{"id":2174,"date":"2024-03-28T08:41:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T12:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/matlab\/?p=2174"},"modified":"2024-12-18T05:13:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T10:13:09","slug":"the-steve-eddins-interview-30-years-of-mathworking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/matlab\/2024\/03\/28\/the-steve-eddins-interview-30-years-of-mathworking\/","title":{"rendered":"The Steve Eddins Interview: 30 years of MathWorking"},"content":{"rendered":"
This month, Steve Eddins is retiring from MathWorks after 30+ years on the job. When he joined, MathWorks was only 10 years old and had 190 staff. Recently, we just celebrated our 40th anniversary and have almost 7,000 staff working all over the world. Steve has seen some massive transformations. <\/span><\/div>
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Long before I joined MathWorks, I knew Steve through his popular blog, <\/span>Steve on Image Processing with MATLAB<\/span><\/a> which started way back in 2006. He is actually one of the people who inspired me to start blogging back then. As such, it has been a privilege to work alongside him as one of MathWorks\u2019 official bloggers over the last couple of years. Sometimes, it really is a good thing to meet your heroes. <\/span><\/div>
I recently had a chat with Steve, asking him about his time at MathWorks. A write up of this conversation is below. <\/span><\/div>

MathWorks Career<\/span> <\/span><\/h2>
Tell us about your career before MathWorks and how did it lead you here? <\/span><\/div>
Mike, before <\/span>I dive in<\/span>, I want to say that I was <\/span>an <\/span>avid follower of your work <\/span>in research software engineering. I always enjoyed your Walking Randomly blog. <\/span>I am so happy that you have found a place with MathWorks, and especially that you <\/span>are writing our MATLAB blog!<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
I was introduced to MATLAB sometime around 1988, when I was pursuing my Ph.D. in the digital signal processing research group at Georgia Tech. When Jim McLellan joined the DSP faculty, he brought with him his enthusiasm for MATLAB, and he convinced some of us grad students to join for a group purchase of MATLAB. I used MATLAB for some of my graduate studies, and there are some MATLAB plots in my <\/span>dissertation.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
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In late 1990, I joined the faculty of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)<\/span>.<\/span> I used MATLAB for <\/span>image processing <\/span>research work<\/span> and for preparing course materials.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
By 1993, I was ready to move on from UIC, and I was <\/span>considering leaving academia. <\/span>MathWorks came to mind because of my MATLAB experience. I was impressed with <\/span>how company and MATLAB development leaders Jack Little, Cleve <\/span>Moler<\/span>, Loren Shure, and Clay Thompson actively <\/span>participated<\/span> in the new Usenet newsgroup, <\/span>comp.soft<\/span>-sys.matlab<\/span>. <\/span>I met Loren at a signal processing conference that spring, and I sent her my resume. <\/span> <\/span><\/div>
When Loren told me that no positions were available, I asked to <\/span>participate<\/span> in the beta program for the new Image Processing Toolbox.<\/span> I was a highly motivated beta tester, providing detailed reports, algorithm suggestions, and MATLAB code. <\/span>Shortly after the beta program ended, I was invited to interview<\/span>. That went well, and I joined MathWorks in December 1993.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
What was your first role here? <\/span><\/div>
I took over development of Image Processing Toolbox. <\/span>I spent my first MathWorks decade <\/span>working to make the toolbox faster and more memory efficient <\/span>and<\/span> adding <\/span>the algorithms and visualization tools needed for general research and development. <\/span>Because the development organization was so small then, I also had an opportunity to do MATLAB<\/span> work. I created the second-generation MATLAB profiler<\/span>, <\/span>optimized<\/span> multidimensional array processing functions, <\/span>implemented image and scientific data <\/span>I\/O functions, <\/span>helped to design <\/span>image display improvements<\/span>, and integrated the FFTW library<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
What was your final position at MathWorks? <\/span><\/div>
The same as my first position! <\/span>In the summer of 2020, the first pandemic year, <\/span>I realized that I really missed doing image processing and<\/span> toolbox development work.<\/span> <\/span>I approached Julianna, the manager of the team responsible today for the Image Processing Toolbox, <\/span>about coming back to the team<\/span>. I am grateful to her and to the other development managers <\/span>who smoothed<\/span> the way for me to <\/span>rejoin<\/span> the <\/span>Image Processing Toolbox team in February 2021.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
For about <\/span>a dozen years prior to that, I was <\/span>mostly<\/span> <\/span>doing<\/span> MATLAB development. I managed several MATLAB teams<\/span>. <\/span>I was on the language design team, and I was one of a small group of senior designers who <\/span>reviewed every feature going into MATLAB. I also helped create <\/span>design standards for MATLAB.<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/div>
What is it about MathWorks that made you stay so long? <\/span><\/div>
It\u2019s<\/span> been the same answer throughout my <\/span>career: <\/span>I love <\/span>making tools <\/span>that make a real difference in the worlds of engineering and science, and I love doing that work with the kind of people <\/span>who are here at MathWorks<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
What advice would you give to a new MathWorker? <\/span><\/div>
Now <\/span>you\u2019re<\/span> really making me think hard, Mike. <\/span>I hesitated for a long time about this, wondering what I could say <\/span>that could be useful to any new <\/span>MathWorker<\/span>, whatever they might be doing and wherever around the world they might be doing it.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
It finally dawned on me that MathWorks <\/span>works hard to give <\/span>helpful information to <\/span>new <\/span>MathWorkers<\/span>, and the best thing I can do is to <\/span>add<\/span> my own perspective <\/span>to<\/span> that.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
First, look at the company\u2019s <\/span>mission<\/span><\/a>, which tells you <\/span>the fundamental things that the company is trying <\/span>accomplish<\/span> in the technology, business, human, and social spheres. <\/span>These have not changed during my 30 years with the company. <\/span>With my engineering background<\/span>, I tend to focus on the technology <\/span>piece<\/span>: <\/span>\u201cOur purpose is to change the world by accelerating the pace of discovery, innovation, development, and learning in engineering and science. We work to provide the ultimate computing environment for technical computation, visualization, design, simulation, and implementation. We use this environment to provide innovative solutions in a wide range of application areas.\u201d But all four areas are important.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
Your next step is to <\/span>think about the company\u2019s <\/span>values<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> These tell you about the kind of people that MathWorks prefers to hire<\/span>, and how MathWorks expects them to behave. <\/span>If you can align your work with the company mission and plans, and if your personal approach to work life and interaction with others <\/span>is consistent with the company values, then you have a great chance for a long, rewarding MathWorks career.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>

Blogging<\/span> <\/span><\/h2>
You started the blog in 2006. What led you to do this? <\/span><\/div>
I have always enjoyed t<\/span>aking time to think carefully about something and then <\/span>write<\/span> an explanation. <\/span>Blogging within MathWorks became a thing sometime around 2005, and I <\/span>actively <\/span>participated<\/span> in that.<\/span> <\/span>Also, this was soon after the publication of <\/span>Digital Image Processing Using MATLAB<\/span>, which I co-authored. <\/span>So, when Ned Gulley <\/span>(who writes over at the <\/span>MATLAB Community blog<\/span><\/a>) started talking about creating technical blogs on mathworks.com, <\/span>I approached him about it. I want to thank Ned <\/span>for convincing MathWorks to create this technical blogging space, and I <\/span>also want to express my gratitude for his encouragement of <\/span>me<\/span>, then and in the years since.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
What have you got out of blogging over the years?<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
The biggest thing is a sense of connection with <\/span>people <\/span>around the world who are interested in MATLAB and image processing. This connection <\/span>has been<\/span> rewarding and motivating for me.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
I also find it rewarding to be able to help other people in meaningful ways. <\/span>It has been a joyful coincidence that some of the things that I personally find interesting <\/span>have been also interesting and helpful to others. As I have been preparing<\/span> for my retirement over the last couple of months, I have been delighted to hear from many <\/span>MathWorkers<\/span> that <\/span>my blog helped them to learn about MATLAB and image processing. In some cases, it helped them to <\/span>find their career here.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
Also, <\/span>the process of working out and writing an explanation of some technical topic <\/span>almost always<\/span> teaches me something new about it. <\/span>So, writing the blog has helped to advance my own knowledge.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
What was your most popular blog post<\/span>?<\/span> <\/span><\/div>
Popularity is a bit hard for me to measure<\/span>, as web traffic measurements are affected by search in unexpected and hard-to-interpret ways.<\/span> If you <\/span>don\u2019t<\/span> mind, let me just offer some highlights (from approximately 600 posts over 18 years).<\/span><\/div>
Some fun<\/span> deep dives<\/span>:<\/span> <\/span><\/div>