Profile

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Andy Hearn

Curriculum Vitae

  • Work History:

    RACAL, Thomson CSF, Thales Aerospace / Avionics (all from the same site however)

  • Current Job:

    Principal Software Engineer

  • Employer:

    Thales Training and Simulation

  • My Work

    Write code – mostly cool, some not so – for all sorts of things.

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    I mostly develop (gaze at the ceiling, spin around in my chair and write software for) sensor simulations, virtual environments (yes, pretend surroundings), videostreaming (squeezing lots of pictures down cables), and anything else (interesting) that might crop up unexpectedly.

    The company I work for builds aircraft simulators, training equipment and rigs, creating computer-generated vehicles, landscapes, and even the weather (rain looks more impressive than a clear sky, funnily enough!) for different types of training suites.

    Previously it was writing stuff to test other people’s mission-critical software to make sure that they work!   That was fun – in a weird way – because there were nothing to check that my stuff were checking the other stuff correctly!

  • My Typical Day: Arrive at work, drink coffee, design/develop/test the latest code, discuss new/old/boring/fun stuff with my team. Find and destroy bugs, run bug-free stuff. Go home happy.

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    There isn’t a “typical day” really.   They vary depending on what needs to be done.  It is usually extending existing code with new functionalities (ways of doing stuff) – someone (including me) might have a weird bright idea to improve something, or we get to re-use old code for new hardware, but that code will need to have some bits of it replaced with up-to-date stuff to suit the newer hardware, and so on.

    We have to write documentation for the software that we create, so others know how to use it.   We try to write bits of it while developing software, that’s better than having to write a lot of it at the end!

    Sometimes there are bugs in the software that we have to hunt down and destroy, they usually grab all of my attention especially for bugs that are very hard to catch (but when they are caught and destroyed, it is hard not to want to stand up and shout “YES!”)

     

  • My Interview

    • What's the best thing you've done in your career?

      That’s gotten me thinking since there were many. I suppose it was the time when I engineered a quicker way of adding new systems (like radars) to a virtual environment, but with these systems not “knowing” that the surroundings are fake.

      What or who inspired you to follow your career?

      Being allowed to use Dad’s tools, when I was very young, to take things apart to see how they worked! (Thanks Dad!)

      What did you want to be after you left school?

      I had a huge dilemma. I didn’t know which I wanted to do; do marine biology and work on boats, or go into software. Back then these two career choices didn’t mix at all!

      If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

      That’s a difficult question! Apart from working on boats, there were so many things I’d have liked to try out; graphic design and animation probably. I even think I could do roadsweeping – waking up early and taking pride in cleaning roads and paths for everyone else.

      What's your favourite food?

      I enjoy anything, the only thing I can’t stand the taste of is liquorice! Erm, okay if you really wanted to know, it’d have to be pasta dishes and curries.

      What is the most fun thing you've done?

      Quite a list to choose from…. Bungee jumping has to be a fave – the adrenaline rushes are the best. Skydiving comes close second.

Questions answered by Andy

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