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| tggzzz:
--- Quote from: icharters on June 22, 2019, 07:37:48 pm ---Thanks for the input, guys. I think I will take the advice here and learn things on an as needed basis, and take a more scientific approach to learning it when i really want to deeply understand something I'm working on. I think I'm going to build a power supply to start with and see where that takes me. --- End quote --- Good for you, and ignore the naysayers. Do what you want to do, but be realistic about how much it will impress an employer. For example, if a potential employer is interested in real-time software, for example, it will be of less interest. If you demonstrate that you: * thought about your objectives and non-objectives, and the reasons for setting them * thought about the corner cases of what could go wrong; many people think how things work, few about how things fail * implemented and tested it * found where it didn't work well enough, and improved it * can describe why it worked well enough * can describe mistakes you wouldn't repeat next time * can describe how you might extend it, if the need was therethen most employers will be more impressed. You could also assess an employer, based on whether they ask you interesting relevant questions about your project. If they don't ask interesting questions, work out why. If they only ask their own questions (e.g. what is an ACID transaction) or trick questions (why are manhole covers round), then assess them accordingly. |
| Siwastaja:
--- Quote from: tggzzz on June 23, 2019, 09:55:23 am ---ignore the naysayers. Do what you want to do, but be realistic --- End quote --- Cut like this, this is the best generic advice imaginable. |
| techman-001:
--- Quote from: Siwastaja on June 23, 2019, 09:43:13 am ---I don't know about replicating the same ages-old beginner project everyone else has done and proudly shown to their potential employers. It's like having a kid, you are very proud of it (as you should be!), but everyone else has them as well and yours don't look that special to them. Well, maybe if you are applying to a really "low-level" job, like in manufacturing? Otherwise, it doesn't show much passion nor expertise IMHO. Just an opinion, I'm entitled to one as well! I mean, at the time you start moving from a hobby to profession (if that ever happens), the chances are you are already a few steps ahead of that power supply project, and could bring a more recent, more ambitious project that shows off your latest skills better. The first project I brought with me to a job interview was a microcontroller controlled (before the Arduino era) 10-channel temperature sensor / regulator / heater control (for chemical process control) bare DIY etched PCB hotmelt glued to a plastic plate, and I showed off the UI, menus, temperature measurements... The interviewer wanted to measure his body temperature and it showed some 36.6 degC, success :-+. Made a better show than a 7805 power supply. A guy I knew, an avid fresh hobbyist, made amazing progress in little time and I think he brought his IoT smart coffeemaker thingie (which automatically weighed the amount of leftover coffee in the pan, its age, reported it to the social media, and so on) in some job interviews IIRC. I'm 100% positive it's a better show about his skillset (ESP8266, strain gauge amplification, AVR, ADC, internet protocols, product design and prototyping), than being able to neatly route wires to a 7805 and buy expensive-looking connectors from a distributor. This was something he built in less than a year after starting from scratch! Note, no offense intended. Just wondering your assertiveness on this. Clearly it's an important project for you, and I appreciate that. Building a bench (sorry) power supply is not a bad beginner project. But it's overrated, IMHO, and the functional end result tends to be disappointing. The remaining effect is psychological, and this means it's very much personal with no ground truth. Whether others (such as employers) find the power supply project interesting, is up to a debate. Having done a few interviews, I would prefer the bench supply builder over someone who's done nothing, but would prefer a hotmelt glue IoT coffeemaker crazy scientist over the power supply builder if the job requires innovation and design experience on modern fields. For a production work position involving tying cables, I would pick the one who showed a neat power supply, any day - he/she is probably a very reliable and dependable person. --- End quote --- Mr Siwastaja, let me say here and now, it's a pleasure to debate with you, and I also mean no offense to you. I have observed that you're a very knowledgeable person from reading your many posts here. We probably don't disagree very much imho, but different paths lead to different life experiences hence our discussions so far. I'm sure that a solidly designed bench psu would be a lot more useful to most electronics beginners than a IoT smart coffeemaker, but opinions may differ. In any event the bench PSU is just the *first* project, and on that foundation many other things would be built and benefit from previous skill learned. Great devices don't just pop into existence from nowhere, they are hard fought for, require lots of skill, training, hardwork and many redesigns until everyone hates the sight of them. I'm not hung up on PSU's, the OP asked what parts/resources he needed to get into electronic design and I suggested the PSU as a good place to start because then what he needs will become clearer. Now do you really think a interviewer will be interested in your friends IoT smart coffeemaker thingie built with a ESPxxx ? He's probably the 3rd one he's interviewed with the same thing that week as IoT is all the rage with the kids these days. You claim the PSU builder with his gleaming, varnished home made psu that demonstrates a half dozen mastered relevant skills would fail to impress ? I bet hes the *only* one with those skills the interviewer has seen. Of course we both know that interviewers are usually clueless and if they don't call in a engineer for a look at whatever you have brought in, you've wasted your time anyway, especially if the engineer thinks the ESPxx is the last thing he would ever design with or that it would fail to be approved for use in R&D or they're already having great success with LoRa on CortexM. On the other hand, the guy with the PSU could easily find himself as a tech in R&D for that company, making up gear for the chief engineer just like I did 40 years ago. The gear was a prototype nucleonic iron ore flow detector using a National PACE 16 bit development system. The engineer would give me the circuits and say 'make!", the rest was up to me. Finally, if anyone around here is building gear on cardboard with hotmelt, it will be you and me, because those skills require 40+ years of R&D experience learning what we can get away with and what we can't, it's not for beginners! |
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