Job: System architect, Scientific Atlanta, Lawrenceville
What I do: Just as your house or office building needed an architect, so does your computer or the box that sits on top of your television and connects it to all those channels.
That's where Banji Oladeji comes in. He's a system — read "technology" — architect for the set-top boxes that Scientific Atlanta builds to convert the signals that televisions receive into sounds and images for you to enjoy.
Like an architect for a building, Oladeji, 29, must make sure the hardware and software components all work together — and fit into the box.
"I look at the technical network. What are the different pieces that go together to make it work?" he said.
Banji Oladeji makes sure that the boxes atop television sets communicate with one another and with signals in order to deliver high-definition TV programming.
The purpose of the device dictates the hardware and software that must be included. "We design how they talk to each other and work together," he said.
Oladeji explained that he works mostly with software, because it changes more rapidly than hardware. "Once we do the basic design, the hardware stays the same for a few years."
The software, however, can be updated much more quickly, especially as the industry changes.
For years, Scientific Atlanta has supplied set-top boxes to the cable telecommunications industry. Now, the cable companies are expanding into Internet and voice services, just as telecom companies such as AT&T are providing Internet and video services in addition to voice communication.
The telecommunications companies need new set-top equipment to carry their signals, and that's what Oladeji and his team are working on.
There are two receiver boxes used today. Gateway boxes are video decoders that receive the signal from the cable or phone line and allow customers to receive an almost-unlimited number of channels and programs on demand, all of it in high-definition. There's one gateway box per house. It distributes the signal to the television sets throughout the house via cable hooked up to set-top boxes — one per TV.
Oladeji makes sure the whole system works together. Starting with the client company, he determines what the device is supposed to do. First in lab trials, then in real-world testing, he and his team perfect the interplay of hardware and software before the device goes on the market.
What got me interested in this: "I've always been inclined toward technology," Oladeji said. "I knew I wanted to use technology to improve people's lives, make technology work for people."
Besides providing entertainment, the video technology he's working on allows businesses to hold virtual, "face-to-face" meetings with people anywhere in the world, enables doctors to diagnose illnesses in distant locations or gives a parent who is away on a business trip the opportunity to enjoy a child's birthday party back home, he said.
Best part of my job: "Solving problems for people," Oladeji said. "I develop solutions, put them together and see it work."
Most challenging part: "Technology is getting globalized, and people are working on our projects who are not in Atlanta," he pointed out.
Also, coordinating people in different time zones with different languages and cultures can be a challenge.
"When I'm asleep, other people are doing work," he said.
What people don't know about my job: "People think of tech as very geeky," said Oladeji, who insists that he's not a geek. His appearance bears that out. He looks more like someone out of GQ magazine than someone who wears a pocket protector.
His job involves communicating with people and seeing how the results affect their lives.
What keeps me going: "What we are doing here has a direct impact on how people do things," Oladeji said. "It has direct implications for companies that sell these services and for the end users."
Preparation needed for this job: You need at least a bachelor's degree in fields such as electrical engineering, computer science or mechanical engineering, although some jobs can be done by people with degrees in fields other than engineering.
You also have to be someone "who likes to make things work," is detail-oriented and can see the big picture, he said.
Oladeji has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and a master's degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech. He also has minors in management and computer science.
For the last three years, he's been with Scientific Atlanta, which was purchased by Cisco Systems about a year and a half ago. He also worked for Motorola and the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.