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Flexibility of hours for EEs

J

Joel Kolstad

Jan 1, 1970
0
John Larkin said:
The irony is that if your first priority is to do the electronics
really well, the money just happens. If your first priority is the
money, you'll probably get neither.

Philosophically I agree with you, John, although I think the real world is
somewhat more gray; things don't always work out the way that they "should."
Did you pick up a copy of Camenzind's book on the history of the
electron(ics)? Lots of heartbreaking and galling stories in there... perhaps
the most obvious/well known example being the Deforest-Sarnoff-Armstrong
menage a trois (minus the love?)...

I'm one of those kids of the '80s who bitterly regrets the management of
Commodore letting the Amiga die, when -- at the time -- it completely blew
away any and all Microsoft offerings, and was certainly competitive with Macs
as well (I think the Amiga OS was probably better, but Macs certainly had
better software available). One of their hardware designers, David Haynie,
did a company walkthrough/last day party documentary back in 1994:
http://www.frogpondmedia.com/dbv/video.html -- quite cringe-worthy.

---Joel
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Philosophically I agree with you, John, although I think the real world is
somewhat more gray; things don't always work out the way that they "should."
Did you pick up a copy of Camenzind's book on the history of the
electron(ics)? Lots of heartbreaking and galling stories in there... perhaps
the most obvious/well known example being the Deforest-Sarnoff-Armstrong
menage a trois (minus the love?)...

I'm one of those kids of the '80s who bitterly regrets the management of
Commodore letting the Amiga die, when -- at the time -- it completely blew
away any and all Microsoft offerings, and was certainly competitive with Macs
as well (I think the Amiga OS was probably better, but Macs certainly had
better software available). One of their hardware designers, David Haynie,
did a company walkthrough/last day party documentary back in 1994:
http://www.frogpondmedia.com/dbv/video.html -- quite cringe-worthy.

---Joel

Yup, Microsoft was one case where crap products and vicious,
sociopathic greed won the day.

Luckily, there are niches where good engineering is appreciated and
pays off. That's megabuck stuff, not gigabuck stuff.

John
 
J

John Tserkezis

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim said:
Vlad sounds like he's around 13 years old, and just learning how to
masturbate ;-)

I beg to differ. He might be a little older than 13. However, from his
writing, he appears to be very, very good at it.
 
M

Mike Monett

Jan 1, 1970
0
John, regarding the NIST atomic clock, which Analog Devices chip did you
use? The AD9510, AD9511, or AD9512? Or was it some other vendor's chip?

Do you count copying some vendor's demo pcb as your own original work, or
is your value added in repackaging to VME/VXI?

Regards,

Mike Monett
 
J

John Tserkezis

Jan 1, 1970
0
Rich said:
What the hell does sleeping have to do with it?

I used to work with an "enguneer" who occasionally slept on the job.
Fortunately, he was only one of a team of 15 odd there, so was no major loss.

He did suck up oxygen though, that might be considered a loss.
Would you pay a hooker to take a nap? ;-)

A hooker in the real sense wouldn't matter. They're paid by the half-hour.
Your "problem" wouldn't last more than that, because you'd be hiring someone
else by that stage.

Metaphorically speaking, sometimes employers don't have a choice, their
hands are legally tied as to which "hooker" they can retrench, and more
importantly, how they do it.
 
M

Mike Monett

Jan 1, 1970
0
John Larkin said:
Recently did heads-up display upgrade for the C130.

John, that was a Rockwell Collins program from 2002. That is very
big business, much too large for a teeny outfit like yours. They
simply don't need you.

Here's the facts:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics Signs Head-Up Display Contract for
US Air Force C-130 Avionics Modernization Program; Contract for
Rockwell Collins avionics package valued at more than $400 million
over life of program

PORTLAND, Ore. (February 25, 2002) - Rockwell Collins Flight
Dynamics has signed a contract with The Boeing Company to develop
dual Head-Up Display (HUD) systems for the United States Air Force
C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP). Boeing was selected by
the USAF as the prime contractor to upgrade the avionics systems for
more than 500 C-130 aircraft.

http://www.rockwellcollins.com/news/page2691.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our head up display (HUD) system is a compact and high performance
full color and text display for both the commercial and military
aerospace markets. In addition to the HUD, Rockwell Collins is
supplying our 6- x 8-inch Multi-Function Displays, increasing pilot
situational awareness and enhancing crew effectiveness by enabling
in-flight mission planning. Certain C-130 AMP customers will also
install the new Rockwell Collins MFD-2912 display, which is based on
the same open systems architecture as the other MFD display families
and shares components with the new commercial Boeing 787 cockpit
displays. Communication and navigation products for the C-130 AMP
include AN/ARC-210 radios, SAT-2000 satellite communications system,
multi-mode receivers, automatic direction finder and high frequency
data link upgrades.

http://www.rockwellcollins.com/products/gov/defense_electronics/subsystem
-integration/tanker-cc/C-130/index.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rockwell Collins' head up displays (HUD) enhance mission
effectiveness by improving pilot situational awareness. The HUD on
tactical aircraft is positioned above the instrument glare shield
and allows the pilot to look forward onto a transparent screen,
which is called the optical combiner. The HUD on a military
transport is positioned above the pilot's head and projected on a
combiner hung from the top of the windshield. All of the critical
flight information normally viewed on the head down displays is also
superimposed on the combiner. This gives the pilot the option of
flying "heads up" by viewing flight information and the real world
scene simultaneously.

http://www.rockwellcollins.com/products/gov/defense_electronics/displays1
/cockpit-displays/HUD/index.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, tell us exactly which resistor in the display you designed.

Even better, post the contract number so we can track down what was
involved.

Regards,

Mike Monett
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
John, regarding the NIST atomic clock, which Analog Devices chip did you
use? The AD9510, AD9511, or AD9512? Or was it some other vendor's chip?

Do you count copying some vendor's demo pcb as your own original work, or
is your value added in repackaging to VME/VXI?

Regards,

Mike Monett

Get jealous, get testy ?:)

...Jim Thompson
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Get jealous, get testy ?:)

...Jim Thompson


MM seems to think that being obnoxious somehow makes up for being
stupid.

John
 
D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
I temped at a law office once, where "casual Friday" meant you didn't have
to wear a necktie.

I don't have to do that any more. :)

Cheers!
Rich

My idea of "casual Friday" is if I feel like coming in and working..
:p
D from BC
 
M

Michael A. Terrell

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
MM seems to think that being obnoxious somehow makes up for being
stupid.


They both have their place in this world. Take "Civil servants" for
an example.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
They both have their place in this world. Take "Civil servants" for
an example.

But civil servants don't have to think, whereas engineers do. Once
your prime mission becomes defending your ego, your ability to reason
goes to zero, or even negative.

John
 
J

Joel Kolstad

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mike,

Mike Monett said:
John, that was a Rockwell Collins program from 2002. That is very
big business, much too large for a teeny outfit like yours. They
simply don't need you.

FYI, Rockwell Collins has plenty of subcontractors... the company I work at
happens to be one (although we have numerous clients, not just RC), so I
wouldn't be at all surprised if John's company is (or has been) one as well.
Yes, companies our size tend to only be providing a small part of a large
program, but it can still be a technically-challenging, significant (key) part
of the overall system.

---Joel
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mike,



FYI, Rockwell Collins has plenty of subcontractors... the company I work at
happens to be one (although we have numerous clients, not just RC), so I
wouldn't be at all surprised if John's company is (or has been) one as well.
Yes, companies our size tend to only be providing a small part of a large
program, but it can still be a technically-challenging, significant (key) part
of the overall system.

---Joel

It was for the AC-130 gunships, and the prime wasn't Rockwell. We did
the vector character generators, which was lots of fun. The old
system, built by GEC, had an MTBF of 22 hours.

See pix in abse.

John
 
M

Michael A. Terrell

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
But civil servants don't have to think, whereas engineers do. Once
your prime mission becomes defending your ego, your ability to reason
goes to zero, or even negative.

John


Which is very bad for designers and engineers, but perfect at the
DMV. :)

The local DMV branch office refused to renew my driver's license a
couple years ago, because I couldn't walk 100 feet without my cane. I
went to their main office and asked. The woman just rolled her eyes and
named the office I was at, then renewed my license.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
M

Michael A. Terrell

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mike said:
John, that was a Rockwell Collins program from 2002. That is very
big business, much too large for a teeny outfit like yours. They
simply don't need you.

Here's the facts:


The facts are that a company the size of Rockwell-Collins is smart
enough to subcontract the small jobs to companies that specialize in
niche markets. By your odd concept, the large CATV company I worked for
should have designed and built all their own equipment.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
The facts are that a company the size of Rockwell-Collins is smart
enough to subcontract the small jobs to companies that specialize in
niche markets. By your odd concept, the large CATV company I worked for
should have designed and built all their own equipment.

MM has gotten into the mode of, fundamentally, calling me a liar about
most anything I post, even when he has to make an ass of himself to do
it.

Curious.

John
 
M

Michael A. Terrell

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
MM has gotten into the mode of, fundamentally, calling me a liar about
most anything I post, even when he has to make an ass of himself to do
it.


He has a really big chip on his shoulder about something. He's just
making himself look very petty.

Its one thing to post something better, and explain WHY its better.
When someone just constantly whines, it makes you think of the bitter
cartoon characters that infest these newsgroups.


What do you think about that stupid newsreader of his that attempts a
proportional text, with a fixed font, even if it has to leave three or
four spaces between words? Very hard to read, with vision problems.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
C

Charlie Edmondson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Eeyore said:
Vladimir Vassilevsky wrote:




What's convenient about 7am ?




Since when was a suit and tie for example appropriate for any form of
engineering ?

Graham
Actually, I am a morning person. I often go ahead and log in (I work
from home) at 6:30 to 7:00 if I have something I need to do. When I
worked in the office, I did the early morning shift for a while (We were
a west coast office, and needed to help out east coast customers) and
would go in at 6:00 every morning. Was nice to get off at 3PM for the
day...

Actually, flex hours for engineers is pretty common, but watch out for
set meetings and other responsibilities. We had one guy who agreed to
work that early shift, but from home, and then come into the office
later for meetings and such. Unfortunately, he didn't have the
discipline, and kept missing meetings, or getting in much later than he
had told the boss he would be in, etc. When the next round of layoffs
came, he was the first to go...


Charlie
 
C

Charlie Edmondson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Funny story...

When I started my present job (three companies ago...) I decided, as a
sort of joke, to come in the first day in a full three piece suit. I
was going to tone it down a little each day, until after a week, would
be in tee and shorts...

However, on that first day, the company was having its annual meeting.
Since I was new, and didn't have any other duties, the boss invited me
along.

Now, usual dress here was jeans/slacks and company polo or tee, so suits
were quite unusual. So, as we walked into the meeting, my boss got
asked (very quietly...) who the 'suit' was! They expected I was a
banker or other finance guy!

Now, I was just a lowly engineer, but I somehow suspect that the
'respect' I got from everyone stemmed, in part, to that 'first
impression' that I MUST be a manager or other muckety muck! :cool:

That, and when I solved a customer problem (after only being there a
week) that three other guys had been unable to solve to two months...

Charlie
 
T

Tim Williams

Jan 1, 1970
0
Vladimir Vassilevsky said:
With all my respects due, I must say that the mankind had lost not a
doctor or lawyer, but the most wonderful clown in your person. As the
clown, you could probably make billions. Dilbert is nothing compared to
you.

Engineers are good at "engineering" conversation.

I'm good at making people stare and wonder, dumbfounded, at verbal puns...

Just today I was talking with a co-worker about ferrule nuts, and I got a
good stare off him when I responded "but Will Ferrel is a comedian?...".

Walking past the maintainance department, it's sometimes fun to make light
of someone "pimping the hose" [sic]. :^)

Tim
 
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