One Day, One Job » shipping

Farsounder

Willy Franzen — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:50:55 +0000

I’m sure that you’ve all heard of sonar, but how many of you have actually used it? My first real experience with sonar was in college when I was part of a research team trying to find the Finger Lakes equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster. Ok, that’s an exaggeration. I was actually fishing on a friend’s boat, and he taught me how to use a sonar unit to catch Lake Trout. It’s pretty cool—you can actually watch your jig drop down to the bottom of the lake, and you can watch on the screen as little blobs of pixels occasionally chase it—these are fish. It’s half video game, half real life fishing. Obviously, there are far more serious and important uses of sonar, and that’s what Farsounder is all about. They’re a company based in Warwick, RI that “is one of the world leaders in the design, manufacture and marketing of 3D sonar systems for a variety of applications in the commercial, recreational, defense and homeland security markets, internationally as well as domestically.” Two-dimensions is great when you’re fishing, but if you’re navigating a large, expensive ship around underwater obstacles, three-dimensions is the way to go.

Add a New Dimension to Your Career

Farsounder has two key product lines: Navigation Sonars and Diver Detection Systems. Navigation Sonars are pretty self-explanatory—they help you see where you’re going from an underwater perspective. Diver Detection Systems are a bit different. They exist to detect threats while the ship is at anchor. Farsounder offers solutions that combine the two technologies, so ship crews can know what’s going on beneath the surface at all times. If you’re still not quite getting what Farsounder is all about (or you’re digging them and want to keep learning more), check out this PDF from NOAA on how Farsounder technology is used to protect whales from ship collisions—the leading cause of death of the northern right whale. If you want to save whales, protect ships, and work on really cool technology, check out Farsounder’s Jobs page. Right now they’re hiring Software Engineers, so check out the job description and see if it’s something that interests you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used sonar?

Six88 Solutions

Willy Franzen — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:35:04 +0000

When I interned at Orvis, I got to take a trip to their distribution center in Roanoke, VA. I learned a lot about the company on that trip, and I got to experience one interesting situation. At the time Orvis had a new product – a kangaroo skin hat – that happened to be illegal in California. Unfortunately they didn’t realize that kangaroo products were illegal in California until after one of the hats had already shipped. Apparently every violation of this law comes with a very steep fine. It was understandable that there was a big fuss about this, and somehow the company was able to track down the package before it crossed the California border. Now imagine that your company faces this problem every day. That’s what it’s like for wine retailers – every state has different restrictions, regulations, taxes, and other hoops that you need to jump through to ship wine. That’s where Boulder, CO based Six88 Solutions comes in. They produce software called ShipCompliant that makes it much easier for wine companies to stay in compliance with the law.

Jobs in Compliance

Basically what Six88 Solutions does through ShipCompliant is offer software as a service to wine retailers that “processes direct shipments for more than 900 wine brands across the US.” They “maintain the industry’s most accurate and up to date database of direct shipping rules in order to enable real-time compliance checks and auto-populated state shipping and tax reports.” It’s a business idea that just makes sense. (This is how the government creates jobs, by designing regulations that are so onerous that you need to pay someone to figure them out for you.) There’s no reason that every single wine manufacturer should have to employ a compliance team, so they can outsource to ShipCompliant and keep doing what they do best. The only question is when ShipCompliant will expand into kangaroo hat compliance. So if this sounds like something that you’d like to be a part of, you should check out the Jobs at Six88 Solutions. Right now they’re looking for a Jr. Inside Sales / Lead Qualification Rep and a Customer Service Specialist. Both appear suitable for new college grads, and you can apply online from the Jobs page.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of ShipCompliant?

Veson Nautical

Willy Franzen — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:44:40 +0000

Did you know that the invention of the portable clock was mainly driven by the need for ships to measure longitude? I bet that you didn’t. I did because I was forced to read a book called Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time during the summer before my Sophomore year of high school. For most of nautical history, one of the most challenging problems facing mariners was figuring out where they were at a given moment. Now companies like Veson Nautical provide software solutions that “allow users to manage and share information efficiently across Chartering, Operations, Trading, and Accounting departments—streamlining workflow, cutting costs, and optimizing profits.” If Christopher Columbus had software to optimize profits, he certainly never would have “discovered” America.

Hack Your Way Aboard

If you’re the type who gets seasick, don’t be scared by the “nautical” in Veson Nautical’s name – they’re a software company. That doesn’t mean that they don’t know the shipping industry like a ferry operator knows his course though. They’ve been in the business for nearly 30 years, and they’ve refocused on software as it has become increasingly essential to maritime operations. Veson Nautical is based out of Boston, MA (though they have offices in Athens, Rotterdam and Singapore) and they’re currently looking to hire some top notch software developers. The two positions that seem to be best suited to new college grads are Software Developer and Software QA Engineer. These are really cool opportunities because they merge one of the world’s oldest industries (shipping) with one of its newest (software development). Whether you’ve always loved boats or have been fascinated by nautical history, if you have software skills then a job at Veson Nautical is for you. All you need to do to apply is to send a cover letter and resume to hr@veson.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you read Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time ? What’d you think?