Jon Herlocker, Computer Science professor, Oregon State University (OSU), currently on leave to serve as Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering at Smart Desktop, a division of Pi Corporation. Doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota.
Message to high school students: “You can make a lot of money. Today’s big wealth comes from entrepreneurs, and most business ventures are based on a new technology. You can make as much as a doctor or lawyer, but computer science offers comparatively low stress jobs.” Listen to Jon Herlocker, Message to HS Students
Professor/entrepreneur—the best job in the world: “My job as a research professor is the best job you could ever have in the world. I get to interact with students, which I love, I get to work on anything I think is interesting, travel to conferences and other countries, and set my own hours. Plus I had the opportunity to take a leave of absence to start a company and bring a product from inception to the real world.” Listen to Jon Herlocker on Being an Entrepreneur
A social job: “Even though I’m a computer scientist, I don’t write software. I’m the lead technical person for our product, but that involves going to meetings, thinking up concepts, talking at conferences and ‘evangelizing’ what we’re doing. See, you can be a computer scientist and still have a social job. We work in a team setting, because software today is so complicated that it requires multiple people.
Message to high school students interested in computer science: “The opportunities are here. Things are changing, and not everyone in computer science is a young male computer geek with no social life. It pays well, it’s a respected career, and you can have extreme flexibility.” Listen to Jon Herlocker on Women in Computing
The winding road to success: “In high school I was 80% sports and 20% academics. I didn’t do a lot with computers then. I decided to go to Lewis & Clark because their tennis team was actually willing to take me, and a friend of mine told me he could get me a job in the computer lab—which is a great way to get experience, I owe a lot of my success to that.”
Best decision: “After finishing my undergraduate degree, my first major decision was whether to pursue a fortune in Silicon Valley or go to grad school. I chose grad school, and it’s the best decision I ever made.”
I’d like to meet: “One of the astronauts who walked on the moon. I’d really like to see a shuttle launch someday.”
Back to the classroom: “Next fall I’ll be back in Corvallis to teach. Any high school students out there with questions, contact me at herlock@eecs.oregonstate.edu!" Visit Dr. Herlocker's website at: http://eecs.oregonstate.edu/~herlock