Arieh's Weblog

I don't know if other companies the size of Sun behave/operate/are organized (or is it disorganized) the way Sun does, but I believe that one of the things that makes Sun unique is that Sun employees usually wear many hats.

I will tell you a bit from my own experience.

First and foremost I am a software engineer (actually, at the time I finished college, I am not sure Software Engineering had been invented, I graduated with a Math and Comp.Sci degree). My focus is on Storage primarily on management and RASD (Reliability, Availability, Serviceability, Diagnosability - currently through the StorADE product). I have mentioned before in a previous posting my participation in the Sun StorEdge Component Manager project, as well as in its follow on, Sun StorEdge Configuration Service.

I have been a member of one of those things called ARCs (Architecture Review Committees) which Torrey mentions in one of his articles. One interesting thing about the composition of those committees is that it is made up of engineers that still have responsibility for delivering products, a quality that makes the decisions taken in the committee grounded in reality and not part of an academic elite that may be detached from reality.

Another hat that I wear is that of maintainer of the internal Java Package Names Registry. The job consists of managing the namespace and steering the project teams to select Java Package Names that are appropriate (i.e. do not denote project names, but instead concentrate on the functional aspect that the packages provide).

Over the past year. I have become involved in contributing to the storage aspect of the architectural work related to the N1 System. That activity takes place through various forums that meet regularly to discuss the architecture, design, implementation, technologies. That has put me in contact with people of different organizations in Sun across all the business units, worldwide.

The multi-location, international character that is an inherent part of Sun imposes quite a number of challenges. Imagine trying to schedule a meeting where the participants are scattered across 18 time zones. I am sure that there is blog fodder in that topic, perhaps for another post.

In any case, the work itself is hectic but very fulfilling and challenging.

The many-hats quality that I have tried to describe, is definitely more the norm than the exception here at Sun, as I can see from the colleagues I interact with.

I hope you got a feel for what the many hats of the Sun employee feel like.

Feel free to share similar experiences of your own. .