Aaron Aikens

Director of Engineering Center Mid Dad Beaverton, OR

"Down for whatever" is probably the most honest summary. I lead engineering teams by day and spend most of my remaining energy trying to be the coolest nerd my friends know.

It starts with a cappuccino — double shot, every morning, non-negotiable. Weekends are for chasing the game: center mid in Sunday League, or pickup whenever I can find a pitch. When winter hits, I'm on a snowboard. I play guitar and piano, run a 3D printer that's perpetually mid-project, and regularly bite off DIY home projects that are "medium level" until suddenly they're not.

Most proud of: helping to raise two genuinely good humans.

What I do

At Novus Labs, I lead cross-functional teams doing hardware validation and wireless testing for consumer electronics brands you've heard of — Google, Nintendo, Bose, Xbox, and a lot of others. If it needs to be proven before it ships, that's us.

Fifteen-plus years in test & validation. Teams up to 40 engineers. I'm also deep into building AI tooling into how engineering organizations actually work — not just talking about it.

A good day at work is when testing finds something unexpected. Not because I enjoy delivering bad news — but because that's exactly the moment a test program shows its value.

Right now

thinking about Where AI actually lands — past the hype, at the useful middle. Feels cliché to say, but it's genuinely the most interesting question out there right now.
chasing Good powder. Always somewhere in the back of my mind planning the next mountain trip.
tinkering Something on the 3D printer. There's always something on the 3D printer.
playing Guitar and piano. Plus center mid on Sundays, which barely counts as playing.

Things I believe

The Zune was a better product than the iPod. I will die on this hill.
IPAs are overrated. This is not up for debate.
The center mid runs the game. Or at least that's what I tell myself.
The best engineers are curious people first.
Apples are better than oranges. You can't bake an orange pie — or at least you shouldn't.

Say hi

Happy to talk engineering, AI, hardware, snowboarding, soccer, or whatever else. Easy to reach.