Building Better Mousetraps

All those great user experiences require a team to build them. Enter the few, the proud, the geeks: vivid's Engineering Group.

Engineers are divvied into two distinct but heavily codependent subgroups: Interface Engineering includes the persnickety buildmasters who craft masterpieces out of HTML, php, JavaScript, Perl, and the like. Applications Engineering refers to the sweat-drenched masses down in the boiler room who stoke the servers and shovel up database related functionality. But all of them are drawn together by the communal pursuit of excellence and bug-free code that behaves as expected.

Team roles:

Senior VP of Engineering (Dave Mitchellhill)
As the resident alpha-geek, the SVPoE has many responsibilities, not the least of which is establishing a lexicon of technical jargon that's downright intimidating to outsiders. His primary duties include building equity in key technical areas that can be leveraged for use in client projects and internal operations. His responsibility extends to planning and overseeing technical development on all internal and project-related work, as well as to external representation of vivid. He's also responsible for advising the engineering managers in recruiting, hiring, training, and managing the engineers (which is a lot like herding cats, only the engineers don't bite and scratch as much).

Manager, Interface Engineering (Kevin John Black)
Coordinates the buildmasters and web engineers, from making sure they have adequate resources (read: enough donuts) to introducing new technologies, arranging outings and training, developing strategic relationships with software vendors, and running the weekly engineering meeting.

Director of Technology Services (Curtis Olson)
Lords over the server engineers with an iron fist (and occasionally an iron maiden, but only when they get out of line). Pure of heart, noble in thought, and brave in deed, the DTS routinely lays his life on the line for the sake of his team and their valiant pursuit of excellent system design and integration skills. Plus he really digs the suit of armor that comes with the job.

Senior Web Engineers (David Marks, Jay Doane, Joe Galewsky, Martin Gloeckle, Michael Lacy, Mike Dalrymple, Samir Batla, Tony Pierce)
Web Engineers (Alex Quin, Laurent Basset, Matt Walker, Sydnie Nugent)
Engineers build tools; all sorts of nifty tools, in C and Java and SQL and Perl. And they have meetings about building tools. And they write specs that describe the tools they're going to build. And they have meetings to discuss the specs that describe the tools they're going to build. But mostly, they just build tools. (In a way, they're kind of like elves. We leave out a requirements document and a plateful of cookies before we go home at night, and when we return the next morning the code is finished and the cookies are gone. Along with all the beer in the fridge.) Senior engineers tend to have more experience working on complex projects and/or deeper knowledge of specific tools and technologies. They also tend to have some experience managing/leading other engineers.

Buildmasters (Justin Shreve, Lan Nguyen, Nate Mordo, Ryan O'Hearn, Thomas Sturm, Todd Henry, Tracy Finifter, Victor Barclay)
HTML Scripters (Ethan Klein, Peter Butler)
Like enologists trained at the hands of old masters, these folks write CGI and PHP scripts and craft HTML according to vivid's rigorous standards.

Assistant to the Engineering Group Managers (Johanna Mead)
Playing the role of right hand to not one but two (2) managers, the assistant helps with critical tasks like organization, documentation and tracking, recruiting activities, and communicating the needs of the group staff.

Systems + Network Administrators (Brian Barnett, Brian Stoffer, Michael Castelli) Woe to the sysadmins: unsung heroes of the corporate world, acknowledged in times of need yet ignored when accolades are given out, they nonetheless persevere, toiling in the background to keep the machinery humming away while others step forward into the limelight. vivid's sysadmins are responsible for installing and configuring new hardware and software; maintaining the network and servers; coming up with helpful responses to user problems like, "Did you try rebuilding your desktop?" Or, "I think there's a manpage about that..."; not yelling at the rest of us when we forget our passwords; playing Quake with the rest of the engineers; and making backups (um, you guys did remember to make backups, right?)

Who they are: Alexandre Quin Senior Engineer Brian Barnett System Administrator Brian Stoffer Senior System Administrator Craig Fender Assistant System Administrator Curtis Olson Director, Technology Services David Marks Senior Engineer Ethan Klein Engineer Jay Doane Senior Engineer Jeffrey Pollock Senior Engineer Jenny Han HTML Scripter Jeremy Bennett Engineer Joe Galewsky Senior Engineer Johanna Mead Assistant to the Engineering Manager Jonathan Lee HTML Scripter Justin Shreve Buildmaster Kevin-John Black Manager, Interface Engineering Lan Nguyen Engineer Laurent Basset Engineer Martin Gloeckle Senior Engineer Matt Walker Senior Engineer Michael Castelli Senior System Administrator Michael Lacy Senior Engineer Mike Dalrymple Senior Engineer Nate Mordo Buildmaster Paul Guth Manager, Systems Group Peter Butler Engineer Ray Yeganeh Database Administrator Ryan O'Hearn Senior Buildmaster Ryan Witcher Senior Engineer Samir Batla Senior Engineer Sursea QA Dog Sydnie Nugent Engineer Thomas Sturm Buildmaster Todd Henry Buildmaster Tony Pierce Senior Engineer Tracy Finifter Buildmaster Victor Barclay Senior Buildmaster   Where they go: Like the Experience Group, the Engineering Group conducts its share of offsite research. Recent outings include: A trip to San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation (followed by a stop at the Formula-1 Go-Kart track in Palo Alto) A slew of top-secret product previews from hardware and software vendors An inquiry into state-of-the-art museum design and traffic control at Washington, DC's Holocaust Museum A combined observational field trip and shopping spree at Toys 'R' Us, to study the ergonomics of foam rubber projectiles and acquire disciplinary tools for their machines Joint gatherings with the Experience Group to critique Microsoft's Bob interface, the interactive Barney doll/CD-ROM, and other follies of human imagination, from technical and usability standpoints Experiments in viscosity and fermentation rates at Brew City. Know of a place the engineers should go? Tell 'em about it! Business Strategy Group Engineering Group Experience Group Management Group Operations Group Producers Group Clients