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Supercomputer maker Cray: Jobs for HPC kids? There might be some going

Cluster veep John Lee on SCC

HPC blog There are some teens and kids in their twenties who skip out on university courses for a trip abroad with their friends, where they spend days and nights chugging down (caffeine) brew, losing sleep and wrestling with, er, clusters. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing...

In fact, it could mean that they'll one day work at Cray.

While everyone knows the firm as one of the largest supercomputing vendors in the industry, they might not know that the firm gets quite involved in the student competitions at HPC conferences, supplying kit and expertise to youngsters in the hopes that more bright people will get into the HPC game.

Cray has been a long-time supporter of the Student Cluster Competition, but its participation reached unprecedented levels at SC13.

It sponsored two of the "Big Iron" teams (University of Tennessee and the University of the Pacific) plus provided the hardware used in the first Celebrity Pro-Am Cluster Challenge.

Altogether, Cray provided three clusters, plus work on configurations, installations, and solving the myriad of other technical and logistical problems that inevitably arise.

Just before the SC13 supercomputing conference, I managed to get some time with John Lee, Cray’s VP of cluster solutions.

In this webcast, John and I talk about Cray’s long-term commitment to supporting the students in these competitions. We discuss how this benefits both the industry as a whole and Cray as a player in the business.

We also discuss something I haven’t talked about before with anyone else – how students can best take advantage of their experience after their cluster competition careers end. What doors does participating in the competition open for them? How they should best pursue positions in business, research, academia, or even with HPC vendors.

John talks about how Cray is looking for in new hires, and how experience in the Student Cluster Competitions pays off for prospective job candidates in a wide variety of fields.

Youtube Video

It’s an interesting and fun conversation and worth a look, whether you’re a cluster competitor or a potential employer looking for highly qualified and motivated technical personnel. ®

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