Specialist programming offers unique challenges and job
satisfaction
Unusual quirky jobs do exist in IT and Xtra! is on the hunt to
discover them. ITers with bizarre or specialist skills rarely hit
the headlines but their skills are crucial to the organisations
they work for. To kick-start this regular series Bernice Hennessy
explains how her programming job helps to restore sight to cataract
patients.
What is your job?
I work for Lamda
Polytech, a firm specialising in supplying lathes and materials for
the contact lens and inter-ocular lens (IOL) industry
worldwide.
I maintain and enhance the computer programs that control the
lathes. Contact lenses are becoming more specialised with varifocal
and multifocal lenses to compensate for lenses fitting different
eye shapes, and lenses for medical conditions or after an
operation.
IOLs are used inside the eye, to replace the natural lens in
cataract operations and to correct other severe eye problems.
My job is to write the programs that will translate the optical
specialist's idea of the shape he wishes the lathe to cut, so that
the specialist can quickly and easily describe the lens for a
specific patient and the lathe will then cut it correctly.
The other important part of my job is to ensure that the lathe does
not wreck itself. The material for the lenses is often held in
steel jaws and the shapes are cut with diamonds. If the diamond
cuts into the steel there is at least the loss of an expensive
diamond and probably damage to an even more expensive spindle. The
spindles and control boards we use in the construction of the
lathes as well as the computers are constantly changing.
Our customers often need special support programs, for example
taking numbers from an Excel spreadsheet to specify a lens, adding
defaults chosen by the customer and translating the data for my
programs. I try to satisfy those requests.
I also try to cater for the computer needs of customers using our
older lathes. I have converted programs from Epson HX to PC, as
well as updating software on many lathes built when a 286 was
state-of-the-art.
A lot of our lathes are sold to countries or companies where a new
Pentium is an impossible dream.
How did you get into this area?
I worked as a
scientific programmer and systems analyst and commuted from
Northampton to Solihull. I decided that I was not prepared to risk
an accident on the M42, M6 or M1. I saw an ad for this job
involving computers and mathematics, and applied, asking to be a
part-time assistant.
How long have you been doing this job?
Eight
years.
How many people are on your team?
I am the only member of the software department, with seven in the
technical department concerned with building the lathes, several of
whom can also help with software.
What do you enjoy about your work?
I enjoy being able to do some mathematics. I enjoy the triumph of
solving a problem, or getting a successful new lens. And being part
of the chain that restores sight to cataract patients.
How do you spend your day?
I spend 80% of my time at my computer, programming or drawing
pictures of tool paths and lens shapes.
We also get requests for special samples which involves
programming. This week I am trying to solve the problem of cutting
IOLs on adaptors requested by an Indian customer who has one of our
lathes and may buy another. The shape is totally different to the
normal cut. I will spend some time adapting the program to do this,
then use our lathe to cut the shape.
What sort of person is best suited to this type of
work?
It is more important to be careful than to be quick. An ability to
visualise a complete rail network would be useful as one change can
affect the rest of the program, though I try to use modules.
Patience with customers who say, "Why does my lathe not work?" is
useful, particularly when they are half a world away.
What experience and qualifications are needed?
Applied
maths and, for this firm, enough computer experience to work alone.
Some of our customers employ computer staff who write support
programs rather than directly controlling the lathes.