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Spend nine years at SMART Technologies, and you'll see a lot of change.
That's the length of time Shannon, director of product development in software, has been with SMART and she can attest to that.
"Growth, unbridled growth," says Shannon to describe her time at SMART. "The software development team is six times the size it was when I started and we now have teams in Calgary, Ottawa and India."
At a fast-paced, leading-edge technology company like SMART, change is taken in stride. And it's not only found in the rapid growth of the company. Here, change also means being a part of developing innovative technology that impacts the way people convey ideas and work together.
"It's fun, exploratory work," Shannon says. "This is about designing interactive solutions in a variety of form factors – something that not a lot of other people are working on."
Finding unique challenges with every project
Part of that fun, says Shannon, is working with a variety of products that offer their own unique challenges.
"The diversity of the products is exciting," she says. "For example, we put a lot of work into our release of 3D technology. To do so, we had to think over how to interact with a 3D object on a 2D space in an easy and tangible way, so people can catch on to it right away.
"Working on the SMART Table interactive learning center is a whole other paradigm because anyone can be interacting anywhere on its surface – there is no defined top of the display. So we had to think about how we'd allow that interaction to make sense without having a discontinuity between it and our other products."
"SMART makes it easy for those of us who like to bike to work. There are shower facilities and a bike lockup, so it's great for staff members who want an alternate means of commuting."
Taking pride in making a difference
Even though she is immersed in this dynamic environment during the day, Shannon says the most satisfying part of her work is what happens when she gets home.
"It's seeing that our products actually make a difference," she says. "It's really wild to hear my step-kids say, 'My teacher loves the SMART Board and he figured out how to do something new on it today.' They're just relating something neat that happened at school – but it's something neat about the product I'm helping bring to life."
Oh, and a little bit of fame doesn't hurt either.
"When I say I work for SMART Technologies, people who use our products say, 'I love my SMART Board!' I've been hugged by more people at parties than I can count," Shannon says. "It's amazing to see people so excited about what we make. It makes me feel pretty good in the morning about coming here."
