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Wow! You were part of NASA in the 80s? So cool.

anonymousiam 3y ago
Not part of NASA -- I worked for Hughes Aircraft Space & Communications Group, on contract with JPL to produce the probe. The contract was awarded to Hughes because of their previous work on the Venus probes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Venus_Multiprobe#Spacecraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Venus_Multiprobe#Space... Those probes were created and launched a few years before I joined the company. I was a new employee when Hughes was producing the Galileo probe and my role was minor. I spent 35 years with the company -- the last half with Boeing, who acquired it from GM around the year 2001. For the most part, it was my dream job and I really enjoyed working with the best and brightest people.
- silentsea90 3y ago
  Very very cool. Did working at your dream job involve explorations + leaps of faith + backing yourself, or did you just organically get there with hard work and always choosing what you were excited about? This leaks into career advice land but I struggle with even defining a dream job let alone being in one, though I certainly find certain problem spaces a LOT cooler (but more risky) than others. Eg. self driving cars, robotics.
  - anonymousiam 3y ago
    My career consisted of two separate paths. I had 'day jobs', and the Hughes job was my fourth technical job, and orders of magnitude better than any of the previous ones. Separately, I've also maintained a consulting gig, which did involve explorations/leaps of faith/backing myself. The hardest part of it all was trying to find balance between work and family. I always felt like I was failing them both.
- kortilla 3y ago
  (If you intend your account to be anonymous like your name suggests, you might want to edit some details here…)
  - anonymousiam 3y ago
    There's enough detail in my prior comments for people who know me to figure out that it's me. Also, any government who wanted to could probably figure it out too. I've never thought about it, but I suppose some might think that I'm somehow associated with "Anonymous" (the hacker group), but I'm not.

Not part of NASA -- I worked for Hughes Aircraft Space & Communications Group, on contract with JPL to produce the probe. The contract was awarded to Hughes because of their previous work on the Venus probes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Venus_Multiprobe#Spacecraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Venus_Multiprobe#Space... Those probes were created and launched a few years before I joined the company. I was a new employee when Hughes was producing the Galileo probe and my role was minor. I spent 35 years with the company -- the last half with Boeing, who acquired it from GM around the year 2001. For the most part, it was my dream job and I really enjoyed working with the best and brightest people.

silentsea90 3y ago
Very very cool. Did working at your dream job involve explorations + leaps of faith + backing yourself, or did you just organically get there with hard work and always choosing what you were excited about? This leaks into career advice land but I struggle with even defining a dream job let alone being in one, though I certainly find certain problem spaces a LOT cooler (but more risky) than others. Eg. self driving cars, robotics.
- anonymousiam 3y ago
  My career consisted of two separate paths. I had 'day jobs', and the Hughes job was my fourth technical job, and orders of magnitude better than any of the previous ones. Separately, I've also maintained a consulting gig, which did involve explorations/leaps of faith/backing myself. The hardest part of it all was trying to find balance between work and family. I always felt like I was failing them both.
kortilla 3y ago
(If you intend your account to be anonymous like your name suggests, you might want to edit some details here…)
- anonymousiam 3y ago
  There's enough detail in my prior comments for people who know me to figure out that it's me. Also, any government who wanted to could probably figure it out too. I've never thought about it, but I suppose some might think that I'm somehow associated with "Anonymous" (the hacker group), but I'm not.