3 ms·

> In my case, there weren't exactly a whole lot of traffic engineers. We had to make them, and we did. i think that's the model in a nutshell. all companies sh

> In my case, there weren't exactly a whole lot of traffic engineers. We had to make them, and we did. i think that's the model in a nutshell. all companies should be doing this. no companies should be bellyaching about a shortage of qualified workers.

KGIII 9y ago
Want to hear something scary? Lead traffic engineers make less, according to the web, than I used to start them at. Programmers, on average, also make less than I used to start them at. In 1998, depending on experience, I'd bring them in at about $120k, plus bonuses and benefits. Suffice to say, I see serious issues. One of the best things about training is that you get the exact skills you need. I had no moral issues with pushing research to a local university and then poaching them. It's a damned shame, I think, that businesses often refuse to invest in their people. I hired people because they were able to do things that I could not. If I could have done them, I'd have not had to hire them. Frankly, I'd like them to be able to do their best. That means ensuring they have the tools they need. One of those tools is an education.
- mywittyname 9y ago
  Honestly, it sounds like you were a good businessman with a decent moral compass.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    Thank you. Though, there is a profit motive. Happy employees do good work. Educated employees helped keep me in front of the competition that was coming online. We'd eventually expand to offering pedestrian traffic modeling. We'd sell appliances that enabled them to keep their data in-house, as well. Curiously enough, I'd expected to remain in academia. My dissertation (my Ph.D. is in Applied Mathematics) was based on traffic throughput, optimization and prediction, which led to a contract being offered. I was able to be in the right place, at the right time, and able to take advantage of it. The rest is, shall we say, history. I ended up in the field largely because the data was free and DEC was able to throw compute resources at me. It is largely luck, even though I put lots of work into it. Ah well... I don't have words of wisdom. It was largely due to just timing and being able to take the risks. Even selling was largely luck. The economy crashed and the government wanted to build/expand highways as 'shovel ready jobs.'

KGIII 9y ago

Want to hear something scary? Lead traffic engineers make less, according to the web, than I used to start them at. Programmers, on average, also make less than I used to start them at. In 1998, depending on experience, I'd bring them in at about $120k, plus bonuses and benefits. Suffice to say, I see serious issues. One of the best things about training is that you get the exact skills you need. I had no moral issues with pushing research to a local university and then poaching them. It's a damned shame, I think, that businesses often refuse to invest in their people. I hired people because they were able to do things that I could not. If I could have done them, I'd have not had to hire them. Frankly, I'd like them to be able to do their best. That means ensuring they have the tools they need. One of those tools is an education.

mywittyname 9y ago
Honestly, it sounds like you were a good businessman with a decent moral compass.
- KGIII 9y ago
  Thank you. Though, there is a profit motive. Happy employees do good work. Educated employees helped keep me in front of the competition that was coming online. We'd eventually expand to offering pedestrian traffic modeling. We'd sell appliances that enabled them to keep their data in-house, as well. Curiously enough, I'd expected to remain in academia. My dissertation (my Ph.D. is in Applied Mathematics) was based on traffic throughput, optimization and prediction, which led to a contract being offered. I was able to be in the right place, at the right time, and able to take advantage of it. The rest is, shall we say, history. I ended up in the field largely because the data was free and DEC was able to throw compute resources at me. It is largely luck, even though I put lots of work into it. Ah well... I don't have words of wisdom. It was largely due to just timing and being able to take the risks. Even selling was largely luck. The economy crashed and the government wanted to build/expand highways as 'shovel ready jobs.'