Designing a new product isn’t hard. Designing a new product that people will buy and like is hard.
What Is a Real Engineer Anyway?
What is an engineer? Scott Adams is famous for representing engineering life through Dilbert. His classic description of an engineer is “The Knack.” Continue reading “What Is a Real Engineer Anyway?”
Why, Oh Why Did I Become an Engineer?
Inside an Engineering Career
Playing around with cool stuff for the rest of my life seemed like the way to go, but engineering is mostly paperwork and documentation and engineers move into management at younger ages than football players retire.
So why do I still love engineering?
I do it because I MUST know how things work and I’m always willing to put more effort into understanding why and how than a reasonable person can comprehend.
So where’s the problem?
How to Hire an Engineer
What do you really want?
Will he or she really be doing engineering? Write down what you expect them to spend time on every day for the next couple months.
Do they need any special education or uncommon skills? Most engineering (electronics, specifically) is not actually that hard as anyone can make an LED blink. Specialties such as medical device qualification, high power/high speed switching, or advanced signal processing may require extra experience or training. Continue reading “How to Hire an Engineer”
Job Title
I have always put “Electrical Engineer” on my business card, but I got some push back from managers recently because they wanted to know “what do you really do?” My work spans the life cycle of electronic product (PCB/System level) New Product Introduction (NPI) from initial concept and architecture, through FCC validation, safety certification and into manufacturing. I also analyze customer returns to improving the design to improve reliability, manufacturability, and cost. It sounds like Superman, right? Not really. I work in start ups and as a consulting engineer, where you cover what needs to be covered.
