My first job out of college was working at Fu Associates (who still have the enviable fu.com domain). The bulk of the work was government contracting, which I look back on as a very interesting experience. It was my first exposure to “really big problems”. I had to work with huge amounts of (sometimes unreliable and dirty) data, and helped write complicated mathematical models (i.e., to measure employee attrition at the FAA, diagnosis back-testing at HCFA, and stress-testing pension portfolios at PBGC).
Fu (founded by Ed Fu) was a great place to work: ~100 people at the time, and a very close-knit group of coworkers. Ed created that inclusive culture, and once told me “My job is to prepare you for your next job”. As my career progressed and I went on to lead my own teams, I’ve carried that philosophy along for the people I manage.
