Hi:I'm right in the middle of designing a DSP+FPGA platform for a customreal-time embedded control system, and they decide to assign me to workwith 4 other guys to inspect 2000 pieces of electrical equipment forsafety compliance. That's at least 400-500 hours of distraction forjust my share.Oh, and for every one that fails, guess who gets to procure areplacement and/or re-design the custom equipment so it passes? Iestimate (based on prior experience) that the fallout from failedequipment is another 250-500 hours of work.Before I got into the DSP project, I was building another large complexservo controller project. Guess what happened? "Oh, now we want you towork on this other thing..."Before I got into the servo project, I was building another largecomplex project. Guess what happened? "Oh, now we want you to work onthis other thing..."And the electronics is just my main job. For the past 3-4 years, I havealso been the backup laser jock, responsible for over $1mil ofequipment. We brought in a top-ranked guy (the only level above minewhich I may ever hope to be promoted in our job structure) a few yearsago. He got fed up with the lasers and my department after being unableto get them to work as well as me. They rewarded him with a staffposition normally reserved for MS and PH.Ds, while he has only a 2 yeardegree. I got to continue to have 2 jobs. Now I have to train andmanage a very green new hire for the lasers, in addition to all theother stuff.So I have 3-4 man*years of partly completed projects, and I desperatelyjust want to work on them full time and get them done. I love to workhard. I can even handle regular overtime. In fact, once I get in thegroove on something, I have a hard time going home at the end of the day.But constantly changing directions and adding new assignments is gettingme fritzed and unable to concentrate on anything.Unfortunately, we are heading into another major recession.If it was due to *lack* of enough work that I had to...

Sounds like where I work. Just stop wasting time here and get back to work and at least finish something! ;) Really, you just describe mostly how things get done where I work. They assign me special projects and only a few of them get done because they keep taking me away from them so I can bail out some one that is having issues resolving their problems. Our group used to be much larger than we are now, its all about bean counting. They think contracting jobs out that seem trivial to them is the way to go. You must remember that these are people that don't actually do the work but make the decisions, they seem to have a problemseparating critical skills and simplistic functions. It's not a good idea to give your bean counters the elusion that some of your duties are easily replaced by a brainless contractor/consultant. Times are rough and too many pencil pushers out there gambling your job away. It's then, is when you need to defend your bread and butter. Now the...

What to do with this silly assignment?

Sep 08, 2011 62 Replies

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Jim Thompson 14 years ago

Looks like Californica is trying to kill off the non-union competition ;-)

(I'm not sure if a PE, acting alone, can "certify" anything for "safety properties". He can certify that he supervised the work.) ...Jim Thompson

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amdx 14 years ago

in 25

happen in

;-)

You would demand payment in advance, I presume! Mikek

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josephkk 14 years ago

start

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that

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still

bunch

has

;-)

Well of course, that is part and parcel of the whole PE thing, as well as having someone to hang when it fails in spite of best effort. All 50 states, as well as US possessions etc., do this, and so does most of Europe.

The rules are more about having the legal credibility and responsibility than the expertise. Too many PEs don't get this, to them is a better paycheck. Of course you could have read the Califorinia codes (or the Arizona codes) to see this yourself. =20 Also equipment made for regular sale has some different rules than rather one of a kind equipment made for local use only.

?-)

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