product, SCADE Suite, is a product similar to the control systems toolbox of Matlab/Simulink with the additional capabilities of being based on a formal, mathematical language and of producing DO-178B qualifiable C code. The benefits to a user are a dramatic reduction in design and verification costs in a safety-critical environment.
Do you like working alone or in a team environment?
My preference for independent or collaborative work depends on the nature of the task at hand: for example, analyzing a system and clarifying its specification is a task best performed amongst peers and subject matter experts while doing information research or drafting code are ideal independent efforts.
When appropriate, I like to collaborate with peers to consult with, advise, and train them. When appropriate, I like to remove distractions and focus on drafting a model, a document, or a code module.
Do you like working in large groups?
An ideal team consists of 3 to 9 experts; too few individuals leads to deadlocks over personal opinions while too many members leads to stagnation due to communication overhead.
At Bell Laboratories, I once was a member of a team of more than 50 engineers who met 3 times a week to review over 300 pages of technical documentation. The situation was farcical, nothing meaningful was accomplished.
Everyone has a favorite class in college. What was yours?
Complex Analysis. Because it provides a unification of the various domain-specific branches of mathematics. Unfortunately, each engineering disciple often uses its own mathematical terminology and techniques. Complex analysis reveals the wonderful commonality of trigonometry, physics, electrical engineering, signal processing, transfer functions, and more.
How can you help our company be more profitable?
The services I offer - and the skills I bring to the table - all relate to designing and implementing software systems correctly, in optimal time, on the first attempt. These skills and services also relate to implementing systems which are highly reliable and therefore minimize maintenance costs and litigation expenses. Clearly, these benefits directly improve your bottom line.
How do you measure the success of your work?
My success is contingent on your success: if I deliver a solution which meets your functional requirements, your schedule constraints, and your cost constraints, then I have succeeded.
I gauge your satisfaction with my work through ongoing conversation with you to assess progress towards our negotiated requirements, schedules, and constraints.
If, in the process of satisfying my clients, I happen to learn new concepts and improved methods, then I am doubly pleased.
How do you usually handle criticism?
I thrive on constructive criticism and strive to adjust my behavior and deliverables to satisfy my clients, peers, and supervisors.
I attempt to handle deconstructive feedback by talking privately with the individual(s) who feel so wronged that they have become spiteful. (This, by the way, has rarely happened to me in my career.) If this fails, I bring the matter up discreetly with those with authority above all affected parties.
How would you rate your communication skills?
I rate my communications skills as excellent. I encourage you to review a portfolio of my published work at my consultancy's site. I am also comfortable performing public presentations - and have received positive feedback from my audiences on my ability to communicate technical concepts clearly.
Is there anything you would change about your college education?
A historical dichotomy exists between mechanical and computer engineering. This is unfortunate because understanding Control Systems (and really the engineering of systems) is increasingly a skill much needed amongst software engineers as "control" becomes less of a mechanical process and more of an electronic and computational process. Therefore, if I could repeat my college education, I would augment the classical eletrical and computer engineering classes with classes in mechanical engineering, control systems, and systems engineering.
Tell me how you would handle multiple projects in the job.
I perform admission control, prioritization, and scheduling to multi-task my time between various clients and within individual projects. That is, I prefer to draft a timeline schedule (typically MS Project) for significant tasks and to prioritize the various tasks so that I know which ones have slack and can tolerate delay. Then, I only accept new tasks when I am reasonably certain that I can complete them without jeopardizing in progress tasks.
When a situation cannot afford the luxury of the above formalism, I cautiously address crises and keep my clients and supervisors appraised of the unexpected interruptions so that they are not surprised by delivery delays.
What makes you unique and why should we hire you over any of our other candidates?
I can assist you as can few other engineers because I have experience across the software lifecycle and have the rare ability amongst engineers to excel at presenting, orally and textually, technical ideas.
Many an engineer may be able to exploit the intricate capabilities of a particular technology or tool. Most, however, lack the abilities to incorporate such niche expertise into a practical software lifecycle and to share the benefits of their expert understanding amongst a project's stakeholders. This I can and have done.
I am also well liked and respected by my clients, employers, and peers. I am of good character and am never the source of unpleasant interpersonal issues.
What new skills or ideas do you bring to the job that other candidates aren't likely to offer?
The "engineering" in software engineering.
Software systems should and can be predictable; achieving this requires formal, analytical tools, languages, and thinking. There are far too many folk who are simply programmers that simply implement complex systems in convoluted, stream-of-consciousness, rambling, arcane code languages.
The fact that useful systems occassionally spring forth from these folk is impressive - but predictable systems demand true engineering and not artistic crafting.
What one word best describes you?
Predictable.
What would your colleagues tell me about your attention to detail?
They would say that I am meticulous and punctual without being an annoying, tardy perfectionist or idealist.
Why did you leave your last job?
Each employment transition has been the result of either successful completion of the project or the result of downsizing due to poor economic conditions. All of my former clients and employers have remarked that they would retain or hire me anew if economic conditions permitted doing so.
Why have you held so many jobs in recent times?
As a consultant, one hopes to have numerous prior jobs in short intervals because this indicates that one is successful in establishing a customer base. That said, recent poor economic conditions have forced several of my recent employers and clients to release even their exemplary staff and consultants. I have been subject to this.
|
Lonnie VanZandt637 Witter Gulch Road
Evergreen, CO 80439 US
(303) 679-6035 (Office)
(720) 201-1349 (Cellular)
|
QUICK LINKS
|
|
