I'm mostly self taught in electronics, but sometimes I think I'd learn quicker if I had a mentor. How often does that happen? Did you learn from a Jedi master of electronics.?
D from BC myrealaddress(at)comic(dot)com BC, Canada
I grew up in a radio and TV repair shop. I had lots of parts at my disposal, but my father had only correspondence school training in repair, so his technical savvy of "why it worked" was essentially nil.
So I bought what electronics books you could in 1956 and built a lot of toooob amplifiers (and some kits) and self-taught myself virtually all my circuit design skills _before_ I trotted off to M.I.T. in 1958.
M.I.T. certainly did hone my skills, providing all the math and physics I needed.
Then I landed at Motorola at the very start of the I/C era.
Now I are the master ;-)
...Jim Thompson
-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | 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 Democrat theory is that spend.. spend.. spend.. and government jobs will bolster the economy and employment will improve. If that were actually true, wouldn\'t France have the world\'s best economy?
Welcome to the Weimar Republic.
I know, The (US) National Socialist Party, aka NAZI :-(
...Jim Thompson
-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | 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
I always wonder how a master in analog electronics can be so binary in politics :)
petrus bitbyter
But I'm not. Didn't you observe my test results showing me as a middle range Libertarian?
...Jim Thompson
-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | 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 Democrat theory is that spend.. spend.. spend.. and government jobs will bolster the economy and employment will improve. If that were actually true, wouldn't France have the world's best economy?
But if you had a mentor prior to MIT, wouldn't you have learned more in less time?
D from BC myrealaddress(at)comic(dot)com BC, Canada
Perhaps. Perhaps not. I filed for my first patents when I was only
I think self-taught sticks better. I had to do the math derivations all by my lonesome ;-)
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | 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 |
If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn\'t be called research...
-- Albert Einstein
Doesn't hurt that you were doing it since you were nine or so, either. Same here, started early and been doing it ever since. That's the kind of experience and commitment that simply cannot be taught in school, certainly not in secondary schooling at such a late age (18+) and maybe not even if school "worked" at as early an age.
In the last decade, I have (IMHO) just about as much experience as any average engineer, maybe even more than average (Idunno, I have an iffy feeling about what "average intelligence" means, even among engineers from some things I've heard here!), and that's without any formal education in the subject. (Well, I am in fact at an engineering school this very moment, but I have yet to see anything I didn't already know, except for the ATmega32, which is just specifics, nothing fundamental and nothing I can't figure out on my own.)
Speaking of me, is anyone drooling for a copy of my resume yet? ;-)
Tim
Yoy thought it was a BIT hard???
Reminds me of the time I saw an engineer build a 10W audio amp...with not one but 2 10000uf capacitors.. (Split supply.) Really now....
D from BC myrealaddress(at)comic(dot)com BC, Canada
I did it by reading books and playing with a soldering iron and scope. There really is no faster way. Sitting in a one hour lecture you learn about as much as 10 minutes reading a book. The only time you need a Jedi Master is when you don't understand what's written. And now you consult them via google or SED.
-- Dirk http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK http://www.theconsensus.org/ - A UK political party http://www.onetribe.me.uk/wordpress/?cat=5 - Our podcasts on weird stuff
On a sunny day (Sat, 7 Feb 2009 03:25:22 +0100) it happened "petrus bitbyter" wrote in :
Since the definition of 'republican' is: 'somebody who disagrees with a democrat', he will have to switch viewpoint every time a government changes between the 2 forms. So, with Obamama, he will now have to be against everything he was for last year, and for everything he was against last year. Like using an XOR in digital electronics.
Him, being a master in analog, has not noticed he is being used as XOR digitally.
LOL
True... I read faster than someone can speak. So my data uptake rate really should be better on my own.
However..I'm not a fast typer and Q&A in person with a Jedi might go faster.
D from BC myrealaddress(at)comic(dot)com BC, Canada
I have had clients pay me just to sit and watch me while their design is done. Though I explain, they generally learn next to nothing, except become argumentative, thinking they do know something ;-)
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | 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 |
If I\'m talking, you should be taking notes.
I've been playing with electronics for decades, I still think I don't know anything. :P
Recently I had to look up the breakdown voltage of single coated magnet wire.
D from BC myrealaddress(at)comic(dot)com BC, Canada
I'll vouch for Jim being The master. It was very educational working with Jim on a project. Also Philippe and Todd was packed full of insight on that project.
I've had a few mentors over the years which were very helpful. I also had a summer job working at a Navy R&D facility while in college where I had access to some pretty smart engineers. I learned more things from those summer stints than college. Plus, the jobs were really fun working around equipment designed to go to 20,000 foot ocean depths.
Neato.. I'd see that. Please post a Youtube video of a design in process.. :)
About mentors... The trades have apprenticeships. For example, newbie electricians work with and learn from the senior electricians. Newbie doctors do an internship and work with and learn from senior doctors.
I just don't know if similar happens in electronics.. I don't think it does.. I suspect electronics is mainly a 'solo education'.
At BCIT, I did go on a subsidized salary work/education program. That sucked.. The only thing I learned was how companies can exploit government/education programs for cheap labor that a monkey can do.
D from BC myrealaddress(at)comic(dot)com BC, Canada
Wow! I want to meet him. I don't know how to build an audio amp with just 2 10000uf caps. I always add other components. :-)
Ed
Thanks, Mark! I really appreciate the accolade!
I learned from you as well. Amazing what you can do with sonar ;-)
Yep. Learned a lot about noise analysis from Philippe, AND I developed tricks from that math so that PSpice can simulate it directly.
Todd and I still collaborate... working together right now on a new design... AND fighting fires on two others, trying to find solutions to other designers' screw-ups ;-)
I can now pull output from Todd's VHDL directly into PSpice as a stimulus. Thus I can simulate a true mixed signal chip without having to cope with the digital at device level... really speeds things up!
I had a technician job in MIT's Building 20 (MHD stuff, Professors Woodson, Jackson and Melcher), doing instrumentation design and construction... honed my circuit design skills quite a bit (and paid for my room and board, which weren't covered by the scholarship).
Our "fun" kind of engineering is a continual learning process.
And I'm still having fun ;-)
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | 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 |
If I\'m talking, you should be taking notes.
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.