National Instruments P.J. Tanzillo: An introduction

Editor’s note: EDN Welcomes a new contributor to this moderated blog, P.J. Tanzillo of National Instruments. His self-introduction follows, and you can also check out his first official post, "The kid inside the engineer knows a thing or two."

My path to being the Embedded Software Product Manager at National Instruments has been quite a winding one. I began my career at NI in the Applications Engineering group, specializing in embedded and FPGA-related projects. I then joined the LabVIEW Embedded R&D team, where I worked on core pieces of the NI embedded technology including the LabVIEW Microprocessor SDK and LabVIEW Embedded Module for ADI Blackfin Processors. Once we had a product to release, we needed a product manager, and I guess I drew the short straw, so that became my new role. I have been the product manager for NI embedded software products for the past three years or so, and in that time, I have spoken at several industry events including Embedded World Germany, Embedded Systems Conference, as well as a host of industry user conferences. I have also been published in a number of top industry publications.

I graduated with a BSEE from the Ohio State University (we’re the football team that loses the championship game every year). In my spare time, I enjoy playing bass in my band, vegetarian cooking with my 8-year-old son, and I always welcome a spirited political debate. ‘Tis the season for such things, I suppose.

In general, I want this to be a forum to discuss the overarching truths of the embedded market. As a developer, I felt frustrated that product managers were doing nothing but pushing their latest, greatest tool. I don’t want to be that guy; no one likes that guy. Rather, I want to post about things that are entertaining, something that I would talk about in the break room or at happy hour.

Finally, if you read something you like or something you hate, please post a comment. I will do my best to reply when it is appropriate.