High Q&A with Leonard Zhao, Software Engineer

Tell me how you got started at High Q Technologies.

I was nearing the end of my Master’s degree and had begun researching potential job opportunities where I could leverage my background in computer science and structure bioinformatics. Of course, I was also looking for positions that would allow me to flex my skills while also exposing me to new ways of thinking and doing things. The key was finding a role with a company that would benefit from my education while also affording me the opportunity to challenge and grow my capabilities through new experiences. I wanted to work for an innovative company where I could collaborate with other talented, inquisitive minds. After responding to an online job posting and interviewing for a Software Engineer position with High Q Technologies, I became really excited at the prospect of joining the company.

What was it about High Q that excited you so much?

High Q sits at the intersection between research and applied technology, in the fast-growing and complex field of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR). When I learned how High Q is utilizing their patented quantum techniques to ultimately reshape the future of drug discovery and enable the development of novel therapeutics, I knew I wanted in. The hiring panel spoke about their team’s varied backgrounds and experiences, and how this collective skill set has allowed them to build a system that delivers revolutionary levels of sensitivity and speed (with respect to protein structures and drug discovery). I liked the sound of High Q’s hands-on, collaborative approach and knew that I could add value to the team while also acquiring invaluable experience. ??

What did your first week at the company look like?

Well, they weren’t kidding about the hands-on part! Week one I was told I would be working to develop the software used to perform distance analyses on dipolar EPR data. This would be my opportunity to participate in the development of a product through to full product launch and commercialization. It was energizing to be tasked with such a critical project right from the outset.

How did you approach this initial assignment?

With a lot of research and a lot of collaboration. I did a deep-dive into the field, talking to other High Q engineers and scientists, reading academic papers on the subject, and looking through open-source software that had already been developed for this purpose. I quickly realized that developing the algorithms needed to extract a distance distribution from a dipolar EPR signal wasn’t something that would be achieved overnight. It would require months of iterative testing and refinement before the core of the distance algorithm was complete. This task involved frequent collaboration with other High Q team members, and specifically the research and application scientists who possess deep knowledge of algorithms for EPR analyses. The distance analysis algorithm we now use in our software is High Q’s own custom implementation of the widely used Tikhonov regularization approach for least-squares fitting in EPR distance analyses.

You’ve talked about your work on algorithms, but what else do you do as a Software Engineer?

In parallel to the algorithm work, I also develop other components of our software, such as high-level interfaces and backend architectures. One week I can be focused on creating software for data analyses and distance distributions and the next I can be looking at hardware interfaces or developing front-end GUIs. Life at High Q is extremely fast paced, so we’re always working on new things. As a smaller company, each software engineer is continuously challenged to learn as much as they can about different components of the software. There is so much collaboration and knowledge sharing across employees and teams that I feel like we are continually upping each other’s games. The High Q executive team encourages us to challenge their thought leadership by asking questions and proposing new ways of doing things. They’re also big proponents of honing your skills by working on deliverables that require you to stretch yourself. As such, I regularly get to work on new and complex challenges that require me to think outside the box. ??

How do you think working at High Q is going to help your career in the longer term?

I think the networks I’m building with internal and external subject matter experts (such as partner research labs) as well as my daily exposure to a range of software development, hardware, and product management activities, is really going to grow my competencies and overall value proposition. There is never a shortage of learning when you work with such a talented team. Also, the work I’m doing on the distance measurement front is particularly appealing to me because of its implication in understanding biological systems such as protein structures. This type of multi-disciplinary work allows me to see the real-world impact of so many different fields coming together. Being well-versed in multiple fields will no doubt present me with more cross-industry opportunities down the line. But for now, there is no shortage of interesting and exciting work at High Q to keep me engaged and challenged.