Author Topic: 5000th post with good news!  (Read 4844 times)

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Offline MuhScopeBroke

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #25 on: July 09, 2020, 09:57:11 pm »
Happy for you   ;D
 
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Offline pidcon

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #26 on: July 10, 2020, 07:49:18 am »
Congratulations!  :)
 
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Offline tggzzz

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #27 on: July 10, 2020, 08:27:06 am »
Oh, I know exactly what you are talking about. I’ve often referred to that distinction when discussing how one should (or shouldn’t) hire software developers: HR drones often want checklists of languages and technologies, but a talented developer can pick up new languages in no time. The skills of how to actually architect and write good software are unrelated to the languages used.

I will make a distinction between different programming paradigms, to use a word I dislike. From one procedural (or OOP or funtional) language to another is easy. From procedural to OOP or FSM or HDL is more difficult, and some people never manage it.
When you get into instrumentation and automation, some of the programming lanagues are graphical such as LabVIEW and ladder logic, which can take time to adjust to.

True.

I'm not familiar with either of those, but if I needed to use them I would be paying careful attention to the semantics of the diagrams, rather than the syntax. My uninformed guess would be that ladder logic is better in that respect.

Other graphical languages include Harel StateCharts (and FSMs in general) which are pretty well defined, schematics which have stylistic variations but must be semantically well defined, and all the UML diagrams which are not very well defined.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
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Offline knotlogic

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #28 on: July 12, 2020, 07:38:29 am »
Congratulations tooki!  All the best with the new job, and and I hope things continue to get better!  :-+
 
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Offline tookiTopic starter

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #29 on: September 23, 2023, 09:58:04 pm »
I started this thread when my apprenticeship began. Now that it’s finished, I think a big update is in order!

FYI, due to my prior experience and education, I was able to skip the first year of what is normally a 4-year program, hence my being done in 3 years. (I’ll refer to my years within the program by their place in the 4-year program.) For those not familiar with the Swiss apprenticeship system: an apprentice is formally employed (and paid) by a company, and the apprentice goes to (theoretical, classroom) school 1-2 days per week, and works at the company for the balance. Additionally, specific hands-on courses must be completed at vocational training centers.

As I said earlier, the apprenticeship was offered by a vocational training center itself, a place whose primary business is to conduct those hands-on courses. But they have some apprentices of their own, too. Since they aren’t a “normal” electronics business as such, their year 3 and 4 electronics apprentices are sent on internships at partner companies (often ones whose own electronics apprentices came to us to do the hands-on courses) to get more real-world experience. In year 3, I was offered a 4 month internship at a place that doesn’t normally offer them (but that had space because their own year 2 apprentice had quit): the electronics workshop of the physics department of the University of Zurich. (That’s the same physics department where Albert Einstein earned his PhD.)

The internship went well and ended up getting extended to 6 months, during which time the option got floated of actually being able to transfer there formally. I finished out year 3 at the vocational training center, and then for year 4, officially became employed as an apprentice by the university. This also means that the university would be my employer of record upon graduation, and while I am deeply grateful to the training center for giving me the opportunity to climb out of that long, deep hole, the university is a more prestigious name to appear on the diploma. The internship and year 4 in the physics department were great, with me getting experience with things I’d be unlikely to encounter in most companies, like working with high voltages (up to 50kV) and currents (up to 14kA), high and ultra-high vacuum, cryogenics, radiation hardening, and very weak and/or fast signals. Lots of coaxial connectors, lots of Teflon and Kapton insulated wires and cables, lots of coaching on high-speed and low-noise PCB design, and lots of working directly with the researchers who’d be using the things to conduct experiments that mostly go way over my head. ;D (Lemme tell you, working in the physics department was a humbling experience, as I'd never, ever, worked or studied in an environment with so many people who are so much smarter and more talented than me.)

In May, while studying for finals, I was also starting to look around for a job for once I finished. As the physics department’s electronics workshop had no openings, there was no possibility to stay on there. But as it turned out, the chemistry department’s electronics technician had left a few months prior, and they were about to begin searching for one.

Well, it all worked out and in June, I passed my final exams and was granted the diploma as a (Swiss) federally certified electronics technician, and as of this month (after taking a long-overdue vacation to visit USA) I am the new electronics technician for the University of Zurich’s Department of Chemistry, where I’m in charge of supporting the entire department’s electronics needs. This job is a mix of creating new setups for research projects (a lot of lab automation, but also some custom circuit design), modifying and maintaining existing setups, and of repairing and maintaining commercial lab equipment of all sorts. (The chemistry department conducts hands-on labs for large numbers of beginning chemistry and premed students, so there are huge numbers of gadgets that need to be working at the beginning of the semester, so I’ve been busy with that at the moment.) The electronics workshop (crappy shaky panorama attached) is within the mechanical workshop, so I’m working alongside several machinists who do all the non-electronics side of the aforementioned setups and repairs, which I am also enjoying since I like that stuff, too.

I couldn’t be more delighted with this outcome, since I know I enjoy working in academia, and permanent positions at the university are apparently quite sought-after.

So to everyone here who’s ever interacted with me, be it to answer my questions, challenge my mistakes, give me things to think about or interesting ideas to research, or whatever else, I extend my sincerest thanks for helping me on this journey! I’ve learned so much here, both from interacting and from reading others’ discussions, that I honestly don’t think I’d be where I am today if it hadn’t been for this forum. Thank you. 🙏
« Last Edit: October 14, 2023, 12:56:36 pm by tooki »
 

Offline xrunner

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #30 on: September 23, 2023, 10:02:28 pm »
Congratulations!
I told my friends I could teach them to be funny, but they all just laughed at me.
 
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Offline 2N3055

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #31 on: September 23, 2023, 11:45:55 pm »
So good to hear that!
And well deserved because you worked hard and was rewarded for the effort!
Wish you best luck!

Siniša
"Just hard work is not enough - it must be applied sensibly."
Dr. Richard W. Hamming
 
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Offline Shock

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #32 on: September 24, 2023, 12:15:01 am »
Well done on completing your training and diploma, plus landing the new position at the same time! Sounds like the right place/environment if you wish to further your studies, which is huge bonus imo.
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Offline mawyatt

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #33 on: September 24, 2023, 12:39:43 am »
Well done, congrats :clap:

Best,
Curiosity killed the cat, also depleted my wallet!
~Wyatt Labs by Mike~
 
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Offline Smoky

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #34 on: September 24, 2023, 12:42:15 am »
Wow, that sounds like you're setting off into a wonderful future :-+
 
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Offline nctnico

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #35 on: September 24, 2023, 01:13:04 am »
I had a similar job at a research institute a long time ago. Lots of interesting stuff to work on for sure! Maybe working at CERN is next at some point  >:D
There are small lies, big lies and then there is what is on the screen of your oscilloscope.
 
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Offline pickle9000

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #36 on: September 24, 2023, 04:08:52 am »
Best of luck.
 
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Offline RoGeorge

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #37 on: September 24, 2023, 06:10:57 am »
 :-+
 
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Offline ebastler

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #38 on: September 24, 2023, 07:23:27 am »
Brilliant, congratulations! The academic environment should present you with a broad variety of projects, contact with bright people from a different discipline, and maybe the opportunity to become involved with teaching (lab courses) yourself at some point? Communication is obviously a strength of yours, so I am sure you will be doing great in intercating with your internal "customers", and would be a great teacher.

May I remark that your timing is slightly off -- shouldn't this have been your 10000th post?  ;)
 
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Offline AVGresponding

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #39 on: September 24, 2023, 10:22:05 am »
Brilliant, congratulations! The academic environment should present you with a broad variety of projects, contact with bright people from a different discipline, and maybe the opportunity to become involved with teaching (lab courses) yourself at some point? Communication is obviously a strength of yours, so I am sure you will be doing great in intercating with your internal "customers", and would be a great teacher.

May I remark that your timing is slightly off -- shouldn't this have been your 10000th post?  ;)

What's a few hundred ppm here or there?

Congratulations tooki!
nuqDaq yuch Dapol?
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Offline JohanH

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #40 on: September 24, 2023, 10:59:00 am »
That's so nice. Congratulations!
 
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Online Brumby

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #41 on: September 24, 2023, 01:23:11 pm »
Congratulations!

News such as this is always uplifting.  :-+
 
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Offline RJSV

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #42 on: September 24, 2023, 06:33:53 pm »
   TOOKI:
   Many congratulations !

   I had wished to ask about details, how you were getting through that period of time, but re-reading your intro helped define that, as to what income source (to rely on),  uncovers a while fundamental difference, with the U.S. disability.  Here it seems you just get a 'stipend' for living, and no real presence of re-training programs.  Maybe that's changed in 39 years, I don't know.
   In the U.S. they (Disability office) would very likely send you off into depression treatment land, an appalling 'system' centered around the medications.  Sorry to be cynical about SSDI here, but first off specialist wasn't, em er, uh, wasn't shall we say 'truth-full', in his report.  Have me the impression that system wasn't necessarilly geared towards the client's needs.
 
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Offline tookiTopic starter

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #43 on: September 24, 2023, 11:59:55 pm »
Well, let’s just say that I have a number of, um, choice words I could say about the Swiss disability office, as well as specifically about the case worker I had been assigned, who did things that actively and maliciously aggravated my anxiety. As I wrote in the first post, it took getting a lawyer involved to get them to actually do what the law said they were supposed to do. As soon as the lawyer got involved, things finally moved in the right direction. (What’s perplexing is that doing this resulted in exactly the outcome they want, too: to get someone back on their feet, rather than have them end up on permanent disability or welfare. I wonder how many welfare recipients are in that situation precisely because the disability office reneged on its duties, ultimately costing the taxpayer more in the long run.)
 
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Offline tookiTopic starter

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #44 on: September 25, 2023, 12:08:14 am »
I had a similar job at a research institute a long time ago. Lots of interesting stuff to work on for sure! Maybe working at CERN is next at some point  >:D
Heh, my former supervisor at the physics department is actually designing PCBs for CERN, for the next-generation CMS detector in the LHC. (I actually did some soldering on a few early prototype boards, which are very large flex PCBs that route power and signals to the actual sensor boards and to the media converters that will convert the copper to fiber optic cables, due to both the staggering data rates involved as well as the need to minimize the amount of metal within the CMS as much as possible.) 
« Last Edit: September 25, 2023, 12:16:39 am by tooki »
 
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Offline tookiTopic starter

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #45 on: September 25, 2023, 12:34:49 am »
I had a similar job at a research institute a long time ago. Lots of interesting stuff to work on for sure! Maybe working at CERN is next at some point  >:D
Actually, come to think of it, a bunch of PCBs I laid out (and many of which I assembled) are actually at CERN now. (They’re high-speed amplifiers for silicon radiation detectors, 4GHz bandwidth.) The circuit design was done by the PhD student himself, and we collaborated on the mechanical design, but his PCB layouts didn’t work due to oscillation, so I redid them. Here’s the 4-channel version in action:



A 16-channel version was the very last project I did at the physics department, and that board (with a mechanical design entirely my own) is now down at CERN, too. (The PhD student laid out the mating carrier boards himself. Board assembly was done by others, since I’d already finished by then.)
« Last Edit: September 25, 2023, 01:11:30 am by tooki »
 
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Offline tookiTopic starter

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #46 on: September 25, 2023, 12:42:38 am »
I think this is also the 4ch version:

« Last Edit: September 25, 2023, 12:45:46 am by tooki »
 

Offline Nominal Animal

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #47 on: September 25, 2023, 06:41:51 am »
I'm very happy for you, tooki.  Yes, we often disagree, but I think that's a positive: it keeps my mind open to new views and possibilities.

The work will be interesting, especially if you get to talk with the researchers before they make component choices, as you will get to help them make better stuff.  :-+

I'm also envious.  Something like that, but on the software/server-side/embedded/systems integration, would be my own choice.  But, I've had it very difficult to get any kind of assistance here, and have basically stalled on any kind of progress for the last five years.  On one hand, it is heart-warming to hear someone else has managed to get back to doing useful things! On the other hand, I feel even more like a failure myself: perhaps I just haven't tried enough, spent enough effort... 

In any case, I know the work and effort and tenacity that this has taken, tooki, and I definitely admire it.  Well done; and keep up the good work!
 
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Offline Marco

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #48 on: September 25, 2023, 10:34:29 am »
ladder logic
The COBOL of EE, except COBOL suits its niche better. FSMs and ladder logic are not a match made in heaven.

Either way, still a market for programmers.
 

Offline aeberbach

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Re: 5000th post with good news!
« Reply #49 on: September 25, 2023, 09:57:30 pm »
Congratulations Tooki! This is a great story and shows it's never too late. I have often described my dream job as something like what you have; find solutions to varied problems in a well-equipped place full of smart people on an unlimited budget. Perhaps you don't quite have the last part  ;D
Software guy studying B.Eng.
 
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