Everything you ever wanted to know about Gil Hildebrand

At the ripe young age of 11 I decided to create my own web site. Soon bored with basic HTML, I perilously began a quest to make my own guestbook. I figured it out, but more importantly I enjoyed building it. I started learning. Four years later, I realized I needed a job in order to afford the luxuries every high school student craves (a car and gas to put in it). I opted to contact the local computer shop, having been shaken at the thought of a lifetime delivering second-rate pizza. At first they didn't want to hire me, but I was persistent (I showed up every day and told them I was working, despite them turning me down), and soon enough the job was mine. I quickly became indispensable.

After graduating high school I immediately started college and began doing freelance computer consulting. From there I triumphed one successful project after another, each time compounding my ninja coding skills and slick business savvy. Unfortunately I cannot go into detail about my alleged career as an international spy.

Finally, in August 2005, the train stopped, and the levee broke. My office and lifelong hometown of New Orleans were destroyed, and my client roster diminished. Refusing to accept defeat, I kept on truckin', and here I am today: in New York City, employed as the Chief Engineer at Squidoo, a promising startup with an all-star team.

I always knew that I was destined to build things. As a kid, my family would watch in awe as I constructed entire cities out of Legos.

Some people are born to become experts in a particular field. Try as I might, I am not one of them. Rather than develop a depth of expertise, I've always been more apt to learn a wide range of skills and apply them everywhere I can.

And that's how I happened into the most interesting job I've ever had: building a communications network for a fleet of tugboats. The company, which operates a few dozen tugboats along the Intracoastal Waterway in the Southern US, was in desperate need of a modern system to replace their aging satellite-based communication tools. Rather than calling in IBM for a multi-million dollar solution, I was chosen for my wide range of skills to lead the technical portion of the project.

The first task was to throw out the ancient (not to mention unreliable) satellite modems and fax machines, and to experiment with a new system based on 3G digital mobile phone technology. The 3G system proved ideal as a cost-efficient means of internet access with an acceptable rate of coverage (it's a given that tugboats don't always travel in areas with great wireless reception). Armed with PC Cards from our mobile provider, we pieced together a few additional components to improve our coverage and achieve near 90% uptime along the shipping lanes.

Moving along, the next step was to find the right combination of PC hardware that would be highly durable, easy to use, and space and power efficient. The latter was an especially difficult task, considering that up until recently most ship designers had not considered the possibility that a computer (along with GPS and so many other electronic gizmos) would need to fit into the wheelhouse.

After nailing the hardware, it was time to start configuring the machines. I developed a rigorous series of security procedures to ensure that the computers were not tampered with, and an exhaustive step-by-step process to ensure the setup procedure was identical during each installation. I was also charged with developing a complete software intranet to make communication between the tugboats and their home office as simple and efficient as possible.

All the above was par for the course, but what made this job particularly interesting was the final step: catching up with a few dozen constantly-moving boats, installing computers and comms equipment on each, and (most importantly) giving boat personnel a crash course in basic computer skills.

Over and over, what kept me going was the requirement for absolute simplicity. The Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) philosophy helped:

1) reduce long-term costs by using cheap, off the shelf wireless communications technology
2) minimize costly repair trips by utilizing a minimal component, rigorously tested hardware system
3) get boat personnel up to speed right away by developing an intranet that was customized to match their existing communications process as closely as possible

For a guy destined to spend his entire professional career in an air-conditioned office, the days spent drilling holes, erecting antennas, and running wires in the 90 degree summer heat, along with the general feng shui required to find space for all the required computer equipment, was a welcome change of pace. If I had to do it all over again, the only thing I'd do differently is make sure I took at least one picture of myself wearing a mechanic's outfit, drill in hand, swearing like a sailor.

The 6 month project was a complete success, and the system I built is still in use today. I learned a lot along the way, and for now I can't help shake the feeling that this was the most interesting job I've ever had.