IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2007 - 11

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Q: What do you like best about your job?
What do you like least or what is most
challenging?
Hart: I really like the people I work
with and the variety of engineering I do.
At Imagineering, everyone on a project
team is focused on the goal of opening
the attraction to guests in our park. The
teamwork and "can do" attitude of our
project teams make for a great work
environment. Another bonus is the
instant recognition and interest in my
work that I receive from people. The
hardest part of my job is juggling multiple tasks, but that's also what makes it
interesting.
Q: What advice would you give to others
who want to become imagineers?
Hart: Pay attention to people. Observe
how they interact with their environment and with others. Remember, successful engineers are good observers and
good communicators. I'd also like to
remind younger women that engineering really is about people. Engineers
develop and apply technology to better
the human condition. I've noticed
recently that engineering recruiters
focus on science and math and tend to
ignore the people aspects of the field.

Two Worlds
Molly Kistler, a software engineer at Walt
Disney Imagineering, says she's not your
typical engineer. Whether it is days in the
field testing rides or writing code at her
desk, the position has proven to be both
challenging and rewarding.
Q: Tell us about yourself.
Kistler: I grew up in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania. In high school I excelled in
math and science and spent a lot of time
playing with our home computer. I went
to the University of Southern California,
in Los Angeles, and earned my bachelor's
degree in computer science with a minor
in neuroscience. I stayed in school for an
extra year to earn my master's in computer science, intelligent robotics. I
interned at Walt Disney Imagineering
during my master's program. During my
last semester of school I accepted a position starting in January 2004 at Disney

Page 11

With Molly
Kistler there's
never a dull
moment,
whether it's
meeting with
review groups,
writing code or
days of testing
park rides.

Imagineering. I am currently a software
engineer in the Ride Engineering division at Walt Disney Imagineering.

days full of ride testing but can actually
be a lot of fun. When you get back from
the field you tend to experience a postfield lull, because you are so used to the
fast pace and exciting new challenges
every day. As a software engineer for the
ride system, I am designing the system
and writing the code that controls the
ride portion of an attraction.

Q: What made you decide to become an
imagineer?
Kistler: I had been to the parks growing up but didn't really know that "imagineers" existed. The night before my
internship interview I was searching the
Q: What do you like best about your job?
Web to find out information about the
What do you like least or what is most
company I was about to interview with. I
challenging?
quickly learned that we don't have
Kistler: I love working
official information about
with other talented and
imagineering out there on
knowledgeable imagithe Web, but I found
"I was excited
neers. There are good
enough information to
about the idea of
and bad days at
be prepared. I enjoyed
producing a product days
any job, but my
the summer internthat my friends and
coworkers are what
ship, and the following
family could
keep me coming back
semester I had to make
every morning. And
the decision between
enjoy."
again, there is something
imagineering and another
so neat about being able to
competing offer. Job satisfacpoint to a well-known attraction
tion was important to me when
and say, "I worked on that." Watching
making the decision, and I was excited
guests enjoy the first attraction I
about the idea of producing a product
installed was the most rewarding experithat my friends and family could enjoy-
ence, and it made all of the hard work,
something that I could point to and say I
long days and sacrifice worth it. There
helped create.
isn't much I don't enjoy about my job.
You have to remember that it is like
Q: What is a typical day for you at work?
every other job with both its benefits and
Kistler: There isn't a typical day for an
its hassles. The greatest downside might
imagineer. Some days I spend at my desk
be that my friends always want me to
in front of a computer writing system
take them to Disneyland! Most computer
documents or writing and testing code.
programmers spend their days sitting at
Other days I meet with review groups,
a desk in their air-conditioned office-
operations and maintenance groups from
my greatest challenge so far has probably
the parks, outside vendors, or with our
been working on a laptop, outside, in the
project team. Days in the field are long

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