Interesting question/rant? from EEVblog Dave

Are Electronics Hobbyists Useless?

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-Lasse

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen
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Most of the best EEs and experimentalists I've worked with started out as hobbyists.

When interviewing people, it's one of the first questions I ask.

Cheers

Phil

Reply to
Phil Hobbs

+1, although having started out as a technician is a close second, and there are some pretty good engineers out there that just schlepped into it because that's where their high-school guidance counselor pointed.
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Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
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Reply to
Tim Wescott

Den tirsdag den 16. december 2014 14.01.47 UTC+1 skrev Phil Hobbs:

absolutely, but when Dave said he was looking for a hobbyist/student that could: design a circuit, make a board, solder it, write some code and make it all work, every one was at him like he was asking for unicorn

-Lasse

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

Watching EEVblog Dave is only slightly better than a tube of ground up humus shoved up your ass.

Reply to
miso

I'm impressed that you've tried both !

Michael Kellett

Reply to
MK

I think it is a bit of a reach. I did start with the Radio Shack red plastic kits as a teen. I've been a repair and/or assembly tech 25 of the last

40 years of my life. I could write a simple program in Basic, but I'd refer to google several times. I have used a couple of different programs to layout PCBs, (even laid some out with tape in the 70's) but it might not work at 500MHz if anything was critical. I could make a 555 work and add a buffer, maybe use a few Ands and Or gates, and I could build a linear power supply. But I would not say I can design a circuit. I did get my last electronics job because of a project I built at the kitchen table. Some of that was because of the mechanical work although the latout and wiring was well done and it had a board I laid out and etched. I don't think I would qualify, I wouldn't look good on camera anyway. Well, I'd look as good as Dave :-) Mikek
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Reply to
amdx

I can't speak for anyone else, but my comment was intended to apply to people who start out as hobbyists or technicians, then go to school and get an engineering degree.

People like that tend to learn stuff more deeply in school (I went through my EE courses going "oh, so _that's_ why it works that way"). They also tend to make fewer "dumb engineer mistakes", some of which can be quite expensive.

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Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
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Reply to
Tim Wescott

Same here. Especially with young EEs I really want to know about their projects. The smart ones bring schematics, other documentation and sometimes circuit boards.

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Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

The main thing that they bring is a fire in their belly. If you have that, and a bit of talent, you can do a whole lot. Without it, well....

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
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Reply to
Phil Hobbs

I ask them about their senior class project. Looks like most of them forgot about it, or maybe never understood it. Geez, if it's on their resume, you'd think they would be prepared to discuss it.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   precision measurement  
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Reply to
John Larkin

If you really want to have some fun, change some requirement or parameter of their project and ask how they'd handle the change.

If they have the slightest clue about what to do, hire them on the spot.

Reply to
mike

Ask them this:

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What is the base voltage?

What is the collector voltage?

What is the emitter voltage?

What is the emitter current?

Any comments?

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   laser drivers and controllers 
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Reply to
John Larkin

On a sunny day (Wed, 17 Dec 2014 19:23:06 -0800) it happened John Larkin wrote in :

You need to specify Ge or Si, temperature too perhaps. if that is the state in 'merrica then that is NOT good.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

The trick part is that it's liable to oscillate like a sumbitch if the

+5 has a low impedance.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
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Reply to
Phil Hobbs

Excellent qeustion to a candidate, "Whaddaya do if it does?".

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Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

You got that exactly right, Phil. Back in the early 60's I ached to know how all this electronic stuff was created. I became a hobbyist and could not stop. I've noticed that some BS engineers so not have creativeness that others, including hobbyists/technicial have.

Reply to
John S

Right! So we wonder why can't *miso* just NOT WATCH? What a fool!

Reply to
John S

Give them extra credit if they use the phrase "grid stopper" ;-)

A few years ago I was given an dual audio-frequency oscillator, built after an article in QST magazine and intended for doing IMD measurements on ham radio transmitters. The owner said it "didn't work right" and never had. It sure didn't - the frequencies and levels were as unstable as all-get-out, and simply bringing my fingers near the circuit caused things to jump around chaotically.

It was a very simple design - a pair of 2N2222s and a handful of passive parts. What could go wrong? Lots.

Probing around with a scope and spectrum analyzer showed that while it was oscillating at around 1000 Hz, it was also emitting bursts of RF between 100 and 150 MHz or so, at a certain point in each audio cycle. The RF frequency wasn't stable, and shifted around as I probed in the circuit.

The oscillator was a twin-T design, which has a cap wired between the transmitter's base, and ground. This provided a low impedance at RF frequencies, which apparently interacted with the stray inductances (transistor leads) and capacitances to allow oscillation.

A couple of ferrite beads in the base legs of the (socketed) transistors fixed the problem.

Reply to
Dave Platt

What did he want the person for... lunch?

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

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