You know you're a "real" engineer when ......

[picbits]

Bit of Friday afternoon banter ...

You know when you're a real engineer when .....

You can tell the baud rate of a serial stream just by listening to it through a set of headphones

Datasheets are more useful for isolatiing your circuit you're working on from the rest of the junk on your workbench

You can't remember the last time you accidentally bridged a joint when soldering

Schematics ? Pah - real engineers go straight to the breadboard

You've memorised all the resistor colour codes

Your parts supplier knows you on a first name basis

You plug your latest creation in and it "just works"

You buy a product, take it apart and criticise the soldering

Continue ........

 

[3v0]

You know when you're a real engineer when .....

I knew I was a real engineer when I attend project meetings
with people from manufacturing to marketing and every stop in between.

Interfacing with them cuts into development time.

 

[Papabravo]

When you loose every argument to the guys in marketing or some bungwipe from the "salescrew"

 

[GonzoEngineer]

You know you are a real engineer when:

You realize that you will never stop learning.....

You have learned to never touch a component to see if it is hot....just hold your finger above it. ( I had a burn impression of a TO-220 tab on my finger for six months!)

You know better than to try and catch a falling soldering iron.

You always want to improve a design, even though it is already in production.

You have learned that the enamel of your teeth is NOT an insulator!

You know that a good experienced Technician is more valuable than 5 recent Engineering Graduates.

Your Motto has become "If you want it bad, you'll get it bad!"

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

You have learned to never touch a component to see if it is hot....just hold your finger above it. ( I had a burn impression of a TO-220 tab on my finger for six months!)

No, you can still touch it, but lick your finger first.

As for soldering irons, you do (eventually) un-learn the catching reflex when you drop a soldering iron but it's not a fast process.

 

[ronsimpson]

You are a real engineer when you can’t stand to see some thing broken.

When I worked for DataRay the president had a golf trophy on his desk. He was very proud if it! The clock in the trophy had never worked. I was appalled! When I was in his office I could hardly hear a word he said because of the noise of the clock. “Fix-Me… Fix-Me… Fix-Me…”
One day in the middle of a meeting I grabbed the clock and said “I will return.” In a few minutes I brought back the golf trophy with a working clock. “Tick-Tock… Tick-Tock… Tick-Tock…” Now I can hear what you’re saying. Six years of college to replace batteries.

Some went to the university and now the paycheck says “Engineer”.
Some were born engineers and had no choice.

 

[mramos1]

Funny, have not touched a hot iron in many many years but I still jump for them. Learned not to grab the tip finally. If your lab has biometric locks, you might not be able to get back in after a coffee break. It has happened to me.

Man do I recall the sales/marketing/other_dumb meetings. What a waste. And the marketing guys trying to tell us what the customers wanted was funny.

 

[BaCaRdi]

You know your a real engineer when it's perfect the first time around....


-BaC
Do It Right!

 

[Mikebits]

And the marketing guys trying to tell us what the customers wanted was funny.

It seems to me that it is marketings job to know what the customer wants. Afterall no customers no business. It is the engineers job to inform marketing to what is possible and what is not.

It has been my experience that a company where the marketing team interfaces well with engineering will have more success.

I was lucky to work for a company owned by the engineer class which meant engineering had the final say. Of course this was before the company went public. I suspect the place may be different now.

 

[mramos1]

It seems to me that it is marketings job to know what the customer wants. Afterall no customers no business. It is the engineers job to inform marketing to what is possible and what is not.

It has been my experience that a company where the marketing team interfaces well with engineering will have more success.

I was lucky to work for a company owned by the engineer class which meant engineering had the final say. Of course this was before the company went public. I suspect the place may be different now.

We were quite successful (over a 1/2 billion a year in the early 80's; I still have the coffee mug to show for it, I store my keys in it at my new job).

It was owned by an Engineer. But it grew and we brought in all these new people to take us to the next stage. I was employee 18, when the layoffs came 350+ just in my building were let go (we were in many countries with many building at this point).

You are right if these where real marketing people (knew the products and needs, etc; these guys just wanted bonuses and needed to be seen).

Marketing people with technical backgrounds or a background in the field would have made it better. This is just my case, the company got too big and made a lot of mistakes.

Engineers making products for Tech type customers, with an internal group who have no clue what either sides does, well that was marketing at that job in the area I was in.

They did know their clothing manufactures, cars and sunglasses.

 

[Speakerguy]

I knew I was a real engineer when I attend project meetings
with people from manufacturing to marketing and every stop in between.

I had a job like this for 3 months before I quit. Being in the middle of all those folks was pure hell. Field application engineers and marketing making promises they couldn't keep was the worst. And honestly, I think the field app engineers were worse than marketing. I admire anyone who can work a job like this in a large company.

I quit, chartered my own company, bought all my own gear (scope, rework station, new computer, design software, the whole shebang), and I'm trying to make a go of it. Of course, the economy had to crater right after I left the company. Go figure

You plug your latest creation in and it "just works"

Almost never happens to a real engineer. It usually makes for a faster development cycle to spin a board and find out what's wrong with a design than to analyze it thoroughly enough beforehand to make sure it has no errors. I cut my teeth doing electronics design at a government funded R&D outfit and time was money. Cut traces and jumper wires and software changes are real easy to do after the fact.

You have learned to never touch a component to see if it is hot....just hold your finger above it.

I bought an IR thermometer and a thermocouple. The purchase was inspired by the package outline of an SOT-223 on my own finger

 

[bassnut]

You know when yr an enginner when..

1. You burn yr finger and it just doesnt matter, you get on with it, even if it becomes an ugly mess.

2. Marketing and customers dont have a clue, only YOU know what they need (and deserve).

3. Set up MUST have 30 functions to tweak. If they dont understand it, they dont deserve to own it.

 

[mramos1]

You know when yr an enginner when..

1. You burn yr finger and it just doesnt matter, you get on with it, even if it becomes an ugly mess.

2. Marketing and customers dont have a clue, only YOU know what they need (and deserve).

3. Set up MUST have 30 functions to tweak. If they dont understand it, they dont deserve to own it.

Funny as this is, looks like you might be a younger engineer. An older engineer would always spell engineer right and attempt to spell everything else right (and think they did). It is the holidays so I could be wrong

New thread might be comparing younger engineers to older ones.

Older engineers will still get burned on occasion as they are sure it is NOT pulling to much current and the design is perfect and they still have to touch it. But less serious burns.

As you get older, you give them what works for them, quick as possible, cash your check and move on. Hoping there is something to move on too.

Outside of blinking an LED, most project require at least a couple software/hardware mods. Even if you blink the LED, a younger engineer will have to change the software a couple times to get it blinking just right. Older ones will say, it's blinking AND no software or ICs were required.

All in jest of course, I really enjoy microcontrollers.

 

[ericgibbs]

You are an engineer, when you know when its time to stop adding bells and whistles to a project, sign it off and move onto the next assignment.

To often a project works to the original specification just fine, BUT then the designer thinks if I add this and that it will be better.!
In the majority of cases it will not be.

 

[Pommie]

You are a qualified engineer when you recognise feature creep and explain to the customer that the particular feature was not in the original specification.

Actually, I think Eric just said that.

Mike.

 

[ericgibbs]

You are a qualified engineer when you recognise feature creep and explain to the customer that the particular feature was not in the original specification.

Actually, I think Eric just said that.

Mike.

hi Mike,
Like me, I expect you have seen many less experienced engineers who have an idea on how to 'improve' the product,
when its in the final stages of development; and make the fatal mistake of telling the Sales dept.

Next they know, its written into the sales literature and the poor engineer has to somehow make work and stay within the budgeted selling price.

 

[3v0]

In the US hardware and software engineers are working longer hours. I think the temptation to improve the product dies when it means more weekends at work.

 

[GonzoEngineer]

My Favorite sign:

Eventually there comes a time when it becomes necessary to shoot the Engineers and start production!

 

[GonzoEngineer]

A good Engineer can layout the board first, then draw the schematic!

 

[Pommie]

A good Engineer can layout the board first, then draw the schematic!

I tend to do the breadboard first and then the schematic.

Mike.