What's your background?
I grew up on the northern beaches of Sydney and studied computer science at The University of Sydney. I deferred my degree for two years to join a small game development team. This experience helped me to gain insight into how to manage the complexity of large projects. Additionally, when I returned to university I was able to appreciate and understand the content of the remainder of my degree in a different light. During the summer break prior to my last year of university, I landed an internship in the Test Automation Engineer at Dolby. This was a rich experience, exposing me to real world engineering problems. I also learnt the methodologies of working in a test engineering team. I was tasked with writing tests that could determine if the statistics of a jitter buffer were functioning correctly. This problem was deep and required me to investigate further with the help of many other teams across Dolby. From this I also improved my networking and collaboration skills. After completing my internship, I was inspired to dig deeper into DSP and taught myself using textbooks and online resources. I was offered a role on the graduate program after my internship. I have found the DSP knowledge has helped to readily execute my tasks and understand my peers’ jargon within my role.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, I believe someone with a different background could do my job. At Dolby we value having teams with diverse skills sets. In this sense, teams are adept at making the most of the skills their team members have. That said, some knowledge in machine learning, DSP and software engineering can go a long way.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I love that I am able to design algorithms and train neural networks in a research context, on audio, and within Australia. Also, we have the coolest labs! And movie days too!
What are the limitations of your job?
Being part of a research and development team, a large portion of my work is confidential and cannot be discussed outside of the company. I am the shared owner of several projects, which requires attention to many areas at the same time.
3 pieces of advice for your university-self?
If I had three pieces of advice for my early university self, they would be: