The right algorithm
An interview with D-PHYS alumnus Ivan Ilak, Software Engineer at MaxWell Biosystems.
What was the decision path that led you to your present job?
At the end of my studies, I was left with nine months of civil service and was fortunate enough to get the chance to work at Empa in the Air Pollution / Environmental Technology Laboratory, where I spent most of my time doing data analysis in the Laser Spectroscopy team. In the last couple of months with the group I was tasked to design and write something akin to a data pipeline. One of the core goals of this project was to create a comprehensive code out of many scripts that were scattered around, which in turn meant that I was allowed to start from scratch, using the existing code as inspiration. I was free to design, test and write code as needed: I immensely enjoyed this process of planning and writing software.
At the time I also had the chance to work on software that controls hardware, for example, writing code for operating sensors on devices. This connection between software and hardware intrigued me and eventually led me to my current job at MaxWell Biosystems, where I work as a software engineer.
What does your average week look like?
The software we develop at MaxWell Biosystems processes, visualises, and analyses data recorded with our high-density microelectrode arrays. The software allows users to record the electrical activity of neurons and see effects in real time, or to record a data set and analyse it at a later time. Most of my week revolves around thinking about and maintaining this software. This can take many forms: I might spend time reading about new tools, technologies or approaches to tackle existing tasks, or I might investigate bug reports to solve the underlying problems.
On other days I'm busy making sure that our software builds and runs on all the systems we need it to control, or I support directly our customers with technical know-how. There's also quite a bit of planning for long-term projects, which involves conversations and discussions with my colleagues.
In general, I find my job quite varied and this is one of the aspects I appreciate about it.
What do you value most of your physics background?
I remember once watching an interview with Professor Jonathan Home in which he said something along the lines of, as a physicist you need to enjoy being stuck because you are always stuck. Learning to enjoy the process of figuring something out and being okay with trying again and again until you understand it is a very transferable skill.
This skill ties back to my current role: your first idea for an algorithm is almost never correct, and almost never will you design something that immediately fits the requirements. Plus, there are always bugs that will require you to try and try until you figure out what causes them.
Another extremely valuable skill is the ability to break down complicated problems into digestible parts that can be attacked individually.
Based on the professional insights you gained since you graduated, what would you say to someone who isn't quite sure whether to study physics or, say, computer science?
This is a very fitting question for me, because studying Computer Science would have been more useful for my present role. Still, I do not regret studying physics at all.
I studied physics because it's what I enjoy and what got me most excited about learning; I also liked mathematics and was curious about how to describe the real world with it. I didn't know I would end up being a software engineer. Anecdotally, if I think of the people who studied with me, only one went on to pursue physics research through a PhD programme. The others have all branched out into other areas that interested them – mathematics, finance or electrical engineering.
The point is that studying physics will give you a great foundation and tools to learn new things quickly and methodically. These are useful skills in any field. As long as you're willing to spend time learning what you may be missing, it's perfectly possible to do something that's somewhat removed from physics after your degree.