Author Topic: beginner brain drain  (Read 5738 times)

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Offline bson

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #25 on: July 24, 2018, 01:17:15 am »
Knowledge is generally perishable.  Even motor skills are perishable.  Understanding is forever. :)
 

Offline bitseeker

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #26 on: July 24, 2018, 01:52:39 am »
Quote from: bitseeker
... I suppose your response could've been, "Yeah, and I'd make it even better knowing what I know now."
It was the pivotal moment, the shock, in your life - believing you were invincible ... having produced 100s designs / systems over 30+ yrs - came the day
that you didn't even recognize one of your children .. entirely ! It took a while to come to comprehend, hence I had NO time for an exit response.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Ideas for good responses usually come to fruition afterward.
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Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #27 on: July 24, 2018, 07:34:53 am »
A few years ago, a customer brought in some industrial PLC for me to fix. It looked a well made unit, so I agreed (usually don't take "foreigner" repairs).
After a couple days I got it going. I commented to him .. it was a nice design, but a bit short in a couple parts, nice layout etc etc
Then he says .. "you idiot, you built it for us years ago" ... oops :-) I searched my archives and found the code .. couldn't even remember writing it !
That sounds familiar. It's happened to me more than once that I've looked at some older documentation and wondered what idiot wrote it, only to discover in the changelog that it was actually me.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2018, 09:54:04 am by Mr. Scram »
 
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Offline digsys

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #28 on: July 24, 2018, 08:48:06 am »
Quote from: Mr. Scram
That sounds recognizable. It's happened to me more than once that I've looked at some older documentation and wondered what idiot wrote it, only to discover in the changelog that it was actually me. 
:-)
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Offline james_s

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #29 on: July 25, 2018, 12:02:59 am »
LOL! That's the funniest thing I've seen all day. I don't recall ever doing that but I'm sure my turn is going to come sooner or later.
 

Online CatalinaWOW

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #30 on: July 25, 2018, 03:44:46 am »
Seeing an old design and not recognizing it is the hardware version of not putting comments in software.  How likely would it be for you to have missed the connection if the CCBs had a model number etched in?  Something like digsys-0034.  Or there was a sticker inside the housing with some basic information like business name etc.  The latter would also let new owners, or new people in charge of an operation after those who purchased and put the system into use figure out where to go for upgrades, repairs and similar products.

It is really easy to generate these labels/stickers these days, and even very low cost versions can last for decades.
 

Offline digsys

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #31 on: July 25, 2018, 07:55:30 am »
Quote from: CatalinaWOW
... How likely would it be for you to have missed the connection if the PCBs had a model number etched in?
Something like digsys-0034 ....
In my case, I have all relevant info on the PCB, and IF I make a custom lexan screen, on that too (just a logo etc) .. but I RARELY bother looking for that info,
unless there's a good reason to find it ie a Motherboard or comms PCB / protocol. And if the repair isn't that complex, or a 1-off, there's no value in collecting unnecessary info. I already have several filing cabinets full of rarely used documents. I just didn't recognize the unit AT ALL. (and nearly twice more today :-) )
Hello <tap> <tap> .. is this thing on?
 

Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #32 on: July 25, 2018, 08:14:56 am »
LOL! That's the funniest thing I've seen all day. I don't recall ever doing that but I'm sure my turn is going to come sooner or later.
You don't recall ever doing it. See, it's already happening!  :scared:
 
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Offline brucehoult

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #33 on: July 25, 2018, 11:38:56 am »
I think that whoever coined the phrase, "Growing old gracefully" needs is @ss kicked.  There is nothing graceful about it.  The love life wanes, the eyesight goes, the memory goes, errr, ah, what were we talking about?

Not looking forward to all of that :-(

Fortunately I'm only 55, just last year decided to settle down with one "forever" (here's hoping) woman, and this year joined my first real Valley startup.
 

Offline brucehoult

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #34 on: July 25, 2018, 12:07:16 pm »
I suspect that for many EE and programmers, that their most productive years will be in their teens and twenties. And that is goes downhill from there.

My experience is different.

I toiled thanklessly in obscurity through my 20s, had no idea what I was doing in my 30s. The first real break showing where I belonged came when I was 43 and for the last dozen years things have just kept getting better.

Quote
The ones who manage to continue in the field will be the ones with the best people skills and enough ego to continue talking down to the younger generation and make their lives miserable by telling them how to do things, and enough BS skills to appear indispensable to upper brass or investors.  :)

None of those apply.

Quote
Other more technical EE, some end up in a very specialized niche. Much easier to keep current and relevant in a specialty.

Closer. Programmer, not EE, but I've worked my way into specialising in programming language compilers, low level software, and recently even moving towards design of machine code instructions that are both useful for compilers and easy/fast/low power to implement in hardware.
 

Offline bitseeker

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #35 on: July 25, 2018, 09:40:36 pm »
That sounds very cool, Bruce. I see they're near the San Mateo bridge. Are you working remotely from NZ (flag setting)?
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Offline brucehoult

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #36 on: July 25, 2018, 10:17:25 pm »
That sounds very cool, Bruce. I see they're near the San Mateo bridge. Are you working remotely from NZ (flag setting)?

Yes, very conveniently near the intersection of 101 and 92. The business centre is even called "Crossroads".

Yes, officially I'm working from NZ at the moment (I have an apartment in Paihia), though for the last three weeks I've been in Emerald in central Queensland. It's warmer in mid-winter and not rainy :-) I was in San Mateo for three weeks in June, and before that in March. I expect to be living in the Bay Area by November.

Exciting times! I think RISC-V has big potential.
 

Offline Raj

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Re: beginner brain drain
« Reply #37 on: August 09, 2018, 04:26:37 am »
it's the skill of using tools that'll stay with you,
you'll remember how to read datasheets and write code while referring to them but never the code itself. You'll still be able to do the same job.

It's happening to me too, but
I have actually put myself to test and noticed, now i'm more efficient. Though every thing I do, is done from scratch.

I think, our short term memory is increasing while long term memory is being overwritten. Also parts of memory not being read often gets erased.
 


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