It depends what you're looking for. I interned with Schlumberger a couple of years ago[0].
One of the things I have noticed is a two-sided lack of awareness:
- People on HN (representative of the "tech community") almost forget that software is everywhere, not just at Google, Facebook, or Dropbox.
- Oilfield service companies don't try really hard to attract top talent. I mean, Schlumberger jokes that it's the "biggest company you've never heard of". I was a teenager fiddling with my Samsung phone, and in the crypto side, there was SLB technology and RSA. Later, I learned that they were behind Java Cards and when I got to college, I used function generators and oscilloscopes that were made by them.
Although from your handle and the name on the (dead) link, and the fact you're in LA, I'd guess you are Iranian so you probably heard of it.
I think it's ironic that a lot of hackers almost think software is only desktop or mobile. Tools that do a frigging MRI, Sonic, Gamma rays and what-not tens of thousands of feet below the surface and spit data that's visualized on the surface in real time. These babies are pretty neat technology I can tell you.
I think that hackers can have a bigger impact in fields that are not "obviously" "softwary". I mean, what's the marginal benefit of a hacker joining Dropbox vs that of joining an industry where the cutting edge is Visual Basic Macros.
One would argue it's not as glamourous as to work at Facebook, another might argue that if you strip it down, the average Facebook user thinks Paulo Coelho is deep, uses LOL and LMFAO in sentences, and shares Game of Thrones memes.
So you might look at where someone with your skills can have a bigger impact. An LED in the night looks so bright, after all.
It depends what you're looking for. I interned with Schlumberger a couple of years ago[0].
One of the things I have noticed is a two-sided lack of awareness:
- People on HN (representative of the "tech community") almost forget that software is everywhere, not just at Google, Facebook, or Dropbox.
- Oilfield service companies don't try really hard to attract top talent. I mean, Schlumberger jokes that it's the "biggest company you've never heard of". I was a teenager fiddling with my Samsung phone, and in the crypto side, there was SLB technology and RSA. Later, I learned that they were behind Java Cards and when I got to college, I used function generators and oscilloscopes that were made by them.
Although from your handle and the name on the (dead) link, and the fact you're in LA, I'd guess you are Iranian so you probably heard of it.
I think it's ironic that a lot of hackers almost think software is only desktop or mobile. Tools that do a frigging MRI, Sonic, Gamma rays and what-not tens of thousands of feet below the surface and spit data that's visualized on the surface in real time. These babies are pretty neat technology I can tell you.
I think that hackers can have a bigger impact in fields that are not "obviously" "softwary". I mean, what's the marginal benefit of a hacker joining Dropbox vs that of joining an industry where the cutting edge is Visual Basic Macros.
One would argue it's not as glamourous as to work at Facebook, another might argue that if you strip it down, the average Facebook user thinks Paulo Coelho is deep, uses LOL and LMFAO in sentences, and shares Game of Thrones memes.
So you might look at where someone with your skills can have a bigger impact. An LED in the night looks so bright, after all.
[0]: https://careers.slb.com/whoweare/news/jugurtha.aspx