<\/p>\n
Steve Baker was among\u00a0the first cohorts of Computing students in the 1970s. Computers have come a long way since then, and so has his career.<\/p>\n
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What made you decide to study at Kent?<\/strong><\/p>\n Back in the mid-1970’s, it wasn’t clear how important computers were going to become.\u00a0\u00a0I took a single class on FORTRAN programming in school and that convinced me that some kind of a career with computers was\u00a0where I should be headed.\u00a0\u00a0 But every career advisor said “You’d be\u00a0better off doing Computers-and-something than straight computing”…which turns out to have been terrible advice!\u00a0\u00a0I looked around for degree subjects with a large computing component and “Computers and Cybernetics” sounded *way* cool.\u00a0\u00a0Only two universities offered it (Kent and Sussex) but I didn’t want to end up living with my parents in Brighton…so Kent\u00a0was my first choice!<\/p>\n What are you doing now?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I’m a lead developer for a mobile game company.\u00a0\u00a0I run an elite team of five software engineers.\u00a0\u00a0For most of my career I’ve been doing work relating to 3D computer graphics (which is my passion) – flight simulation, video games and so forth.<\/p>\n What was your first job?<\/strong><\/p>\n I worked for Philips Research Labs – researching “embedded” software for small telephone exchanges.\u00a0\u00a0I very soon realised that people were more interested in the graphics on the telephone exchanges’ system monitor than in the telephony part – so I switched over to the team who were developing the very first CD-ROM.\u00a0\u00a0We used a pre-production version of the first ever CD audio player and modified it to add a computer interface.<\/p>\n How has your experience at Kent helped you since graduation?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was in college at the very cusp between big mainframe computers with punched cards – and the microprocessor revolution.\u00a0\u00a0We were taught a passion for the art of computer programming – it’s hard to convey that, but Professors Peter and Heather Brown and Professor David Turner achieved that.<\/p>\n The ability to have “hands on” access to the PDP 11\/20 and my first taste of the joys of UNIX on the 11\/40 were truly inspiring.\u00a0\u00a0David Turner gave me a project to build a graphics library for an antique pen plotter and an even more ancient “storage tube” hooked up to the 11\/20 – and that tweaked my interests in graphics.\u00a0\u00a0I think I can still remember the sequence of pink and purple front-panel switches to boot the PDP-11’s!<\/p>\n So, the one single thing?\u00a0\u00a0Passion!\u00a0\u00a0It’s never left me.\u00a0\u00a0I’m coming close to retirement now – but I refuse to become “management”.\u00a0\u00a0If I can’t create beautiful graphics – I’m not interested!<\/p>\n What\u2019s the best piece of advice you\u2019ve ever been given?<\/strong><\/p>\n Never use a “goto” statement in an Algol-60 program!\u00a0\u00a0It’s true – don’t do it!\u00a0\u00a0Ever!<\/p>\n OK – well, perhaps “If it isn’t pretty it won’t work” – I think that was Heather Brown complaining about the poor intentation style of my Backgammon player code.\u00a0\u00a0But it is a valuable insight.\u00a0\u00a0Readability is paramount.<\/p>\n Who or what inspires you?<\/strong><\/p>\n “Who” would be Richard Feynman – he was the ultimate in committed scientist, blended with an unending curiosity, wit, imagination and intelligence.\u00a0\u00a0I strive every day to be like him.<\/p>\n “What” would be Wikipedia.\u00a0\u00a0Yeah – I know it has it’s flaws – and that academics tend to dismiss it – but the way that the biggest corpus of human knowledge has been amassed in such a short time by the coming together (and butting of heads) of so many people is deeply inspiring.\u00a0\u00a0If that’s possible – then what else might be achieved?<\/p>\n Where do you see yourself in ten years?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I’m 61 now…so a good goal for 2026 would be “still around”!\u00a0\u00a0I really don’t see myself ever giving up working.\u00a0\u00a0I want to create a small startup business – maybe something in the area of Augmented Reality – and have the time to tinker with things I enjoy.\u00a0\u00a0I always have a couple of “side projects” on the go – and over the coming years, one of those needs to become “The Next Big Thing”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"