On being a software engineer for the theme park industry...

I am still moderately annoyed at that one guy at BYU OIT who told me when I was training that I couldn't get into theme park design with a computer science / animation degree. I can't even remember his name, but I'm still annoyed. :P The CS dropout, "well I guess you could make the next RollerCoaster Tycoon" dude. 


Check out Birket Engineering's career page. Or, check out their more modern one. It is totally possible. Plus there are other theme park engineering companies such as Alcorn McBride that mainly hire computer scientists. And of course Disney Imagineering and Universal Creative often hire CS majors and animators too. I'm still strongly considering doing a second MS in electrical engineering at some point, after I've finished my current MS, done the CGMA theme park design course, and taught myself the basic concepts of EE via MIT OCW, but...check this out. 

I mean, I've already gotten my BS in Computer Science, and from what the president of Birket has told me, EE, CE, and CS are all accepted for these roles. I know C++. I am currently learning PLCs (this will be easier once finals are over). I've taken a course on UX design. I already have entertainment industry experience in special effects for BYU Animation, which is super applicable to the theme park industry -- I mean, virtual pyrotechnics are just one step away from real ones, am I right? Plus, I draw and digitally paint a lot. And with MIT OCW and All About Circuits, I could teach myself the electrical concepts that I'm missing. As for applied real-time networks -- I need to research that one a bit more. But I have learned a lot of networking in my security classes and I plan to review more this summer. 

And as far as creativity, I think most people have that. The main problem, then, is just convincing people that you do. ;)

I still need to learn embedded systems and real-time operating systems, both of which I did not take during my undergrad at BYU due to not being certain as to my exact path to the industry (though 224 and 324 did consist of a lot of C programming). However, there are plenty of resources to learn this online. 

I also have the book Show Networks and Control Systems, by John Huntington, on the way. This was recommended to me by one of the Birket engineers. He also suggested learning basic CAD which I will probably need to do for the Cornell competition anyway. 

The push continues. Ever since I was 7 I knew I wanted to design theme park rides, and write novels. Got to keep pounding away, relentlessly, forward in the right direction. 

And I had better get back to my assignment that's due at midnight. 

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