Advice to BSEE juniors and seniors...
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From: Joel Koltner on 19 Apr 2010 12:06 "mpm" <mpmillard(a)aol.com> wrote in message news:11c6a47c-5162-49bf-8fc0-5fc1ebe50b40(a)z11g2000yqz.googlegroups.com... On Apr 18, 5:32 pm, chris w <ch...(a)smartjack.com> wrote: > Well, maybe if you specialize in the right niche, or perhaps, venture > out with your own consulting firm. Yes, analog and RF are your friends here. And there's actually plenty of demand for *good* digital/embedded software guys, it's just that there are so darned many out there, and the *average* quality is so low, that many companies just start outsourcing, contracting, etc. > Put simply: Electrical Engineering has become project based. > Companies bring on a team of engineers, and dump the whole lot of them > when the project is over. Not universally true, by any means, although it'd be interesting to find some statistics on what percentage of U.S. EEs are "serial contractors" vs. regular employees. I suspect that it's the large companies that go for serial employment more than the little ones. I used to live in Corvallis, Oregon where the largest private employer is HP, and a very large chunk of the employees were temps... they did this dance where they could only work for something like 10 months and then had to be off for 2 months or somesuch to maintain their "temporary" status. Some of the temps (especially the younger ones) actually liked this arrangement, but the older ones/those with kids/etc. were constantly vying for the limited number of permanent positions that would come up each cycle. HP also had some interesting ideas about "continuing education" -- in school (Oregon State University), there were a lot of HP employees who were taking classes to "advance" their careers, yet seemingly HP sometimes only cared about people getting a degree and not what they were actually learning -- I had a project partner in an antennas class (we built a classic Kraus-style helical antenna) who was a marketing manager for ink, and I'm pretty sure she would have been just as happy learning about the mating cycles of honey bees with their exploding testicles and all as she was about array factors and elemental dipoles... but she was motivated by the promise of a raise when she finished the degree. ---Joel
From: Joerg on 19 Apr 2010 12:10 Joel Koltner wrote: > Good stuff, Chris, although I'll make a few comments... > > "chris w" <chris(a)smartjack.com> wrote in message > news:a841c586-06cc-4829-be64-3db1227ae18f(a)11g2000yqr.googlegroups.com... >> I >> think you're much more likely to use something like Altium than Spice >> or Matlab (which are also good to know). > > This depends largely on just what kind of engineer you think you want to > be. For many digital guys, yeah, SPICE and Matlab don't get much use... > but for analog guys, SPICE is obviously quite common. Matlab is more > for, e.g., DSP guys, although I think the analog guys can also save time > at least using, e.g., MathCAD. > It always amazes me how many companies run huge simulations on <gasp> Excel. And it works. Many have built up such a large arsenal of models and routines that they will most likely never switch to anything more fancy. >> Which brings me to my next suggestion-- do some hobby projects on your >> own. > > Yes, absolutely. > >> Learn how to solder. > > ...unless you really want to be strictly a software guy... :-) > I am not all that fond of SW guys who aren't able to use the basic functions of a scope or a solder iron. Just like I think they have a right to expect me to know how loops work and be able to change little things in there in a pinch. > Oddly, I've worked at places where the "engineers" were strongly > *discouraged* from picking up a soldering iron because, "we have techs > for that." ... That would be a concern. > ... Yeah, and there was a time before word processors where > writing up a memo used done by chief engineers either because "they had > secretaries for that." > I remember that, at my first job. But pretty soon our module specs became so large that the secretary just couldn't handle the load. But we still had to share three computers in the basement to write our stuff and do the CAD. Bought myself an XT for home so I could at least write my module specs whenever I wanted to. >> Get some experience with current microcontrollers. > > I tend to agree, even for analog-types, if only in that hybrid > digital/analog systems are ubiquitous today. > Often it suffices to know the innards of a uC, but know them real well. Then you can tell the uC programmer exactly what sort of architecture you want. And if others have the uC under their responsibility and you request a precious resource such as a timer on there or even just one CC register be prepared to "contribute". Large bag of trail mix for the guys, or something. >> Networking is important. > > Well, if your job involves software, yeah... you again seem to be > heavily leaning towards people wanting to do embedded digital stuff here... > Also for HW guys. It's good to know where you can find a good layouter, uC programmer or C programmer. All I have to do is pick up a telephone or email :-) >> Linux would be nice to know. Embedded Linux continues to grow. >> Knowing how to compile a linux kernel, build a file system, or >> whatever would be a useful skill. > > OK, knowing how to compile a linux Kernel is something I suspect that > *well* under 1% of currently practicing engineers could do for you -- > you're starting to get pretty nichey here. > I haven't seen Linux to be important at any of my clients, in decades. It's all Windows, and if they needed a hardcore realtime OS it was something professional such as QNX. IMHO Linux knowledge doesn't buy that much for a HW engineer unless it means that he or she acquired programming know-how that way, know-how that's useful elsewhere. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Joel Koltner on 19 Apr 2010 12:30 "Joerg" <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:833dkfFhu1U1(a)mid.individual.net... > I haven't seen Linux to be important at any of my clients, in decades. That might say more about the kind of people who use Linux than about Linux itself. :-) Heck, John is using Linux these days... we use Linux at work for, e.g., Bugzilla (but not for anything embedded yet -- a few of us hardware types wanted to, but for some odd reason the software guys think they want to use Windows CE...)... it's (by far) the most popular platform for web servers on the Internet, etc. That being said, if you pick the right versions of Windows (say, XP or Win 7 -- *not* Vista, ME, etc.), it works just ducky too. There are various pros and cons of each, depending on just what level you're designing for. ---Joel
From: mpm on 19 Apr 2010 12:41 On Apr 19, 11:30 am, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > "Joerg" <inva...(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message > > news:833dkfFhu1U1(a)mid.individual.net... > > > I haven't seen Linux to be important at any of my clients, in decades. > > That might say more about the kind of people who use Linux than about Linux > itself. :-) > > Heck, John is using Linux these days... we use Linux at work for, e.g., > Bugzilla (but not for anything embedded yet -- a few of us hardware types > wanted to, but for some odd reason the software guys think they want to use > Windows CE...)... it's (by far) the most popular platform for web servers on > the Internet, etc. > > That being said, if you pick the right versions of Windows (say, XP or Win > 7 -- *not* Vista, ME, etc.), it works just ducky too. There are various pros > and cons of each, depending on just what level you're designing for. > > ---Joel Unless I were applying for a software game-development type job, I think I'd have a huge hangup about even mentioning the word "zilla" (in all its assorted falvors) in any job interview situation. :) Probably just me, though.? Beyond my obvious disdain for the practice, zilla to me sound a bit too reminiscent of the dot-com bubble. Just put a dot-com on the end and investors will throw money at it. So, just use a "z" in your company or product name and viola': instant mystique. Instant stupidity if you ask me.... -mpm Disclaimer: I did not spellcheck any of this. :)
From: Joerg on 19 Apr 2010 12:43
chris w wrote: > On Apr 18, 5:40 pm, brent <buleg...(a)columbus.rr.com> wrote: > >> Personally, I would not be so concerned with how to use a particular >> software package but would make sure of three things: > > Agreed, but it seems most of the candidates we talked to couldn't > layout a PCB. ... IMHO they don't need to be experts on that. I never do layouts, just like IC designers don't. The main reason is that layouters are less expensive and also they are intimitely familiar with what design rules this or that PCB place can live with, drill sizes, precision, the place's reputation, and so on. Of course this doesn't mean I can be blissfully unaware of layout in general. When I design switchers I have to sketch the critical stuff so the layouter knows how I want that area done (and why). > ... The ability to read a schematic, understand a BOM, > navigate Mouser/Digikey/Newark/* to select parts, layout a simple pcb, > and assemble prototype boards all seem like things someone with a BSEE > should be able to do. > And being able to draw a schematic in a way that it looks nice and is easy to read by others. Not in "cram-it-in-there" style. [...] -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM. |