Date of Submission: 10/29/15

P.O.E.

Professional Interview

Dylan Ionnotti

Block: 2

Interviewee
-

Christina Stout

Field
-

Electrical

Date of Interview
-

October 10th 2015

Location of Interview
-

Starbucks (1335 E Whitestone Blvd Cedar Park, TX 78613 United States)

Date of Submission: 10/29/15

General Information
I interviewed Christina Stout (Initial contact via email). She has a degree in
electrical engineering however she is a software engineer and development
director for MaxPlay Game Development Suite.

Professional Interview
(Question-answer format)
Q: Christina, could you please describe the field of software engineering in general?
A: So software engineering is building software applications or embedded software
for devices and building it in a way that is scalable and easily maintainable and
efficient.

Q: What is your current job title?

A: My current job title is Senior director of Development

Q: Could you describe your particular job and duties?

A: I manage a team of software engineers that are building a game development
quite. So, its software that will run in the cloud as well as on your local machine and
it allows people to build video games with it.
And, So, I manage a team of developers of like 20 or more developers- making sure
that their work is prioritized, making sure theyre doing all the right things as far as
process, designing, and architecting according to our standards and I do other
things like career coaching and stuff like that as well.

Q: What is your average work schedule?

A: Its like 9 to 6 usually, or so. Its pretty flexible. Like, I can go in late if I want, but
then I usually have to stay in, you know, pretty late. So, its like 9 to 6, 9 to 7.
Is that just, like, an average workday? Mondays through Fridays?
Yeah, well I had to bring some work home today. So I have to work on the weekend
sometimes if we cant get it all done. But, usually we try to get everything done.

Date of Submission: 10/29/15

Q: Starting with high school, could you describe your educational background
chronologically?
A: I graduated from high school in 1989 and I went to college from 1989 to 1991, for
a year and a half, and then I quit college because I didnt know what I wanted to do
and so I took a break for about five years- four years. And then I went back to
college in 1995- the summer of 95 and thats when I started my electrical
engineering classes.
What classes were you taking beforehand? Like, before you went back?
Before I went back? I was just taking basics. Like, English and psychology and, you
know, just the basic math. All the base classes because I didnt know what my major
was going to be so I just took all the things that everybody has to take.

Q: If you had to do it over, related to your career or education, would you do

anything differently?
A: (laughing) oh my gosh yes. I would spend a lot more time making sure I fully
understand all the concepts as well as getting hands on experience. Because you
know when youre at school you tend to mess with some books and solve problems
on paper, but you really need to be able to apply that to real world stuff. So I would
probably focus a lot more on real world applications and even doing that, like, in my
spare time.
Yeah, we do a lot of that in the class that Im taking. We actually have a
volunteer who comes to the class everyday and he majored in electrical engineering
too and every class he just incorporates how what were learning relates to the real
world
But, actually, If I could do it all over again I would study physics.
Why physics?
Its just cool. I dont know, I just love it. I love it. Like quantum physics or something
like that.

Q: Ok, this is the last question. What advice would you give to me as someone
interested in pursuing a career path similar to yours?
A: Do good in school. And do what I just said; try to get a lot of experience. The
biggest thing, seriously, is while youre going to school get some type of internship.
Do stuff in your spare time, find some hobbies like working with hardware. Get some
little setup, like, some microcontroller and do some stuff with that. Whatever your

Date of Submission: 10/29/15

field is, find a little project to do at home and whenever you start to get into your
late sophomore or junior year, get some job experience. Get some internship over
the summer or part time, thats really important.

Personal Reflection
a. What surprised you the most about the interview?
The only thing that surprised me was that it wasnt as awkward as I had expected it
to be, however everything else went as I suspected it would.
b. What was the most important piece of information that you learned from the
interview?
The information I found most valuable was advice on internships and what to plan
for in college. Meaning that I enjoyed hearing what Christina would have done
differently so that I can think about what I should do so that I get the most out of
my school years.
c. How has this interview influence your feelings about your future career?
It really has not affected me in any way other than the fact that it has made me
realize the reality of where I am in life now and how I need to start planning for my
future.
d. How has this interview changed or confirmed your plans regarding your
future career?
The interview did not discourage me from becoming an engineer. If anything I am
now even more enthusiastic about becoming an engineer now that I have more
information from sources outside of school.
e. My next step would to be to start looking into companies that involve the
fields of engineering that I am interested in (Electrical, Mechanical,
Architecture) and see if they do internships so that I could start building
experience.