J. Langley [Humanoids of Huntsville]

When he finished his degree in 2000, J Langley did what any recent college graduate would do and surveyed his job options. As a young engineer in Mississippi, those options weren’t exactly what he was looking for.

“You look around Mississippi, and I could have either worked in a casino or a hospital, because that’s where the engineering jobs are... (Working for) the large company was by default.”

Instead of staying in Mississippi, J. took a job with Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Florida.  He stayed there for 11 years before moving to a mid-sized company – CohesionForce.  While working his way up to CTO, J. also started SessionBoard, which helps photographers plan better photography sessions through visual collaboration with their clients.

Coincidentally, working on his startup has taught J. some skills that also come in handy with larger companies.

“Now instead of being the engineer talking about this technical problem, or this technical solution, I can turn that into, ‘Here’s why your user cares about this feature, or here’s how much time we’re going to save, or how much money we’re going to save,’” he says.

J. adds: “So you wind up really quickly learning how to say things and how to pick up on their needs, and how to empathize with the problems they have, and how to find out what authority you have to solve that problem.”

To learn more about SessionBoard, visit https://sessionboard.com.