Oddballs & Tidbits — My Opinions
-
Interview Tales
I dislike interviewing – though I don’t suppose it’s on anyone’s favorites list; to me, it’s like making a commitment to marriage after a single, short, blind date. That’s my opinion from both sides of the table. But here’s 3 tales of my personal interviewing experiences – then some tips a head-hunter once gave me.…
-
A Tale Of Our Times
This came from someplace. Seems pertinent. One day the King was looking over his wardrobe and saw only the same familiar drab clothes. He had ideas and vision – and none of these styles excited him. Although he had many stylists and tailors capable of designing elegant clothing, they always seemed to provide the King…
-
Advice To “Garage” Inventors
“It’s cynicism when young, experience when old.“ I don’t deny the truth of this – Hewlett and Packard; Wozniak and Jobs (and Wayne) not withstanding. Regarding Edwin Armstrong (1890-1954): “The moral of this sad story is that a single solitary individual no matter how meritorious, no matter how ingenious, no matter how deserving of recognition…
-
Observations Of An ASIC Design
Not mine but I know/knew the author on a design team I was part of at a company – “Semiconductor Design Engineering” – we both worked for. Such a long time ago the year still had 19s in it. The project needs a new design.They think they want an ASIC.Their reputation’s on the line.They want…
-
Past Performance
I have heard it said that “Past performance is an indicator of future results“. Not so! Think of it: This philosophy implies that no one learns, no improvement is possible, and that high-flying stock you own will never crash. Hard to trust someone with that philosophy … “Past performance is not an indicator of future…
-
Lorem ipsum
I can’t help it; my curiosity sometimes carries me into weird and dark corners. In this case – after I brushed the spiderwebs out of the way, I found some background to “Lorem ipsum”. We’ve all seen it: a paragraph or page of what appears to be Latin text. Used with trepidation by some, it…
-
Foolish Things I’ve Done In My Career #3
Or in hindsight, maybe #1. This man personally offered me a job once upon a time. In early 1989. Jim Solomon Bob Dobkin Linear Technology Jim Solomon – Cadence Design Systems I turned him down. I foolishly turned him down. I turned him down in a most foolish manner as well. I was so foolish…
-
Occam’s Razor (“novacula occami”)
The foundation for the KISS principle – “Keep It Simple, Stupid” “entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem“ Words to the effect of:“always use the simplest model that you can get away with“or“Things should not be multiplied beyond what is required“ Yes, indeedy … Einstein is purported to have said: “Everything must be made as simple…
-
Good Enough
I find one of the phrases that seems to have become prevalent in my profession – electronic gizmos – since about 1990 has been “Perfection is the enemy of good“. An old phrase – Wiki tells me it goes back to at least 1600 or so. The original intent seems to be related to “Why…
-
So You Want A Million Dollars
“I’m going to start my own business and get rich!” Could be. Maybe. It’s happened. Casinos brag about the big winners. Casinos don’t lose money unless the government runs them. You’re not going to get very far with $1M. It would barely pay fro bankruptcy proceedings. You’re going to work for free, right? How will…
-
How Much Does A Mistake Cost?
Kick the can down the road, spread the blame … Mistakes can be expensive. Depending on one’s accounting method. I can think of four five instances in my career … without trying to think of instances. 1 Once upon a time “working correctly” was more important than cost (for that matter, cost was third:…
-
Interviews
This is a “Tales from the Cubicle” type story. I had an interview a while ago … it was one of the best interviews I’ve had in more than 40 years working in this profession. It seemed I had a good rapport with those I interviewed with, I liked the people I met, and the…
-
An Oldie But Goodie
After a hard day’s work the boss rewards his best workers – today an engineer and physicist tied in their efforts. The boss puts a cold beer at the end of the room and tells them “First to it, gets it“ “But you can only travel half the distance each step“ While the engineer is…
-
5 Reasons To Stay in Electronics Engineering
As I’ve mentioned, I’m going through my files and posting some of what I’ve experienced over several decades. I had forgotten about this … written in 2011. I wrote this for a fresh-out that was already getting discouraged about the industry. We had been talking – I was a mentor of sorts but more on…
-
Memorization
On memorizing equations: “It is not a good idea to try to memorize that, because that just ensures that you will forget it. But you ought to recognize the cases where life gets interesting.“ Bob Pease, c. 2004 A tale from the cube: Once upon a time, I was involved with a satellite project. In…
-
An Article I Read – “Questioning the Cosmological Doppler Red-Shift”
I read an article in Principia Scientific International some time ago that proposes that it is the wavelength of light that is constant, not the speed. If the wavelength is constant, then time and frequency remain the inverse of each other … but not only is the speed of light not constant, but neither is…
-
In The Beginning
I don’t know where this came from, but it was old when I first saw it on my first job with a DoD contractor – gosh, that’s been mumblety-mumblety years ago … the ink on the printout has faded. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was first written by the Romans.
-
Mostly A Joke
Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, “Someone may steal from it at night.”So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job. Then Congress said, “How does the watchman do his job without instruction?”So they created a planning…