Ravid Rahman
October 9th, 2018
Writing for Engineers:
An Essential Class for the Professional World
“Take a course in writing for engineers. I highly recommend that,” Dr. Kass-Amsterdam, a level five software engineer at Google, told me when I asked him what advice he had for up-and-coming computer scientists. After a bit of a laugh he went on to say that he is “…glad [I am] taking [this] course.” When I sat down with Jonathan Kass-Amsterdam I expected to confirm my thoughts on the world’s coolest workplace: have a solid foundation in one programming language and learn a vast amount of theory to support it. While I was able to confirm my suspicions, I ended up learning how truly valuable good writing skills are in the professional world.
For his undergraduate studies, Dr. Kass-Amsterdam went to Harvard. There he majored in “…applied math with application to biology…” since he initially wanted to study biology like his father, but “…always…liked computers.” Eventually, he came to realize that was not terribly fond of biology as the labs were “… grim and gross or alive, which was even worse.” He continued his studies by pursuing a PHD in computer science at MIT. Even though he was unsure about his career path for quite some time, Dr. Kass-Amsterdam knew from an early age that he had a passion for computers. During his first year of junior high, the textbook used for his advanced math class had a section called “…introduction to computer programming with Basic.” Although he remarked it as “…a terrible programming language…” he was instantly hooked, spending hours in the terminal room with punch-hole pages representing binary code.
After graduate school, Dr. Kass-Amsterdam spent some time working at Lehman Brothers working on CMOs, “…little programs that…[describe] how money would go between…different things.” However, after a few years, he “… started having trouble with [his] hands…and started teaching Java courses to companies,” since Java was the up-and-coming programming language at the time. Once his hands got better he went back to programming, working first for a grid computing startup based in New York called DataSynapse, then programming for a hedge fund in Connecticut called Ellington, before finally ending up at Google.
Working at Google is “amazing…you’re working with really smart people…there’s a lot going on…if you get bored or you finish something you can switch to another project.” As a matter of fact, some time this month, Dr. Kass-Amsterdam is switching to his “…fourth team in seven years…” which, were it your fourth job in seven years, would be a lot but is perfectly normal at Google. Some people even move from projects “…every six months.”
Unlike most workplaces, your job title at Google is dependent on levels. While everyone does have a normal job title, the amount of responsibility you have is dependent on your level, from one to ten. For example, Dr. Kass-Amsterdam is a level five software engineer. Most people who join Google out of college start at level three and are expected to reach level five after a few years as each level gets exponentially harder.
The New York campus, located right next to Chelsea Market, “…is one of the best…” but all of the campuses have something interesting. The office in Boulder, Colorado has ski gondolas set up in an open area for private discussion. On the other hand, the New York campus occupies “…pretty much…everything from eighth avenue to the river and fifteenth to sixteenth street.” Although the campus is spread out in New York terms, it is only a “…tiny fraction of the surface area of the Mountain View campus.”
A typical day for Dr. Kass-Amsterdam starts with waking up early and writing code before going into the office since his “…brain is sharpest in the morning.” He goes in around lunch time and attends a few meetings. He then does the work that his current project requires of him. This usually ends up being code reviews. Code reviews are to make sure the code is following proper coding practices and that it will execute correctly and efficiently. Most of what Dr. Kass-Amsterdam does, in terms of code reviews, is making sure it is readable.
In terms of writing, Dr. Kass-Amsterdam finds himself “…writing five emails a day…but reading…forty to fifty emails a day.” Some of these emails are just information but he responds to three or four longer emails. Every now and then he will have to write a page long document addressing a problem and how it might be tackled. Towards the beginning of a project, he also has to put together a five to ten page design document detailing intended plan of attack. Also, besides the meetings and emails, “there is a lot of IMing going on…” to fix small problems and such.
When I asked him, Dr. Kass-Amsterdam took some time to think over what advice he had to give out to up-and-coming computer scientist. He then said to “do stuff that’s really hard…” and to focus on one programming language because it will be easy to pick up. Taking classes that are not practical, like theory classes, are more useful in the professional world since you can easily find “…on the job training…” for new programming languages and other practical skills. “Classes…like writing,” he went on to say, “you won’t get any on the job training [for, since] people assume you can write and, if you don’t write well…they will judge you [harshly] for [it] and it will impede your career even if your programming is good.”
All in all, the big takeaway from my discussion with Dr. Kass-Amsterdam was not to just study hard and do well in programming classes, but to also learn to write well since, without proper communication skills, it will become very difficult to excel in the professional world. Given how much writing is necessary, clarity and conciseness are essential to do well since you need to be able to “…convince other people that you’re right [and] share your vision.” Having heard our conversation back countless times, I can honestly say I am glad that I am taking a class called Writing for Engineers.
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