Products

Spotlight on – Julien Joubert, developer and project manager

By Adele Dolique
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Julien Joubert

Developer and project manager 

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What are you currently working on?
I’m currently wearing two hats. To start, I develop for the LMS Amesim platform, specifically focusing on an extension called the CAD import tool to help users create a simulation model.  My second role is project manager for the new ADAS (Advanced Driving Assistance Systems) and autonomous vehicle solution.

In my first role, I interact with the solution development and product management teams to understand the customer requirements. It is interesting to try to understand what our users need and propose ideas in regards to what is feasible for both the customer and our software. Sometimes, we have to provide users with a new or different approach to their problem and we have to convince them that the proposed solution is the right way to go. This evaluation phase is actually less technical than the coding itself, but it is really the main part of a project. If I evaluate the problem well, implementation should be easy.

And for the past few months, I have been leading the ADAS development project. My goal is to manage resources: people and tasks as well as moderate and ensure that the various project contributors interact well with the product manager. I try to ensure that we have the right process to achieve our objectives.

What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?
Customer satisfaction, definitely! Like everyone who develops a product, getting positive feedback from our customers motivates me to improve the existing tool and go even further. Sometimes as a developer, we work “in our bubble”. It is important to understand that our daily work is an important part of a concrete and final product.
What is an area that provides the best opportunity for improvement?
If we look at my development career, my best opportunity for improvement is to carry out a project successfully. I shared this wish with my managers and they gave me the opportunity to join the ADAS project. It’s challenging; it stimulates my daily work, and allows me to take a step back from just coding.
How do you contribute to Simcenter?
In a nutshell: by continuously improving the performance of LMS Amesim.
What do you see as the emerging trends in your field of expertise?
What I realize is that our users are no longer only experts. There is a growing demand to automate repetitive tasks. The new user profile is someone with less expertise who considers modeling rather abstract and does not need an in-depth detailed analysis. The trend is to provide a tool that “hides” complexity with an easy-to-use interface. Ideally, our user would only have to press a button to manage complex models. It could be that easy.
What influenced you to want to take up your present line of work?
I was interested in both computer science, and mathematics and physics. So I decided to combine all my interests. I studied simulation, modeling and computer science, but always for industrial applications.
When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an architect: I love building, assembling bricks and thinking upstream to design a viable product. So, even if I did not do that, the philosophy remains the same.
map-location.png Current Location tool.png Education
Lyon, France Simulation, modeling, computer sciences, signal processing
places_traveled.png Place you’ve travelled books-stack-of-three.png Currently Reading
Iceland, Namibia, Burkina Faso, Finland (Lapland) The Baltimore Boys by Joël Dicker
medal.png Sports airplane-around-earth.png Travel Wish List
Rugby & hiking Scotland, Lofoten Islands, Costa Rica
This article first appeared on the Siemens Digital Industries Software blog at https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/simcenter/spotlight-on-julien-joubert-developer-and-project-manager/