Systems,
physics.
There are more of them. Schools don't teach much EE anymore. Most EEs only do software stuff.
There doesn't seem to be much unemployment for hardware types, either. I've never had a problem finding a job. I'm getting calls and emails constantly, looking for more people.
retire.
Yeah, like Verilog will make EEs obsolete. That worked out well.
[snip]
retire.
Yep! Verilog-A is always good for a laugh. ...Jim Thompson
-- | James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | 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
You probably would have been waiting for my answer for a while, while I was trying to figure out what the real question was. I had an interview a few years ago where the engineer asked me the gain of some simple opamp circuits and then what a couple of transistor thingys did. He was wondering why I was looking at him funny. Later, he explained that no one had ever answered all of the questions before, let alone got them right. It really was *simple* stuff.
When I was on the other side of the table, I generally asked the candidate about previous projects that *he* did. Then went into them as deeply as possible to see if *he* really did it. At IBM, we weren't allowed to give a "test" of any kind (though my first manager did anyway), but we could ask questions going to experience.
Systematic problem solving is a good thing, but doesn't always guarantee success. One employer hired an engineer who was far more organized than I could ever pretend to be. Almost immediately, he produced a stream of schedules, estimates, organization requirements, cost breakdowns, progress reports, mockups, user manual outlines, and test plans. This was a radical change from my usual "Tell me what you want it to do, what I have to work with, when you want it, and get the hell out of my way". Management was thrilled that they finally had someone in engineering that actually spoke the language of management. Just one small problem. His part of the project didn't work, was late, and well over budget. This required his paper pile to be constantly revised, which diverted his attention sufficiently that little time was left to actually do any useful design work. He quit just before he was let go and I inherited his mess.
I suspect that you may have misjudged my way of thinking. One of the unanswered questions from my checkered past is which is the best approach to a project. My boss usually favored a systematic and sequential approach, which involved front end planning and reviewed calculations before building anything. My approach was to throw together something as close as possible to the final product, test it, find the problems early in the game, and spend the rest of the project fighting fires. I've done it both ways and both methods work. I just can't tell which is best. I suspect that you would not appreciate my approach, especially since it doesn't fit well with IC design, where failures are very expensive.
I just keep doing it the wrong way. I have an eye for finding defects and noticing details, which supplies me with sufficient ammunition to shoot myself in the foot. I'll look at a finished product, that's been in production for months, and usually find problems or things that could be improved. This is often a key part of an interview as a good engineer can ALWAYS find a better or at least different way of doing things.
Incidentally, another of my other bad habits was to run a credit report on a prospective employer or client. Somewhere during the negotiations, I pull out the Dun and Bradstreet report or SEC disclosures, and mention that the company financials are insufficient to support my asking salary and associated decadent and lavish lifestyle. It has been difficult to predict the reaction, but in all cases, it was one extreme or the other, with nothing in between.
I don't bid on many jobs. The few times that a bid was required, I found myself consistently underbid by offshore engineers. This doesn't bother me because a few months later, I sometimes get an email asking if I'm still available to do the same job, but in half the time. So, I intentionally bid high on such projects, knowing that I'll get my asking price on the 2nd time around.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
[snip]
I'm not obsessed with Tulane. I just suspect that John didn't graduate, buddy with the Dean or not.
I didn't hate Boston, loved the restaurants and museums... and the Pops, but I did find the people quite snotty. In later years I've noted that, at the time, it was probably due to the extremely poor economy in that area. On recent visits I've found the people to be quite nice.
(Likewise, even New Yorker's on Long Island :-)
Nope, I simply reported it, because all the frats fronting the Charles had rooms devoted to it ;-)
Me, I was married, lived on the third floor of a _house_ on Magazine Street, near Stop & Shop, in Cambridge, no view whatsoever of the BU "princesses".
Not in the slightest, but it sure bugs Larkin immensely... so I do admit to enjoying pushing Larkin's buttons periodically, drives him insane... like anyone needs to >:-}
I'm from the Silicon _Desert_ ;-)
I always enjoyed working with the IBM people in Burlington. ...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | 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 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
I'm systematically messy. Ask my wife ;-) ...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | 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 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
I believe in the random distribution of debris in order to optimize available space and minimize the search path length. No organizating allowed. One nice thing about being the only person in the office is that things don't move by themselves. I know where everything is buried. The filing system is basically LIFO (last in, first out) which means that the most commonly used boxes end up on top of the pile.
My palatial office workbench (soon to be purged of junk):
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
I'll try out that line on my wife. Not sure that it'll work, though ;-)
Is that your anti-drone hat ?>:-}
My desk at one of its cleaner moments...
Can't show it as it is right now, piled quite high, no wood showing, but with identifiable client drawings.
The monitor area...
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | 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 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Looks like Kaiser meds.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com http://www.highlandtechnology.com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom laser drivers and controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro acquisition and simulation
Hmm. Triodes might be simpler -- the feedback arises internally due to electric field "leaking" through the grid, hence the relatively low plate resistance (whereas every other three-terminal non-latching amplifying device exhibits constant-currenty response). Not the world's smallest though. :)
Tim
-- Deep Friar: a very philosophical monk. Website: http://seventransistorlabs.com
...Jim Thompson t
I'm firmly in the 'get a prototype working right away' camp. There always seems to be much more that I didn't know about that will be revealed in the prototype, than I can dream up ahead of time. And don't be afraid to scrap the first prototype.. if it's got some fatal flaw.
Grin, At some level I'm embarrassed by my own designs... Ample room for improvement.
George H. (the next time will be better.)
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...Jim Thompson rWho hasn't? But compensating for internal emitter resistance is a nuisance.
-- Bill Sloman, Sydney
Do you assume that the first article will not work?
Our culture expects that the first PCB etch, rev A, will be built by manufacturing and will work and can be sold. It's sort of a sport to get it perfect first pass.
Testing is not the best way to find bugs. You'll probably miss, and ship, some.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com http://www.highlandtechnology.com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom laser drivers and controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro acquisition and simulation
Who hasn't? Have you really? How did you do the bulk Re compensation?
Compensating bulk Re is complex, but us true professionals manage it nicely...
Could you (or Larkin :-) do us all a favor and study this schematic and then post an explanation of how it works ?>:-} ...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | 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 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
...Jim Thompson ...Jim Thompson | mens | | et | | |
My attention went straight to the Finnish licorice.
st
It's fun if you can do it, but if you can do it all that often, your design goals are less ambitious than they ought to be.
It's not the only way to find bugs, but there's no comprehensive method.
theoretically offers a way of specifying a product in a way that lets you prove that what you produce is bug-free, but it does rather depend on you understanding exactly what it is that you need to do.
-- Bill Sloman, Sydney
at
I was in Poughkeepsie for 19 years, then 14 more in Burlington.
Crudely. The circuit I designed back in 1987 didn't bother with any compensation. When I started running Spice simulations on it a few years ago I got a bit more sophisticated, but it was still just a resistor in series with the emitter of the lower current transistor.
If you were serious, you'd offer the VBIC models of the various devices being compensated, and some explanation of what on earth is being compensated It's kind of difficult to critique a compensation scheme when you haven't got a clue what's being compensated or why.
What is obvious is that you are translating the VCP-VCN voltage difference into a differential current, using Q1 and Q4 to turn that into a voltage, then amplifying that voltage with Q5,Q8,9 and 10. What you do with the amplifier's output currents is obscure - presumably C1 shapes the bandwidth - but the whole output section is a mess and it would take more inside knowledge than I've got to work out why you need four outputs, and how and why the output current gets shared between them.
-- Bill Sloman, Sydney
at
mostly
I did my Garmin GPS chips on IBM4S. Other projects on IBM6HP. ...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | 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 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
[snip]
A socialist (i.e. ignorant) attitude. The _object_ is to maximize revenue. ...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | 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 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
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