This is the place at which I have a phone interview tomorrow. It's a new division of Bose that does materials testing. Two positions that have me interested. Software/Firmware Engineer: Responsibilities include: Work with a small, multi-disciplinary team to rapidly develop testing products and/or components Assist with system definition, CPU selection, and target platform design Architect software, select RTOS (if needed), and define communication interfaces/protocols Write software specifications, development plans, and provide effort estimates Design and implement user interface, communication, and control functions Develop clean, well-structured, well-documented, embedded software in C and/or assembly language Develop unit tests for software modules, execute tests, and verify results Assist with system testing, track and fix bugs, generate code releases. Knowledge, skills and abilities required: BS or MS in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering Minimum of 2 years experience developing embedded s/w Curiosity, intelligence and energy Technical depth and breadth required to understand architecture issues and to assist in hardware/software tradeoffs Enjoys electronics and mechanical systems Excellent interpersonal skills. Engineering Program Manager: Responsibilities include: Be responsible for the management of a team focused on developing control platforms for electro-mechanical materials testing systems Will be responsible for defining all requirements and guiding the team's efforts toward meeting them Will take a lead role in defining system and software architectures of products, and serve as primary point of communication for your projects. In addition, you will define and manage schedules, track interim deliveries and milestones, generate regular progress reports for upper management, identify significant engineering tasks, coordinate resolutions and contribute to design direction. May lead other projects such as new test system design and development, including similar responsibilities. Knowledge, skills and abilities required: BSEE, BSME, BSCS, or similar with 5 plus years of experience in product design and project leadership Candidates must have experience with hardware and software technologies related to embedded computing Experience with commercial RTOS, control systems, and/or electro-mechanical test systems is a plus Must have proven track record of defining and executing cross-functional, software-intensive projects resulting in on-time deliveries within specified budgets. Trying to determine whether I'd want to head into program management. On one hand, I have the skills to oversee the architecture and analysis of a system. On the other, it's management-- it's dealing with a lot of scheduling and interfacing with non-technical upper management types. I think my best choice is to focus on the first one with the possibility of getting into program management at a later time when I know more about the company. One thing that I find encouraging is that Bose tends to have a pretty quality-oriented image. And it's a full-time permanent position rather than contract, which is really what I've been looking for. And it's doing electromechanical control systems, which is right where I like to live. On the downside, it deals with a whole lot of nonlinear physics. And while I am completely fascinated by nonlinear dynamics, the math involved is daunting at best, and occasionally nightmarish (revdj, will you back me up on this?). When I'm talking linear and nonlinear, I'm not talking about straight-line travel here, I'm talking about the mecanical predictability . A linear system is predictable in its behavior, like a simple spring is described by [f(x) = -kx] , which simply says that the force of a spring is equivalent to it's displacement. And that holds pretty well: a spring that is stretched one inch that will pull back with one ounce of force will pull back with two ounces of force when stretched two inches as long as it doesn't deform . It's when you get into those territories where the material starts stretching or bending that you start getting into nonlinear dynamics and things become unpredictable. Nonlinear dynamics are closely related to chaos theory, as well as cellular automata, both things which I have a particular interest in. However, my interest in those topics comes more from a philosophical side than one of practical application. I don't fear the math. I just haven't looked at it since college, and even then it was more of a curiosity than anything. It's still a good sign.