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Ananth Salagundi

POE: Block 2
Steven Sederburg
Enterprise Architect
10/17/15: Starbucks on West Parmer Lane

General Information
A. Interviewee name: Steven Sederburg
B. Interviewees specific degree: Bachelors of Science and IT
Management
C. Interviewees place of employment: Harman International
Industries
D. Interviewees professional business email address:
Steven.Sederburg@harman.com

E. How did you find and make initial contact with this professional?
a. He is one of my dads colleagues.

Professional Interview
A. Please describe the field of software engineering, in general.
a. Ok, Software engineering. I am a systems architect
focused on enterprise applications mostly to do with the Internet
of Things and the visualization of information.
B. What is your current job title?
a. Enterprise Architect
C. Please describe your particular job and duties.
a. I currently work as an Enterprise Architect. I
primarily focus on core strategic technology initiatives where I
can bring a senior technologist prospecting to C-Level executives
and senior level stakeholders for our multitude of customers.
D. What is your average work schedule?
a. Very much varies, depending on the projects that I
am associated with. So, sometimes it would be 10 in the
morning till 6 at night and back at it at 10 in the night till 4 in
the morning, so it can vary.
E. Starting with high school, describe your educational background
chronologically.
a. Well, I went into the Marine Corps after high school,
I served 5 years in the Marine Corps, and then I was in law
enforcement. I was a state trooper in Pennsylvania for a year
and then I realized I had a talent for computer programming and
I started out without a college degree at all, as a matter of fact.
I did computer programming, power builder, cybase, Oracle, ASP
Legacy stuff, Visual Basics 6, all automating some repair
operations for Sony, and thats when I realized it might be in my
best interest to do computer programming rather than be a cop
and I pursued it. While I worked for Sony, I went ahead and got
my Bachelors Degree with their assistance, so they helped pay
for my college tuition and my GI builder. So I went on to get a
Bachelors Degree and then since then all my higher education
mostly just been certifications and some different Masters
programs but no other degrees.
F. If you had to do it over, related to your career or education,
would you do anything differently?

a. Well, I have to tell your that when I hear questions


like that, you have to ask yourself how satisfied you are with
your life today, because if you are dissatisfied with what you
currently have, then you have to retrospect and say what you
would do different, so I am very happy with where I am at
today. So the answer to your question would be no, I wouldnt
have changed anything. However, I have always made sure to
keep up with the latest kind of technologies. Information
technology moves at a lightning pace, so its so fast, as opposed
to mechanical engineering, and things like that, so civil
engineering. Software is evolving at an exponential rate for
various reasons. Some good ones you may be familiar with are
Moores Law, McCaffs Law, so there are all these laws that are
applied as to why IT is evolving at such a rapid pace and its
going to get faster and faster and things are going to get smaller
and smaller. And more and more things are going to connect to
one another and communicate. So as long as you are staying on
top of that, then you will always be competitive in the landscape,
whereas if you just lay idle and tread water for even a year, you
will quickly become a dinosaur in this industry.
G. What advice would you give to me as someone interested in
pursuing a career path similar to yours?
a. Well, hey! IT is a lot of fun and I dont look at IT as
strict sort of engineering. A lot of people look at software
engineering more like mathematics and I look at it like more like
artistry. I think that the really good software engineers, who I
know, they create things like a painter or a poet. So, my
suggestion is if you are to embrace IT, you really have to have
the mindset that , you know, its not just about books smarts,
though thats important, understanding things is important and
excelling at education is incredibly important; but whats more
important is, what Albert Einstein would say, that imagination is
more important than knowledge. Guess you cant teach someone
imagination, you can teach someone knowledge. So, if you have
an imagination, then its great. And also communication,
focusing on the ability to communicate. What I find in this
industry a lot of times is that the single, greatest drawback for
anyone is not their knowledge, isnt their smarts, it may not
even be their ability to deliver a quality solution, but its their

ability to adequately communicate with whom theyre serving.


and that would be as a consultant, but it would also be if youre
working for a product company or working at an IT organization
or corporation; in all those cases, you have to be able to
communicate with those persons who are tasking you to create
software. If you cant communicate, there are some really funny
cartoons out there about what the business asks for versus what
gets delivered, and none of them are very good depictions of
that process, meaning that a lot of times theres a breakdown in
communications, that we dont fully either understand what they
are really asking for or we dont ask the right questions, we
dont continuously, kind of, seek their opinion on things, kind of,
going back to the customer, and constantly getting feedback as
to whether or not were on the right track, and then improving
our process along the way, too. In case you learn what works
and what doesnt work, different communication styles, and
ways to learn our lesson, so to speak. So, I think that
communication is one of these assets that software engineers
overlook, and dont focus on the. And I think public speaking,
toast masters types of events, and things like that, as kind of a
secondary educationn, as paramount as any IT, doesnt matter
what you focus is, there are so many focuses in the IT world.
Pick one, but you better be a good speaker or communicator.

Personal Reflection
A. What surprised you the most about the interview?
a. During the interview, I was surprised as to how Mr.
Sederburg had started his life. He stated that he had started in
the Marines and that he had earned his degree while in the
Marines. I was surprised at how humble his beginnings were and
to how hard he had worked to achieve where he is right now.
B. What was the most important piece of information that you
learned from the interview?
a. I learned that it was more important to communicate
effectively than to know all the knowledge in the world, because
if the information that you know is not properly explained to
people, such as your customers, then it is a waste.
C. How has this interview influenced your feelings about your future
career?

a. I feel more excited, and nervous, about my future


based on this interview. As he was explaining to me about how
great IT is, I was feeling as if I was learning how todays world
worked, because how much the IT sector has influenced todays
world. IT is not only software engineering, but its about
connectivity. with the Internet of Things, as he explained, more
and more devices are able to talk to each other. This made me
excited because this made me feel that I am part of a generation
that is going to revolutionize how the world is connected, in the
next few decades, and that I will be a part of that change.
D. How has this interview changed or confirmed your plans
regarding your future career?
a. This interview has given me an insight as to how
hard it is to succeed to todays world. To become successful,
have to good amount of money to spend on luxuries, I realized
that we have to work very hard and earn the money. This has
confirmed my plans of becoming an engineer in some form of IT
because Mr. Sederburg explains it as artistry, that software
engineers developing algorithms and devices are like sculptors
sculpting or painters painting a masterpiece.
E. What is the next step for you to pursue your plans? Who do you
need to talk to? What information to you need?
a. The next step is to excel at my studies in school, do
well on the upcoming standardized test, and apply to good
colleges so that I can accomplish my goal of becoming an
engineer. I am going to visit many colleges during summer so
that I can learn and experience what I might get into and
advance in my education.

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