OT: PhD in Electronic Engineering

In general I think physical science Ph.D.'s are more useful than EE ones--I considered both and decided to continue in physics. EE course work (even in grad school) tends to emphasize massive quantities of fairly routine work, so that you can get by fine if you don't need a lot of sleep. Physics course work typically gives you not 100 routine problems but 3 or 4 insanely difficult ones--you're dead if you don't have a study group. The result is that EE Ph.D.'s think somewhat differently than physicists. Since for relatively routine design work, lots of companies think that a Ph.D. is likely to be too specialized, you might as well get the benefit of the out-of-the-box thinking if you're going to do all that work.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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They tried to. The charge was to be 'Destruction of Government Property' since I did the work outside of a military 'Service Depot'. The TV station had been waiting over three years for the people from the (only) AFRTS Service Depot in Sacramento, CA. to show up and do their job. The charges were never formalized. They ended up 'going away' when the USARL Commanding General heard about it. For one thing, he was happy that someone was willing to do repairs, and the other was that most people couldn't find the work I did.

They kept telling me that I wasn't very 'GI'. I would just laugh and tell them, "I'm 'US' dammit. You drafted me, so learn to live with it! Now leave me alone, so I can do my job."

GI = Enlisted US = Draftee

I was rejected from enlistment for five separate medical 4F ratings, but that didn't stop them from drafting me for my electronics skills. :)

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etc snipped

Depends on to what you aspire. I have no PhD (though like you I was offered one based on my final year project) and graduated in 73 from Nottingham. I worked for a few companies that mainly employed engineers with first degrees only and found it weasy to compete with them. Then I joined a company that had a significant proportion of PhDs and I found myself going from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond. It was a challenge - these guys were good - but I did OK and in 87 a bunch of us left to set up our own company. At that point the majority of the employees were PhDs. We grew that company to over 300 employees and 14 years later floated one division on the stock market. I owned 1.5% of that $500 million company and was able to retire aged 50.

None of that would have happened without the PhD guys and my ability to keep up with them. So my advice would be that PhDs open doors that first degrees do not and unless you are lucky like me and fall in with a bunch of them you prospects are less. So I would say get the PhD. I know I wish I had.

Cheers

Ian

We were issued the tools (including soldering irons) and test equipment, but it was against regulations to do any actual repairs. Transmitter died and it isn't a bad tube? Crate it up and ship it to the depot, even if it means being off the air for months, or years. Of course, that was against regulations, too. I read all the rules about the station, as well as the SOP and realized that no where did it state that we couldn't call the station a service depot, or what the policy was to become a service depot. SO, I declared it a depot and did the work.

I found out years later that the radio station at Ft. Greely was one of the first GI built stations, and later one of the first permanent AFRN radio stations. I could have claimed there was precedent for the staff to do their own repairs. :)

I had to put up with a station manger with a ham license who thought the TV transmitters were Swan SSB rigs, and a base information officer who despised radio & TV because they gave another way to get the news. Both were always looking for a way to cause me trouble. They soon discovered that a happy general outranks any ticked off officer or NCO.

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Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
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[...]

Weird. Why would they issue solder irons then?

Sometimes someone has to be brazen enough and just do it, then others will follow. Once there's a well-trodden path it becomes "the standard".

My luck was that the whole assignment of me leading this multiplex unit was already violating the standard operating procedure. Because the SOP said that this must be a staff sergeant or higher rank and I was only a corporal. So even if we hadn't achieved such a good record, making too big a fuss out of this situation would have automatically resulted in some egg in the face much higher up.

WRT ham radio I have a license and so did one other guy. The shortwave trucks always had a problem getting a link, despite huge antennas and a

5kW generator. So one day when we were next to them and the other guy was next to their SW station, and they couldn't get it done, we fired up out transceivers that we had brought along, clandestinely of course ...

Long story short we could immediately establish a connection on 80m, voice and CW. With a piece of wire thrown into a tree while they had two full-fledged masts. AFAICT the reason why the army issue gear didn't work well was that it really consisted of antiques compared to ham radio gear.

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Regards, Joerg

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To repair mic cables. Everything else was prohibited.

I've never been one to let a dead or dying piece of electronics taunt me. It is either repaired properly, or used for spare parts.

Try being an E2, and holding an E5 slot. :)

You don't peak tune a TV video transmitter like you do a audio SSB rig. It requires careful alignment of multiple stages to get a flat video response. If it isn't, the sync is either compressed or it swamps the video. The idiot screwed up his TV at his on base housing, then screwed up the transmitter so his set didn't have a vertical roll. He was on the phone asking his wife, 'Is it OK now?" while he screwed up every adjustment on the transmitter. It took me over a week to do a full alignment. Even the interstage coupling loops were out of mechanical alignment. All he knew about ham radio was yelling, "DO YOU COPY ME?" He believed that the more modulation, the further the signal would travel. He was a 20+ year lifer who started as an Army cook, then took OJT for pole climber. Then he signed up for the correspondence course for broadcast engineer and got someone else to take the test. There was no way he passed that course on his own. He didn't even understand how to use Ohm's Law.

--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

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Aw, that's nothing. Remind me to tell you the story of W???'s chief engineer. He just got this new 60kW Varian TVT and was so impressed it could run

110% of rated power..... "Look, I'll show you." POOF!!

This is the same guy who tried to align a less than 2-mile 7GHz microwave shot with a flashlight. I am not kidding. (He installed the circulator backwards.)

Note: I'll protect his name, station and what's left of his reputation, which surely has improved since then..?

You'd be surprised. Right after you finished it, yeah, maybe. But in 5 or 10 years time most won't give a toss if you took a few years off to do whatever. All they care about is what have you done recently. But the real world does work in mysterious ways! You are just as likely to get rejected for a job because they didn't like the way you said Hello or whatever.

When it comes down to it, if you are honest with people that you want to do practical work, and you have demonstrated practical work experience, then the PhD shouldn't in theory be an issue.

No such luck, it was an epic FAIL, but at least it was damn funny I've heard!

Dave.

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So take it. If you really want to get into practical design work then too much paper, or too little paper will never be a barrier, your skills are your only barrier.

Correct. There are many employers who will only hire people who just meet the criteria and nothing more. And it's often not about pay. You might be a PhD that will accept whatever pay they offer, but you might not stick around. The same is true for people who aren't married, have no house to pay off, have no kids etc. Many employers can be very picky about potential employee retention, and rightly so, it costs lots of money to hire and then replace people when they leave.

There is no black and white answer here, the real world works in (often confusing) shades of grey.

Dave.

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I can second what Tim said, that PhD impresses non-engineers. The flip side of course is that it usually does NOT impress engineers who stereotypically look down upon PhD's as lacking practical real world skills and focus. i.e. "you spent 3 years writing one paper?, I need this circuit designed and built by tomorrow with parts you can scrounge, and I want that with the documentation!" So if you do find yourself being interviewed by a practical degree or lesser qualified engineer you might find it hard going with a PhD.

And as someone else said, likewise (and even more so) sterotypically PhD's will look down upon those of lesser qualifications. So heaven forbid if you only have a Diploma or Degree and are interviewed by a couple of PhD's.

Life shouldn't be this complicated though, you are young and free, and you've been offered a great opportunity in tough times, take it!

Dave.

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will look down upon

Bob, if you do end up going for the PhD bear in mind what Dave's said here and don't fall into the trap.

Two of the best engineers I've come across in 15 years didn't go through university.

Nial.

Hi Bob, My two cents worth. I took a similar offer to work in a physics lab. I had a great time and don't regret a thing. If you are not married with kids and so don't need the money, then you can follow your heart. A few words of warning if you decide on the PhD option. Make sure you like the professor you will work with/for, and does he/ she get a lot of funding? The worst thing is to have the grant go away in the middle of your work. And talk with some other past students who worked with the professor. Is three years for a PhD really accurate? There are professors who have been know to keep good people around for longer so they can get more work out of them... A PhD advisor is much more than your boss.

George H.

a) Get your PhD - the alternative in the UK right now is probably unemployment b) Then get out of the UK. There are only two places in the West where a good variety of design is still being done, and which pays. Germany and USA c) Get out of the UK while you can. d) Get out of the UK while you can. e) If all else fails become a banker - they have the money.

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Dirk

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University? I started there 1971, physics. Lincoln hall

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Dirk

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Hi,

Haha! Yes, advices b-d seem quite sensible! :)

Cheers,

Robert

Hi,

will look down upon

university.

Yep. That's why I really appreciate *all* of the comments I've gotten here. Just talking to the academics at uni doesn't really give a good picture, especially if that's not where I ultimately want to end up.

Thanks to everyone! You really helped a big deal!

Cheers,

Robert

IF b = US THEN e = lawyer ELSE e = husband of rich woman or get plum bureaucrat job in Brussels

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SCNR, Joerg

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Haven't you ever seen "The Big Bang Theory?" Of COURSE Take the Free Ride! Are you an idiot? Get a lab, and just order whatever bench stuff you need to play with. Nobody knows what PHDs do anyway, so it's freakin' gravy, dude!

Take it, and let the details work themselves out.

But try not to be Sheldon. ;-P

Good Luck! Rich

Get the PhD given the opportunity you describe and assuming you can afford it. You'll never regret it. It will be invaluable for your career path especially as you gain experience and work beyond being just another grunt engineer. It will open doors and give you clout and prestige in your profession. That is especially true if you move on into management or company ownership. It will assist in areas you don't even think about today such as raising capital to start a business or fund a project. You can't be too educated. When a doctor speaks, people listen. Get the degree and use it wisely.