Meet Harris Romanoff
Your Penn degree/major/year of graduation:
BSE in Electrical Engineering, 1998
What career paths were you considering as a senior at Penn?
I was considering either graduate work in robotics or a move to the West Coast to pursue a career in Entertainment Engineering (the integration of special effects, robotics, audio systems, and animation for themed attractions and film).
What was your 1st job after graduation?
Deciding to stay on the East Coast, I joined the Electrical Engineering group at Ballinger, an architecture & engineering design firm.
Name one thing you wish you knew as an undergraduate at Penn.
The devil is not in the details. He’s only in the last 10% of them.
How did you get to where you are now?
Asking questions. Taking risks. Making mistakes. Learning from them. Repeating all of the above.
At what point do you feel you decided on a career direction? As an undergraduate or later?
I decided on a career direction several years after I had graduated. Only at that point had I worked in several different industries which in turn gave me a solid sense of what I enjoyed doing and where I wanted to take my career.
What is the one course you took at Penn that has helped you the most?
Phil Farnum’s & Dr. Laker’s Senior Design Class – hands down. This course taught me how to tackle open ended problems, prepare engineering documents, and communicate effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Did you go on to graduate school?
Not yet but it certainly remains a strong possibility.
What can a recent graduate expect in this field starting out?
No matter the specifics of the job, attention to detail, thinking several steps ahead on every project, and communicating effectively with each team member are all traits to demonstrate when first starting out in this field.
What do you do day to day?
I am with a company called NeatReceipts. We design and sell hardware/software combination solutions that help individuals and businesses rid themselves of the “paper mess”. On a day to day basis I lead the technology group that develops our imaging, optical character recognition and data extraction technologies. I also collaborate with the CTO and other members of the management team in designing our next generation products. Lastly I work closely with marketing and customer support to ensure that the needs of our customers remain at the center of design decisions.
What kind of environment do you work in?
NeatReceipts is a fast paced, highly goal focused environment that is also relaxed and fun. This balance is achieved in large part by having everyone sit together in one large open space instead of in separate offices. This arrangement also allows for highly efficient problem resolution discussions and intra-office communications.
How often do you collaborate with others as a team?
Not a day goes by that I am not collaborating with others on a team project.
If you were to hire someone to work with you today, what would be most important factors in your hiring decision?
More important than a solid GPA is the ability to clearly and succinctly describe to me technical challenges one has tackled and how he or she went about solving them. I am less interested in whether the challenge was overcome but rather in the decision making process that was involved and lessons that were learned.
How much of your lifestyle do you think is dictated by your work? – obligations,time constraints, etc.
It’s easy to let work that you are passionate about steal time away from life’s many other happenings. Over the years I have learned to balance my life-work equation with activities such as ultimate frisbee and salsa dancing. Earlier this year I co-started a group called MakePhilly that brings together artists and engineers for creative collaboration. In addition, I have remained active with Penn Engineering by returning each year to judge senior design projects, mentor undergraduate students and become a board member of Penn’s Engineering Alumni Society.
Where is your field going in the future?
Incorporating ever more sophisticated technology into products that will become ever easier to use. Apple’s iPod is a case in point.
How did a Penn education prepare you for your career or current job?
When I entered Penn Engineering I was thrilled by all the interdisciplinary research projects going on but also quite overwhelmed by the myriad of course options that lay in front of me. One of the first professors I spoke to for advice, Dr. Ruzena Bajcsy, took this then freshman under her wing and helped me to design a custom academic program that perfectly met my interests and goals. Working in her GRASP robotics lab also afforded me the opportunity to become involved in a number of interdisciplinary research projects that spanned several of Penn’s schools. The experience continues to benefit me now as I collaborate with others from different industries and backgrounds. To this day I remain in contact with many of the Penn Engineering professors that I met thanks to Dr. Bajcsy’s custom program including Dr. Jan Van der Spiegel, Dr. Jim Ostrowski, Dr. Nader Engheta and Dr. Vijay Kumar.
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