Here at InterSystems I work with a diverse group of clients ranging from established hospitals to investment banks as well as medical laboratories. I work to guide them toward solutions and success as they use our technology to build production software systems that are highly performing, scaling, and user-friendly. In particular I am responsible for maintaining an expertise of our growing technological suite. At its core, our technology is an object-relational database management system built on top of the operating system. We offer a development platform on top of this architecture, complete with an object-oriented programming language. This platform allows our clients to build a variety of applications on top of our core technology, including terminal applications, web applications, big data applications, etc. I work daily with our clients solving complex problems involving Objects, SQL, Web Services, Web Servers, Algorithms, Java, C, .NET, SOAP, REST, Web Browsers, Disaster Recovery, Failover, Networking, etc.

InterSystems has exposed me to the “real-world” of software development/engineering, and the software industry as a business. InterSystems has incredible software, its primary software being a highly scalable object-relational database called Cache’. Cache’ stores data using an innovative structure called globals, which are more or less multi-dimensional arrays. Here at InterSystems I have learned the art of web development, sql, data transactions, as well as the life-cycle of a software application. I was assigned to develop an application to automate the process that InterSystems employees undergo to request and receive bonuses for initiating sales with client companies. I developed this application using a client/server framework known as Zen. I started the process complete from scratch, mapping out both a back-end and a front end through a design document, where I carefully considered physical issues such as storage and speed. I learned and utilized many architectures/techniques and languages in developing this application, such as model view controller, http, embedded html, JavaScript, css, odbc, etc. As part of my responsibility for the project, I created precise documentation for the application, which gave me tremendous experience in technical writing. I also oversaw the testing process, and as needed developed unit tests and test scripts to ensure that the app was sound. This experience working within a software business taught me that there is a balancing act that must be considered between quality and development time, as customers often demand functionality be presented quickly. Finally, this process exposed me to the world of source control, and the value of tracking changes and integrating code revisions so that multiple developers can work without fear of affecting each others’ work.