Talk on how design is only a small part of making hardware

[mikeselectricstuff]

w0z (no relation) talks about developing hardware and compres the prototyping process to a compiler.
http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/10/28/hardware-will-cut-you-video/
(NB contains NSFW  language!)

[sonicj]

that girl has a potty mouth!  she should stick with making powerpoint slides and avoid sound amplification/recording equipment.
-sj

[Hypernova]

That was a nice talk, short, sweet and to the point.

[JohnS_AZ]

Intelligence and experience != class, poise, or civility. 

[Zad]

It is clear that she is very passionate about her subject, but she needs to calm the hell down. I'm a Yorkshireman, and have worked in pretty rough industrial environments, but if I used language like her to that extent, especially in front of an audience, I suspect I would be out of the door pretty quick. Maybe she thinks it is the only way to compete in a largely male environment. No matter how good she is at her job, if she cannot use language that is appropriate then it will hold her back.

[EEVblog]

It is clear that she is very passionate about her subject, but she needs to calm the hell down.

I've had people tell me the exact same thing! 

Dave.

[Hypernova]

It is clear that she is very passionate about her subject, but she needs to calm the hell down. I'm a Yorkshireman, and have worked in pretty rough industrial environments, but if I used language like her to that extent, especially in front of an audience, I suspect I would be out of the door pretty quick. Maybe she thinks it is the only way to compete in a largely male environment. No matter how good she is at her job, if she cannot use language that is appropriate then it will hold her back.

Nah, everyone was clearly entertained. I'm sure if she has to have an audience at the Royal Society she will adjust her language.

[johnboxall]

A very good talk, I learned a couple of things.
I'd hate to meet her when she's angry...

[Mechatrommer]

i watched that, not fully yet... she is good! and will be i think, at... blowing things up!
i dont get anything though at what she was talking about i just interested at how her mouth moves.

[scrat]

i watched that, not fully yet... she is good! and will be i think, at... blowing things up!
i dont get anything though at what she was talking about i just interested at how her mouth moves.

Shafri, maybe (well, I'm quite sure) you are confusing this thread with the one, recently opened, on the guy making things blow up. Isn't it so?
Otherwise you  won't have thought about that particular ability! 

[JohnS_AZ]

Believe me, I'm all for more women in science and technology.
These gals are just more my speed. 

[Time]

It is clear that she is very passionate about her subject, but she needs to calm the hell down.

I've had people tell me the exact same thing!  

Dave.

The 2 main differences I see here are shes a 'she' and she grew up in America not Australia.  Otherwise the exuberant passion is the same.

The language was rather tame compared to my work environment at times and I hardly noticed it as I was entertained more than turned off by it.  I work in the depths of white collar engineering doing design with many ivy league educated PhDs and we still talk like sailors.  Maybe its just an American thing. It was an information security conference, a software hackers conference from what I can tell.  Those guys probably prefer the informal and crude banter. 

I thought she was awesome and did a good job explaining what goes into hardware in a very short time.  I am going to use this to show to my physicist and software colleagues who are always wanting to know what it takes to realize printed designs.

[d3javu]

is it me or she sounds like rapping, just add some beats matching her tempo and voila! anyway, she is good, at least to me, fast and precise.

[Time]

"...and The Art of Electronics, which by the way is not a how-to-do-engineering its a fucking cook book of circuits."

[quantumfall]

that girl has a potty mouth!  she should stick with making powerpoint slides and avoid sound amplification/recording equipment.
-sj

I find the expression "potty mouth" much more objectionable than any bad language if its taken literally.

[FreeThinker]

colourful language aside she clearly demonstrates the fundamental difference in mindsets between hardware and software people.Software people tend to 'grow' there project from a vague idea to a final product refining as they go getting small code snippets working and linking them together.A hardware person distills there project from a 'blackbox' and works backwards to component level.That very rare beast, a software AND hardware person is what you really need but for some reason they are not encouraged (or more correctly not trained ) and in a lot of cases are physically separated, the hardware boys on one floor the software people on another.Always found that really strange but being a maintenance/service guy I am looking at this from the outside so could be  missing something.

[saturation]

Sounds like she doesn't spend much time with 'normal' people.  If this is the same Amanda Woz, she's from MIT, got her MS from Harvard in EE, and held EE jobs in the best companies.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/avwozniak

[JohnS_AZ]

In my opinion she's a classic example of a talented engineer that you hire and then lock into one of the labs, never letting her get anywhere near your customers, clients, or management.

Actually, these days in business (and even on the factory floor) that sort of language can get you written up and even fired for creating a "hostile work environment". Folks have been fired for much less.

[johnboxall]

In my opinion she's a classic example of a talented engineer that you hire and then lock into one of the labs, never letting her get anywhere near your customers, clients, or management.

Actually, these days in business (and even on the factory floor) that sort of language can get you written up and even fired for creating a "hostile work environment". Folks have been fired for much less.

Very good points. Someone could be the best engineer in the organisation, but if they curse or say the wrong thing in front of the wrong person - bang - they're gone. At my university they now have a compulsory "business etiquette" course for some majors, teaching how to behave in meetings, networking and so on. Not a bad idea.

[blackfin76]

In my opinion she's a classic example of a talented engineer that you hire and then lock into one of the labs, never letting her get anywhere near your customers, clients, or management.

Actually, these days in business (and even on the factory floor) that sort of language can get you written up and even fired for creating a "hostile work environment". Folks have been fired for much less.

I think it depends on the culture, here in the Netherlands this kind of behaviour would not get any engineer into serious problems... unless you work for a bank or insurance company. They need to be nice to their customers to sucker them into their fraudulent schemes 

[EEVblog]

Sounds like she doesn't spend much time with 'normal' people.  If this is the same Amanda Woz, she's from MIT, got her MS from Harvard in EE, and held EE jobs in the best companies.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/avwozniak

Yes, that's her.

She has actually emailed me and has explained the circumstances surrounding that presentation.

Paraphrasing her reason for the language used:
Most of the audience was people she knew, it was a small room at a hacker conference, and apparently the group of mostly software people who wanted/needed a basic presentation of what hardware engineering is, and what mistakes to avoid, as she was afraid this group was potentially very capable of making those same mistakes.
It was also her first time going a presentation.

It gather it was not a presentation aimed at a general audience.

So there you go, the language and attitude becomes more understandable when taken into context of the situation.

Dave.

[Hypernova]

It was also her first time going a presentation.

If I have to grade her I say she passed with flying colours.

[.o:0|O|0:o.]

...And of course you can be infinitely more foul, vulgar, rude and hostile by using perfectly accepted words. At least that presentation didn't put me to sleep.

The problem with designing from the end backwards is that you can only really do it if you have a certain degree of confidence and experience. I think newbies still have little choice but to build their efficiency gradually until they master the subject/process.


.o:0|O|0:o.
P.s. If you thought that was fast talking: http://www.youtube   .com/watch?v=x-OoGcBW2yE#ws

[Time]

Sounds like she doesn't spend much time with 'normal' people.  If this is the same Amanda Woz, she's from MIT, got her MS from Harvard in EE, and held EE jobs in the best companies.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/avwozniak

Yes, that's her.

She has actually emailed me and has explained the circumstances surrounding that presentation.

Paraphrasing her reason for the language used:
Most of the audience was people she knew, it was a small room at a hacker conference, and apparently the group of mostly software people who wanted/needed a basic presentation of what hardware engineering is, and what mistakes to avoid, as she was afraid this group was potentially very capable of making those same mistakes.
It was also her first time going a presentation.

It gather it was not a presentation aimed at a general audience.

So there you go, the language and attitude becomes more understandable when taken into context of the situation.

Dave.

Aww, too bad she didn't just get on the forum and explain it herself. :/

[.o:0|O|0:o.]

Aww, too bad she didn't just get on the forum and explain it herself. :/

Maybe she did but Dave had to remove the post and ban her ...prompting the phone call. 

.o:0|O|0:o.