In my current work environment we do studies, but more in the line of feasibility studies. I.e. predict what the cost of the potential job will be and what the lifespan of the mine/process plant will be. For the feasibility studies though, all fields of engineers are involved, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, control and process. This phase can take up to a year before a contract is awarded and actual engineering and procurement starts.
Maybe he meant that now he is into teaching engineering.
Or it could also mean that he is working as an interdisciplinary engineer. It is a fairly new discipline. It deals with STS(science, technology and society) and deals with how technology and science interact with society. If they have good or bad impact etc etc.
I took a STS course at UofAlberta. Pretty interesting.
I think a sales engineer is an engineer whose jobs is to sell things to other engineers. It's pretty hard to make a sale when your customer knows more about your product than you do.
The sale's already made if the product is any good, I already looked up the specs and got the pricing from a distributor. Makes you question the utility of these sales guys and their damn emails and phone calls and dropping by the office and all. "What's the contact resistance on that connector?" "Uhh... I could look it up and get back with you..." "What's type of interface does that LCD panel use?" "Uhh... I could ask somebody..."
Aren't sales engineers the ones that actually go out into "the field" and hock the product? Or is that only FAEs? Wait, I might be thinking about FAEs and not sales engineers. Maybe the same thing just different titles?
The sales Engineer is more on the marketing end. He tries to convince you of why their product is the best choice. He can also negotiate price breaks and part delivery schedules, that sort of thing.
The Field Apps engineer (FAE) is more like an expert on the product and development tools. They provide design assistance to the customer during the development process.
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One more thing I should add. The FAE often accompanies the SE to a customer site to help answer tough questions posed by the customer. Maybe this is why there is confusion about the title distinction.
The sale's already made if the product is any good, I already looked up the specs and got the pricing from a distributor. Makes you question the utility of these sales guys and their damn emails and phone calls and dropping by the office and all. "What's the contact resistance on that connector?" "Uhh... I could look it up and get back with you..." "What's type of interface does that LCD panel use?" "Uhh... I could ask somebody..."
This may be true for generic logic devices or caps and resistors, but with complex devices or single sourced items, the customer may and should have many questions for the SE. For example; part availability, lead time, delivery dates, life expectancy of part, to name but a few.
There are many details a good designer must consider when choosing a part. Basing your part choice decision on a data sheet and a phone call can spell disaster later on down the design/production process.