Who am I?
I’m Steve Esposito.
TL;DR
With a software career starting in the days of punch cards, I have spent the past 38 years architecting, designing, and implementing software systems including business systems, digital audio, manufacturing control systems, artificial intelligence systems, network management systems, development infrastructure, and EDA products. My EDA work includes database translators, software porting, simulation, parallel systems, 3D tools, and performance improvement. I holds a BSBA and MS in Mathematics/Computer Science from the University of Lowell (now UMass/Lowell).
A Slightly Longer Version
My professional career spans employment for 3 major corporations, within 3 very different technology areas, and includes side projects along the way. I’ve held many positions and titles, managed budgets, projects and teams, and worked on cutting edge, experimental technology as well as major revenue generating products.
I started my computing career at Atex, Inc. Having just been acquired by Eastman Kodak Co., Atex was a place where one could work “close to the iron”, while opportunities to use cutting-edge technology were also available. I developed business systems for publishers in assembly language on a PDP-11/34. I also explored the “new” Unix operating system from AT&T, graphics workstations, relational database technologies, and worked on bringing an experimental AI program to product level.
Working on cutting-edge technologies also allowed me to interact with the non-technical aspects of software products. I interacted with customers at the sales, support, marketing, and co-development levels.
In 1989, I was presented with the opportunity to develop a network management system for an undersea telecommunications cable. Working for Memotec Datacom, Inc., I was allowed a great deal of technical and business independence and responsibility. I was responsible for the entire system. This includes both the traditional technical aspects (such as architecture, design, implementation, testing and integration), and the non-technical aspects (such as managing subcontractors and suppliers, shipping and installing the system, and training customers).
One of the major benefits of working for Cadence Design Systems, Inc. is the opportunity to work on a diverse set of technical challenges in the same general technology area of EDA. During my 29 years with the company, I worked on PCB design software, data translators, platform porting, GUI development, development infrastructure, electronic simulators, 3D modelling, parallel processing, and machine learning.
Across that wide range of technology, I’ve worked on projects spanning the software technology spectrum from basic infrastructure (designing computer rooms, networking, development environments), to maintaining existing code (bug fixing), to creating brand new products, to researching and assessing new hardware and software techniques. Highlights include:
· Bringing the first Cadence Windows/NT based product to market
· Creating a software development environment which included the first “parallel server farm” within Cadence and which is still in use after 21 years
· Working on the next generation parallel SystemVerilog simulator, creating a simulator front end which is 250 times faster than the current offerings
· 4 patents
In addition to my main job at Cadence, I performed several “senior staff” roles such as:
· Member of the Corporate Patent Committee
· Co-Chair of internal technology conferences
· Running the Cadence Distinguished Speaker Series
· Author and presenter of numerous internal technical papers
During my career in the software industry, I’ve also had several outside interests including:
· Running a software consulting firm
· Performing and recording as a professional musician (6 album credits)
· Public service of a 3-year term as the Chair of the Westford Energy Committee
· Teaching courses at local universities
I have been able to take a core set of problem-solving principles and techniques and apply them in different industries, solving different types of problems, using the resources at hand.
· I am reasonably smart, and get things done.
· I can see the abstraction and the details and understand the relationship between them.
· I can teach others.