cross-discipline job descriptions

I can't be the only person in the world who learned signal processing as my core competency, and analog and DSP as means of achieving it.

Although that population may be aging out of the work force -- I always lagged what was stylish.

Why don't you just put signal processing and analog circuit design skills in the job description, circulate it, and see what happens?

I designed the analog front ends first, and then designed the signal processing to get the signal I needed out of the noise I couldn't avoid.

Newly graduated electronic engineers could tell me the right name for the techniques I'd end up using, but they were less helpful about the ways of getting the signal out of the raw data in the first place.

-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

Today you're gonig to need someone to make the web page for you though, Bill. :-)

none of us here "_really_" understand signal processing. we just pretend we do.

i dunno where to look for non-impostors who _really_ understand signal processing. being that you can't find any at comp.dsp, you'll have to really look somewhere else, i s'pose.

r b-j

Well, I don't understand signal processing or control theory either. Fortunately I fake it well enough that reality is convinced, and my systems work as I design them to.

I often enter a project dumb-as-a-stump, but often also exit it as the expert.

About a year ago I took on a full-chip IBIS modeling job, and I'd only done a simple single function once before.

I now have developed a LARGE bag of tricks to knock out IBIS models, not only quickly, but with better accuracy than most other modelers :-) ...Jim Thompson

One of my sales challenges is convincing people that even though I'm ignorant of the details of their problem _now_, I'll still be able to figure it out and help them _quickly_.

Yep. I run into people all the time who think if you haven't previously designed a circuit-function-259 you can't do it now, even though I have a gezillion years of experience in CMOS Analog chip design.

Customers seem to seek out robots rather than analytical thinkers :-( ...Jim Thompson

The most likely areas to find those would be retirement communities and assisted living places. Seriously.

Having tried my best to find similar people for clients I can only give one piece of advice: Don't keep searching forever. Consider hiring a guy who can handle one of the areas of expertise well and use a consultant as a coach for the other.

Usually the hardcore signal processing guys know just about everything about DSPs and programming but have little analog experience because there just isn't enough time for that. Analog guys, OTOH, often tend to wing it when it comes to signal processing. They are a bit weak on the math and theory side but somehow it always works. Like in that Italian auto shop where the request to tune up a hot Alfa Romeo was responded to with "Oh, we'll have to wait for Giuseppe, only he can do that one". Giuseppe was way past the usual retirement age ...

Opposite extreme: hire a bright EE right out of school, as an intern. If he doesn't work out, try another one.

John

We probably carry about a 200 man intern workload at present. That is just at this campus. Don't know about the other ten facilities in other states.

Sure, but have enough of those kicking (flailing?) around already.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

A half-century ago, while pursuing a BSEE at a certain Ivy League institution(1), I flunked freshman English.

(1) One founder reputed to have said "I *would* found an institution ..." Previous inmates will recognize the misquote ;)

Why are they teaching English at university? Isn't that high school's job? Ok, I studied overseas but at the university it was all math and engineering stuff for us. Math started out pretty hardcore, if you didn't do well enough in high school you'd be weeded out prontissimo.

LOL! !!! Was going to to respond that you were from "wrong" Continent. Then clicked on your website. I'm at least as old as your parents if not *GRAND PARENTS*

Back in "Good ol daze", university freshman English meant

I've been waiting to malquote G.B.Shaw "peoples separated by a _*COMMON*_ language

Yep. Joerg is around the same age as my oldest daughter :-) ...Jim Thompson

Wow, and here I thought I am old. If you were as old as my late grandparents you'd be over 100 now :-)

But, that also means your high school must have been a lot better than what we frequently encounter today. That makes me really wonder why they have to teach composition at a university.

I understand. But still, essay writing is supposed to be taught at high school. Writing technical ones such as module specs, report and such was simply expected of us, they did not teach that.

My comeuppance happened when I worked for a Dutch company on a project. Naturally, I thought I could write the module spec in English once the circuit worked and passed their testing. Nope, had to be in Dutch, and not the more Belgian style I had learned in the few years before (and I hadn't learned writing it that well). Whoops ...

There was one other guy from the south at this company and when he and I spoke too fast to each other the rest of the crew wouldn't be able to follow. Same country, and a supposedly common language.

Yeah, but way it sounds, you could be Richard's son :-)

We were required to take one English course (in undergrad first year, as RO said), which was aimed at ensuring that graduate Engineers could write clearly. IIRC, I got a 98% grade, despite not having been taught grammar (they thought having an "exceptional" student skip a couple years of elementary school was a damn good idea way back then, so I got to be a _Cavia Porcellus_). Others found it more of a challenge, but I think the average grade was at least 75%. Pretty much a 'bird' course for most native English speakers. That wasn't quite a half-century ago, but more than a third-century.

In case it's not obvious, I really can't speak very openly in public (or even in private, sans NDA) about what is required or desirable, and in any case, I'm interested in some discussion of how other people handle the general problem of finding exceptional team members, and any constructive suggestions for the (admittedly, rather loosely defined) specific situation.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany