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Day in the life of… Chris Dickson, Algorithms Engineer, Glasgow

The GradMail team caught up with Chris Dickson (right at center), an algorithms engineer from Thales’s Glasgow site, to find out more about his role and the secondment options available to engineers.

So how do you become a graduate algorithms engineer in Optronics? In Chris’s case, he worked at the Thales Glasgow site before joining the graduate programme. In this first role, which he juggled with a Doctorate in Engineering, Chris developed complex algorithms for detecting vehicles using a variant of the Catherine MP camera, a compact high definition thermal imager.

During this first position, Chris explored different applications for the thermal imager, such as detecting mine-like objects in different scenarios. This involved processing thousands of images, extracting relevant information and using this to build an object detector.
 
Chris’s job is highly complex and it is essential that he stays up-to-date with developments in his field by reading textbooks on optics or recent papers on image processing techniques, for example. This is in addition to the formal and practical training that Chris receives as a graduate.

Graduate roles at Thales are diverse and the breadth of activities that Chris is involved in demonstrates the value placed on graduates within the business. Day-to-day, Chris programs and writes graphical tools using MATLAB (a technical computing language and interactive environment) to allow managers to understand what the expected performance of a camera system. He also implements new algorithms proposed for investigation in C++ (a programming language), such as high dynamic range imaging or assisted detection. 
 
Talking about his experience and the opportunities for development, Chris says:

“Thales offers secondments for engineers – the majority of the algorithms team in Glasgow has worked for an extended time at another site."

Earlier this year, I spent four months working in Basingstoke on a project in Missile Electronics. This opportunity took me out of my comfort zone. I had to learn about complex fuse systems, as well as the intricacies of algorithms used within the fuse and those used to test it. While the red-eye flights between Glasgow and Basingstoke were exhausting, I gained significant experience and I would highly recommend all graduates seeking out similar opportunities."