Advice to BSEE juniors and seniors...
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From: Joel Koltner on 20 Apr 2010 13:43 "Joerg" <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:8366lnFj1cU1(a)mid.individual.net... > Yes, my first real bicycle was a Christmas present from my parents. However, > that was then also my mode of transportation to school which was about five > miles away in the next town. Hey, "free" exercise too! -- These days the parents might drive the kid to school and then pay for a gym club membership! ;-) > It's not that I detest hand-me-downs to kids, on the contrary. But what I > see today is that kids get just about everything, they essentially have to > earn nothing, it's all given to them on a silver platter. Worst case on the > parent's credit cards. I remember being ready, able, and willing to work well before the age of 14 when I could finally get a summer job detasseling corn, and I was really happy to get that McDonalds job at 16 since it was year-round employment (and hence income). Any time I wanted to use my stepfather's credit card I had to already have the money around and ask him in advance. > There I made more, about $4-5 in the 70's. But it was back-breaking work at > a meat factory. Heaving Italian style salami into smoker room carts, strings > of three and then 10-12 of those strings on a wooden bar. Well over 50lbs > total and you had to push that up above shoulder height and then into > notches on the cart, while letting of some Sumo wrestler scream. All day > long. Back in those days I could have knocked a school bully straight out of > his boots with one hit :-) Wow -- sounds like you definitely earned your money! Other than the occasional scrubbing of floors or whatever, McDonalds was certainly not at all laborious and was really pretty fun at times. A *couple* times per day you might have had to go and get another huge cube-o-lard from the basement; those were 50lbs. (Whereas the boxes of meat were only something like 35lbs.) ---Joel
From: Joerg on 20 Apr 2010 13:44 Joel Koltner wrote: > "Joerg" <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message > news:8363mdFv81U1(a)mid.individual.net... >> This guy even dropped out of school, yet succeeded: >> http://www.ltbn.com/hall_of_fame/Branson.html > > Good example. > > While these days most everyone is largely expected to go to college, I > keep thinking about what John Larkin has mentioned regarding how many > little widgets that could be created by a one-man shop would have a > decent market and what you've said about how this is kinda the "golden > age" of design in that so much software is now freely available and so > much hardware is stocked up in Thief River Falls and only a few days > away via (realtively) inexpensive mail order. > > Maybe making it as a sole propreitor these days is easier than ever > before? ... No. That is because the business climate in most areas is decidedly hostile towards small biz. 50 years ago you just hung out a shingle and you were in business. Nowadays they'll send the goons out and sock it to you. Seriously, this happened to people I've met. Nonsensical laws about zoning, licenses, ADA stuff, minimum tax, a bazillion laws that hit the millisecond you hire someone (so I simply do not hire anyone ...). Ideas? Yeah, tons of them. But I don't want to stand in the crossfire of bureaucrats so it's often best to just let those ideas go by. If you are a big company, different thing. There you have negotiating power and the local authorities kowtow to you because hundreds of jobs are on the line. ....it's just that wanting to work for a place like Tek, HP, > Analog Devices, Linear Tech, etc. now seems like far less of an option > if you don't follow the traditional college route. > I did follow the traditional ivy league route but right around finishing my masters degree realized that big corporation work is not my turf. I just cannot stand bureaucratic hurdles and would have busted them left and right. In fact I had a written job offer from a fine company and turned it down. Started at a small US company instead, and people told me I'd be out of my mind for making those decisions. Well, I wasn't :-) -- 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 14:25 "Joerg" <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:833khtFs1pU3(a)mid.individual.net... > I never had a problem putting teams together. BUT, the average age of such > teams was usually well over 40. ....and I bet it's been creeping up over time... > Companies that think that everyone over 35 is past prime are going to face > one project failure after another. The problem might be that guys who go to business school are often no better running a business at 40 than they are at 25. :-)
From: Jim Thompson on 19 Apr 2010 14:44 On Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:08:59 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >Nico Coesel wrote: >> chris w <chris(a)smartjack.com> wrote: >> >>> I've been interviewing a few new BSEE graduates for a junior engineer >>> position, and based strictly on what we're looking for, here is some >>> random advice to juniors/seniors: >>> >>> Learn a real design program like Altium. Eagle is ok, but I think >>> downloading the eval version and creating a few small projects would >>> be valuable. Create the parts in the library, capture the schematic, >>> layout the board, generate the gerbers and send them thru freedfm.com >>> until they pass. Maybe even send them to someplace like Advanced PCB >>> which has deals for students. Knowing current tools is important. I >>> think you're much more likely to use something like Altium than Spice >>> or Matlab (which are also good to know). >>> >>> Learn how to solder. You should own a decent soldering iron, and be >>> able assemble prototypes which used SMD down to 0805 or 0603. If you >>> looking for a job that does any sort of design, then chances are >>> you're going to have to do some assembly/troubleshooting of your own >>> prototypes. >>> >>> Get some experience with current microcontrollers. I have a >>> preference for Microchip, but Atmel or an ARM variant would also be >>> good. I know teaching the 68HC11 still has value, but knowing parts >> >> Most of the basics are still the same. >> >>> Networking is important. Lots of new products these day have some >>> connection to the Internet. Understand TCP/IP and ethernet. MAC >>> addresses, netmasks, ARP, default routes, NAT... Even getting into >>> the upper layers might be good, especially HTTP. >>> >>> 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. >> >> Engineers who know about analog design, programming, digital circuitry >> (programmabe logic / FPGA perhaps), Linux and networking are very very >> scarse. Usually an engineer masters a few areas. The biggest challenge >> is to put a good team together. >> > >I never had a problem putting teams together. BUT, the average age of >such teams was usually well over 40. Companies that think that everyone >over 35 is past prime are going to face one project failure after another. In the past I've had companies assign a junior engineer to look over my shoulder and "learn" from me. Utterly clueless, "Why'd ja do dat?", etc... never EVER done any creative thought on their own, no useful math background... :-( Part of the reason I stopped interviewing high school students for admission to MIT... enthusiastic but clueless... and I knew it. I just couldn't be part of the fiction... enthuse, then decline admission :-( ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, CTO | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | The only thing bipartisan in this country is hypocrisy
From: Nico Coesel on 19 Apr 2010 14:52
Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >Nico Coesel wrote: >> chris w <chris(a)smartjack.com> wrote: >> >>> I've been interviewing a few new BSEE graduates for a junior engineer >>> position, and based strictly on what we're looking for, here is some >>> random advice to juniors/seniors: >>> >>> Get some experience with current microcontrollers. I have a >>> preference for Microchip, but Atmel or an ARM variant would also be >>> good. I know teaching the 68HC11 still has value, but knowing parts >> >> Most of the basics are still the same. >> >>> Networking is important. Lots of new products these day have some >>> connection to the Internet. Understand TCP/IP and ethernet. MAC >>> addresses, netmasks, ARP, default routes, NAT... Even getting into >>> the upper layers might be good, especially HTTP. >>> >>> 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. >> >> Engineers who know about analog design, programming, digital circuitry >> (programmabe logic / FPGA perhaps), Linux and networking are very very >> scarse. Usually an engineer masters a few areas. The biggest challenge >> is to put a good team together. >> > >I never had a problem putting teams together. BUT, the average age of >such teams was usually well over 40. Companies that think that everyone >over 35 is past prime are going to face one project failure after another. I agree altough its nice to have some youngsters around. We have some interns working at my employer at the moment. They usually come up with interesting ideas and new methods. One of them brought quite a handy logic analyzer: http://www.zeroplus.com.tw/logic-analyzer_en/products.php?pdn=1&product_id=93 -- Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply indicates you are not using the right tools... nico(a)nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) -------------------------------------------------------------- |