What's your job about?
Cochlear builds devices that help people to hear and I am responsible for developing some of the code that lives on those devices. On a given day, that may include any of the tasks involved in software development, from writing code to implement a new feature, fixing bugs that have been reported in the field, reviewing work done by fellow engineers, or partaking in high-level planning to define our milestones and sprints.
What's your background?
I was born and raised in Sydney and had a fairly normal primary and high school experience. Played sports, made friends, didn’t start studying until Year 12, the usual really. From early on I was inclined to do engineering, mainly because I liked the idea of making things for a living. While there are plenty of creative outlets that could accommodate this desire, engineering stood out to me because I felt like I would be having a positive impact on people’s lives, making things that really improve their well-being. Cochlear fit into this vision quite naturally and in my penultimate year of university, I applied for their Summer Student Program and was thankfully accepted. From there it felt like a natural progression to a permanent role and here I am.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
In my opinion, definitely. Sure, things would be easier coming from a software or electronics background, but the learning curve tends to be steep regardless of background and if you come with a willingness to learn, collaborative energy and a good ability to problem-solve, the technical skills can be developed with patience. Personally, I’ve found that the most important characteristics to have in the role are to be able to break down complex problems into smaller parts; once you start solving the small problems, the big one starts solving itself.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The fact that I can write a line of code and then physically see what it does on a piece of hardware in front of me. It gives me a sense of satisfaction to see these tangible results immediately before me and it serves as a constant contextualisation of what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.
What are the limitations of your job?
There are moments when the job can be quite frustrating. Now and then you reach a point when you just don’t know why your code isn’t working. Debugging directly on hardware is never the easiest and sometimes you wish you had more resources and tooling to make that process easier. That being said, it does make it that much more satisfying when you figure it out.
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