Jobs - games and Google

The other area that I want to try working in is games, specifically games A.I., just because... well, how awesome would that be?

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Things are looking pretty promising with Team Bondi in Sydney. I've taken a couple of tests and I'm meeting them in person on Friday afternoon as soon as I arrive in Sydney. I should have a pretty good idea of whether they'll offer me a job after that interview, which would be a great start to my sojourn in Sydney!
It's very exciting, because you probably couldn't find a better start in the games industry. Team Bondi are a new company, they're meant to be very relaxed. This is their first game, but the founder, Brendan McNamara directed The Getaway for Sony and, together with some staff he took with him, Team Bondi obviously has the pedigree to attract serious funding. This first game sounds very ambitious, and it's being published by Rockstar, makers of Grand Theft Auto.

The attractive thing about games - and defence - is the simulation aspect. It's amazingly cool to craft a world and figure out what sort of interactions can arise from it. And the most interesting interactions, to me, are between autonomous agents in the world - hence my interest in game A.I.!

I've also just had my first phone interview with Google, this morning. I'm afraid I can't have made a fantastic impression on the algorithmic problem-solving questions, because I muddled through it. It's definitely not my strongest point, but with a bit of luck I'll get another interview covering another aspect.
I know Google is after people with more of a Computer Science background than I have, so I won't be terribly upset if this comes to naught. It'd be a cool job in a funky environment though, and I'd most definitely consider it!

Jobs - computational intelligence

If I wanted to combine software development with the topic of my PhD, the perfect job would be at SolveIT Solutions in Adelaide.

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The company was founded by a leading researcher in my field, as a way of putting the theoretical research into practice in business. He's dubbed it "adaptive business intelligence", and become very successful.
SolveIT basically a consulting company. The idea is that they identify areas in which a business can optimise their processes, and then apply cutting-edge optimisation algorithms (such as mine ;) ) from the literature to either cut expenses or boost profits by millions. Besides just getting to use cool algorithms, the attractive thing about SolveIT is the possibility of working on a diverse range of problems as they get contracts from many different industries. Oh, and the huge amount of money to be made in this area :)
I wrote to SolveIT asking for a job, but unfortunately they didn't have any openings. Still, they have my resume now, and I can seriously imagine working for them in the future.

I've also applied for a job at Jeppesen, in Brisbane. That job is also about optimisation, in their case train and transport systems. Basically it would be a similar job, just a different application. I've talked to their recruiter, but haven't heard much back yet. I'm unsure if that's bad or not :) It is a position that they're actively recruiting for though, and I'd have to be one of the most suitable candidates they're going to get for it, so... we'll see.

Jobs

At the end of last year, with pressure to sign another lease, I decided that if I could get work at CQU then I'd probably stay. So before Christmas I spoke to Merv, and agreed to what seemed like a sure project as soon as Uni started back in the new year. To cut a long story short - which I've ranted about enough already :) - after many delays I had to give up on that.

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Many people have suggested other work in Rockhampton, with the best of intentions - thanks! It must seem that I'm being very picky about work. Unfortunately, it's more a case of me knowing what I don't want rather than knowing what I do want!

I don't want to be a straight academic right now, although it's something I might consider coming back to. For now, I want to get out and do something different. I'm also terrified of the whole grant application process! At this stage I just want to solve existing problems and not worry about creating new ones! :p

I also don't want to take a job that isn't going to further my career. I was prepared to do this Digital Assets project for Merv - despite the fact that I'm personally not that interested in what seems to be a relatively simple application of databases and Java - so that I could continue my research on the side (and hang out with friends that are settled here for the immediate future).
But other, similar, jobs around Rockhampton don't have the close social and research connection to the Uni, so I'm not as interested in them.

I am keen to stay with C++ rather than branching out into Java or .NET or similar, because C++ is still the language of choice for big, computationally intensive projects like simulations, optimisation, data mining, etc, in sectors such as defence, games, business intelligence, and finance. Those are the sorts of problems that really interest me.

Ideally, I want to combine software development with research of some sort. The Digital Assets project would have let me do that, albeit in two disjoint parts. The examples I gave just above would (eventually) let me do that in one package. I've applied for a few jobs in those areas. We'll see whether I manage to get something that's exactly what I want, or whether I'll have to take whatever I can get for the experience...

Moving - out of the frying pan and into the fire

Well, I've moved all my stuff back to the family house in Bundaberg now. Where to from there I don't know yet, but I ran out of options in Rockhampton. It kind of sucks having accumulated so much furniture and assorted belongings and having to find somewhere to put it!

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Without any guarantee of work at the Uni (that's another rant in itself! :) ) I had to cut my losses and pack up. The time I clung on here in Rockhampton wasn't wasted though, because I've used it to finish my thesis. That would have been much harder from Bundaberg. It also meant I got to hang around people I like for a bit longer :)
Lots of people (well, ok, three - Sarah, Melanie, and Russel :p ) offered to let me stay with them while I sorted things out. Thanks guys! But I had so much stuff I had to put it somewhere more permanent anyway.

So now... I'm out of the frying pan, but maybe only to land right back in the fire. There's a real possibility that I'll move to Sydney for a job, and man, if I thought the rental market was tough in Rockhampton, I'm not looking forward to renting in Sydney! A recent study placed Sydney as one of the highest rent-to-income-ratio cities in the English-speaking world (Counterpoint on Radio National has been making a compelling argument that it's down to land-rationing).

Interesting times await!

The End (of the thesis) Is Nigh

Yep, fingers crossed, the latest draft of my thesis will get Russel's approval, and I'll print it out and submit! So far Russel's given his stamp of approval to all the main chapters and the conclusion; I've just revised the introduction and now I'll put it all together for him.
All up, it's 10 chapters, 325 pages, and 70,000 words. Admittedly that's double-spaced and single-sided, which I don't like but I understand why it's important for examination, but hey, 325 pages sounds good.
Overall I'm happy with how I've presented what I've done. If I could do it over, I would certainly ditch a lot of the research I spent time on and do a more thorough job of the stuff that worked out well. But such is the path of research, I suppose. In the end I reckon I came up with some good stuff, and I dare to hope that someone might actually read it and make use of it :)
It's certainly going to be a relief to have this thesis out of my hands... for a few months at least!

Interesting Times

There is a curse: May you live in interesting times.

It's strange, but at the time when I have the most to blog about, I've been most silent. Partly I've just been too busy, and partly I just haven't wanted to jinx anything!

I'll follow this post up with some posts dedicated to what's been going on: finishing my thesis; moving house; and getting a job!