AeroVironment

July 2010 - September 2013

AeroVironment manufactured and tested a variety of drones for the military.

In this role, Matthew performed software design, programming, and maintenance in C#, VB.Net, C, and C++ for various existing and newly developed applications. The job involved handled maintenance and implementation of FalconView Map Application plugins used for communicating with simulators and actual Small Unmanned Air Vehicles (SUAVs) using serial, UDP, and TCP protocols that were both open and proprietary.

Some of the most fun tasks involved developing object-oriented flight simulators in C# and Unity3D. There was also creating various software libraries for DTED, UDP packet communications, and debugging / testing tools. Matthew also develop a unique, simple to use, GIS desktop application supporting dozens of map types and geo-referenced entities. These programs and libraries involving implementing programming libraries based off ICDs, RFCs, and white papers. This job also included working with embedded Linux and Windows operating systems.

Pros:

• A wide variety of projects to work on
• Creativity was always wanted and time was given for coming up with new ideas
• A very friendly group of co-workers
• Awesome technology to learn and utilize
• Frequent travel to various military bases for demonstrations and testing of equipment
• No demand for charisma talk

Cons:

• Some shortly employed co-workers, often called rock-stars, were often overly competitive and would break projects. They were difficult to work with for many but Matthew would comply with them and, during team meetings, would indirectly bring up software issues observed to help bring awareness.
• A manager was a control freak who couldn’t handle being proven wrong; like saying a udp packet couldn’t be processed quickly in C#. Matthew handled this manager by politely doing his best to comply and, in a few instances, speaking with the client and having them tell the manager what they thought should be done.
• The company sold out and laid off almost all of their engineers while favoring hiring more managers. Hundreds were laid off through 6 waves and Matthew was caught in the 4th wave.