Flexibility of hours for EEs

What the hell does sleeping have to do with it? Would you pay a hooker to take a nap? ;-)

Thanks! Rich

What a masterpiece of marketing bs. Indeed that deserves a real appreciation.

VLV

The garbage you post here makes me wonder how you get any consulting work.

You find it incredulous that people would actually care to do the best possible engineering. That doesn't surprise me.

The irony is that if your first priority is to do the electronics really well, the money just happens. If your first priority is the money, you'll probably get neither.

John

John, you should know there is some imposter over on ABSE who hasn't got a clue about analyzing or designing ESR meters.

He claims he is you. Regards,

Mike Monett

Philosophically I agree with you, John, although I think the real world is somewhat more gray; things don't always work out the way that they "should." Did you pick up a copy of Camenzind's book on the history of the electron(ics)? Lots of heartbreaking and galling stories in there... perhaps the most obvious/well known example being the Deforest-Sarnoff-Armstrong menage a trois (minus the love?)...

I'm one of those kids of the '80s who bitterly regrets the management of Commodore letting the Amiga die, when -- at the time -- it completely blew away any and all Microsoft offerings, and was certainly competitive with Macs as well (I think the Amiga OS was probably better, but Macs certainly had better software available). One of their hardware designers, David Haynie, did a company walkthrough/last day party documentary back in 1994:

---Joel

Yup, Microsoft was one case where crap products and vicious, sociopathic greed won the day.

Luckily, there are niches where good engineering is appreciated and pays off. That's megabuck stuff, not gigabuck stuff.

John

John, regarding the NIST atomic clock, which Analog Devices chip did you use? The AD9510, AD9511, or AD9512? Or was it some other vendor's chip?

Do you count copying some vendor's demo pcb as your own original work, or is your value added in repackaging to VME/VXI? Regards,

Mike Monett

I used to work with an "enguneer" who occasionally slept on the job. Fortunately, he was only one of a team of 15 odd there, so was no major loss.

He did suck up oxygen though, that might be considered a loss.

A hooker in the real sense wouldn't matter. They're paid by the half-hour. Your "problem" wouldn't last more than that, because you'd be hiring someone else by that stage.

Metaphorically speaking, sometimes employers don't have a choice, their hands are legally tied as to which "hooker" they can retrench, and more importantly, how they do it.

John, that was a Rockwell Collins program from 2002. That is very big business, much too large for a teeny outfit like yours. They simply don't need you.

Here's the facts:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics Signs Head-Up Display Contract for US Air Force C-130 Avionics Modernization Program; Contract for Rockwell Collins avionics package valued at more than $400 million over life of program

PORTLAND, Ore. (February 25, 2002) - Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics has signed a contract with The Boeing Company to develop dual Head-Up Display (HUD) systems for the United States Air Force C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP). Boeing was selected by the USAF as the prime contractor to upgrade the avionics systems for more than 500 C-130 aircraft.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our head up display (HUD) system is a compact and high performance full color and text display for both the commercial and military aerospace markets. In addition to the HUD, Rockwell Collins is supplying our 6- x 8-inch Multi-Function Displays, increasing pilot situational awareness and enhancing crew effectiveness by enabling in-flight mission planning. Certain C-130 AMP customers will also install the new Rockwell Collins MFD-2912 display, which is based on the same open systems architecture as the other MFD display families and shares components with the new commercial Boeing 787 cockpit displays. Communication and navigation products for the C-130 AMP include AN/ARC-210 radios, SAT-2000 satellite communications system, multi-mode receivers, automatic direction finder and high frequency data link upgrades.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rockwell Collins' head up displays (HUD) enhance mission effectiveness by improving pilot situational awareness. The HUD on tactical aircraft is positioned above the instrument glare shield and allows the pilot to look forward onto a transparent screen, which is called the optical combiner. The HUD on a military transport is positioned above the pilot's head and projected on a combiner hung from the top of the windshield. All of the critical flight information normally viewed on the head down displays is also superimposed on the combiner. This gives the pilot the option of flying "heads up" by viewing flight information and the real world scene simultaneously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, tell us exactly which resistor in the display you designed.

Even better, post the contract number so we can track down what was involved.

Regards,

Mike Monett

Get jealous, get testy ?:-)

...Jim Thompson

MM seems to think that being obnoxious somehow makes up for being stupid.

John

They both have their place in this world. Take "Civil servants" for an example.

But civil servants don't have to think, whereas engineers do. Once your prime mission becomes defending your ego, your ability to reason goes to zero, or even negative.

John

Mike,

FYI, Rockwell Collins has plenty of subcontractors... the company I work at happens to be one (although we have numerous clients, not just RC), so I wouldn't be at all surprised if John's company is (or has been) one as well. Yes, companies our size tend to only be providing a small part of a large program, but it can still be a technically-challenging, significant (key) part of the overall system.

---Joel

It was for the AC-130 gunships, and the prime wasn't Rockwell. We did the vector character generators, which was lots of fun. The old system, built by GEC, had an MTBF of 22 hours.

See pix in abse.

John

Which is very bad for designers and engineers, but perfect at the DMV. :-)

The local DMV branch office refused to renew my driver's license a couple years ago, because I couldn't walk 100 feet without my cane. I went to their main office and asked. The woman just rolled her eyes and named the office I was at, then renewed my license.

The facts are that a company the size of Rockwell-Collins is smart enough to subcontract the small jobs to companies that specialize in niche markets. By your odd concept, the large CATV company I worked for should have designed and built all their own equipment.

MM has gotten into the mode of, fundamentally, calling me a liar about most anything I post, even when he has to make an ass of himself to do it.

Curious.

John