What did you bring to the interview that landed you a job? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Flinner
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 30, 2022, 10:30:04 pm
content: I have seen many interview advice/tips that tells you to bring physical projects to the interview, (example:https://youtube.com/watch?v=KJEmBtvZrPU).What did you bring the interview that helped you land a job?I want to mainly work on embedded and want some ideas on what to do. ( If you have any non-embedded project that helped you, please post it too!)Apologies if there is a similar post/thread, couldn't find one with my search-foo

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2022, 11:20:12 pm
content: I doubt physical projects would be that interesting, especially if it is not a finished product, but a mess of wires and an Arduino. And the project created specifically for the interview is probably a huge waste of time. If you want a physical project, bring something you've already done.I would say having a GitHub profile or any other form of documented track record is far more important.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2022, 11:24:23 pm
content: QuoteAn ounce of weed.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2022, 11:29:10 pm
content: I have never taken anything to an interview, and never interviewed anyone that brought anything to an interview. Other thandemonstrabletheoretical knowledge, practical experience, enthusiasm and honesty, of course.Any interview/interviewer should be able determine whether those are present in a job candidate. If not, you probably don't want to work there.

author: Kerlin
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 12:48:49 am
content: A pretty HR person ran me to invite me for an interview.After reading my resume, qualifications and experience she asked me if I can use a multimeter !!!I was just?? She said well your resume doesn't show were you were trained to use one or your experience with it.I rang up professional associates to ask them for help and advise, they only roared with laughter.Before I left for the interview I packed my trusty high end Fluke multimeter. Sure enough the pretty lady asked me if I could use a multimeter.I produced mine and said that I has seen NASA astronauts using this meter and that this one was my personal property and not a day went by without me turning it on, got the job.After starting the job the supervisor told me how pretty he thought she was.Once when conducting an interview a young pretty engineer produced a printed circuit board which she told me was an MP3 player that she had designed and made. I asked here were the memory chips were, there were two 2Gig chips on the board, she couldn't answer me.For lying in an interview I immediately crossed her of the list.The MD of the company asked me how she went, I told him what happened.He then instructed me that I was to hire her, as she was quite good looking.The is only one sure fire way of getting the job that was to show that you have the competence required for the job, or be pretty.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 01:26:00 am
content: Quote from: Kerlin on May 31, 2022, 12:48:49 amReminds me of the Cat Clark fiasco. Genuinely smart girls really don't like the fakers dragging down the reputation of the rest.

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 01:30:53 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on May 30, 2022, 11:20:12 pmContrariwise, I've brought demonstrations of one kind or another to all my interviews. Sometimes the opportunity presents itself to reveal them. It depends on the interaction of your personality and their personalities.However, there is a potential trap: while engineers may find your examples to be good conversation starters, managers might ask questions about IP, permission to have it etc. Have a ready answer.A few lessons:1. Know what they make. Research the company and the products.2. Find out what experience you have that somehow or other matches what they do.3. Find out what experience you have that can add to what they do.4. Know the basics. Know how to review op-amp circuits. Something about processors and digital logic.5. These days, although it depends a lot on your experience level, EMC is a hot topic.6. Know something in detail.7. Bring examples even if you expect they might not be needed. Depending on the personalities involved, it might be just the thing.8. Managers will ask obnoxious business-related questions.9. Engineers will ask technical questions. They are busy and probably don't want to be interviewing. Make the conversation efficient.10. Expect to have several rounds of interviews: HR phone #1, Engineering phone #1, HR phone #2, Engineering phone #2, In Person (several groups)...11. The job posting is rarely correct or completely relevant. Note: It's gone through 3 layers of HR filters before it gets posted.

author: Kerlin
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 01:58:13 am
content: What I most always, very often find here, in this place, is people are looking for a "Hack" quick way out of things.Telling an interviewer that you have read A of E , taking something electronic to a job, or some other hack is NOT the answer.Amongst my peers I am very well acknowledged as an expert in always getting the job.I do it by having done the long formal courses to get all the qualifications and licenses, then showing the experience and competences required.NO hacks. I have deliberately worked hard, to make sure they have NO choice.I warn that it is far more important to make sure that it is the sort of company that you want to work for.One of the ways I do this is, if the job is not interstate or overseas, is to quietly visit the place after hours and see if there are lights on and cars in the car park. Even though I am usually the one who stays back the most, it must not be compulsory.Another is to have a small disagreement in the interview to see how they handle it.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 02:32:33 am
content: Taking a physical project with you may well backfire, so in the general case, it's not a good idea.Of course, try to know your audience first. If you know the interviewer beforehand, or have even spoken to them on the phone before getting to the in-person interview, and from your discussion the idea of bringing something you designed comes up, why not. Otherwise, just avoid it.If you do bring something, make sure it looks reasonably polished. If it's not, it will just show them that you do electronics as a hobby (which they may or may not even care about depending on the company). It may even subtly anchor the thought that you're a tinkerer who may have a difficulty finishing a project in a professional context.But, if OTOH you bring something "polished" but done at your former job (if you had one) in another company, it may also backfire because the interviewer, even if the project looks great, may question your loyalty and your sense of what IP and confidentiality is.So all in all, there are more risks than benefits IMO. Best is often just to see how the interview goes, and at an appropriate moment, mention one or two projects you've worked on. Then if you get more questions about those projects, you could just kindly ask if the interviewer would be interested to see some pictures, and offer to send a couple by e-mail after the interview is over. But don't push it either.From my own experience, the only interview I went to with a prototype was the in-person second interview after discussing for over 1 hour in a phone interview and that came up in the discussion.

author: Robotec
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 07:21:56 am
content: I've been carrying my BLDC controller and EMG sensor to some interviews (final masters project so they are my property, don't do as some people i know who brought boards done in other companies) with good results.Also one way of knowing if the post is good and you are in no rush is to ask for the phone of the people who left and talk to them.If the company don't want to do it that should be a warning, if they dont want you to talk to any of your future colleagues, is a red flag directly.

author: gbaddeley
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 07:48:08 am
content: Quote from: Robotec on May 31, 2022, 07:21:56 amI can’t imagine any company would do that. The reason someone left may be highly personal, and the company may not know or be concerned with the reasons.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 08:51:12 am
content: Quote from: Kerlin on May 31, 2022, 01:58:13 amLots of sense in all that; the OP should take notice.One variant of your last point, and one that is useful in more situations than interviews, is to keep asking more extreme questions until they say "no, because...". If you can't reach that statement, then you can assume they are merely saying what they think youwantto hear - which is exactly what youdon'twant to hear!

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 08:53:26 am
content: No sane company would give any personal data about either its current or its former employees (i.e. the phone number).

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 08:56:23 am
content: Quote from: Robotec on May 31, 2022, 07:21:56 amIt is essential to talk with future colleagues.If a previous employer gave out my contact details, I would be extremely annoyed and would point out they have violated various laws.

author: Robotec
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 11:18:06 am
content: Quote from: tggzzz on May 31, 2022, 08:56:23 amthat's why i said that is only a warning, but not letting (be it giving your phone and them calling to you for example, taking a coffee in the interview with them, whatever way) is a red flag, only once has happened to me(not letting me speak with my future colleagues in any way), ignored the red flag and lasted 3 months before running away.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 02:45:26 pm
content: i keep the solder sample of every single board i have ever made. Walked in with a whole box of boards. Like 20 KG of bare boards ... Poured them all over the meeting room table. The rest is history.

author: philwong5176
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 02:51:25 pm
content: I would bring my HP 15-C or Swiss Micros DM-42.

author: TheUnnamedNewbie
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 04:30:57 pm
content: At the risk of both sounding obnoxious and off-topic: How often have people here ever had to actually really apply for a job? I'm an IC designer, and my area of the world has IC companies popping up left-right-and-center and everyone worth their salt can pretty much work wherever they want to because nobody will not higher a good engineer. (ofcourse, things are different when you want to move out of the area, or apply to the top places like Apple, Bell Labs, etc...)Most of the places where I might want to work, were I looking for a job, have contacted me at least a few times in the last year to ask if I wanted to come over and talk. And that is not unique amongst my colleagues at all, so it's not like I'm some hot-shot by any stretch.To respond to the original question: I've never brought anything. I've had people look up some of my work in the past while I was there, but I wouldn't bring anything.Then again, bringing 2mm^2 of silicon doesn't show anything I guess.

author: fourfathom
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 05:16:13 pm
content: Quote from: TheUnnamedNewbie on May 31, 2022, 04:30:57 pmThis really depends on your track-record, the type of industry, and the economic cycle. When I was just starting out I certainly had to apply for a job, as I was a complete unknown. Arriving for an interview I brought myself and my enthusiastic positive attitude. And it took a few tries before I was hired. The economy wasn't booming and I had some competition.Later on, after a few jobs that gave me good experience and colleagues who thought well of me, it was easier. This was an era of start-ups in Silicon Valley and further north, and there was a fairly tight engineering community. When I felt it was time for me to move on to a better opportunity I generally had just to ask. Or I was asked.I never brought samples of my designs, but that wasn't necessary since I was a known quantity. I don't suggest bringing anything proprietary from your previous jobs, but if you worked on a product that isn't top-secret you can always bring a printout of an advertisement or trade-journal publication that shows the product. I have a couple of boards from products I helped design that I purchased on ebay, and if I were looking for work I might have those handy for show-and-tell if it seemed appropriate. But this only makes sense if you made a significant contribution to that product and you can discuss it.

author: IDEngineer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 05:21:27 pm
content: If they ask for examples of my work, I point at the keyboard for the computer they invariably have on their desk. I designed the very first IBM PC keyboard with a separate numeric pad, and that "101 key" format has become a de facto standard. It's not the most complex thing I've ever designed but it is by far the most prevalent. A design I created is familiar to virtually everyone I encounter. Kinda cool.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 05:57:57 pm
content: Quote from: Kerlin on May 31, 2022, 01:58:13 amDidn't you just tell us that you took a job in a company where the hiring decision was made by a pretty but clueless lady in HR? Based on whether or not you could operate a multimeter?

author: fourfathom
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 06:01:06 pm
content: Quote from: IDEngineer on May 31, 2022, 05:21:27 pmThis would be a fun topic on its own! My most-seen design is the headset that astronauts Sally Ride and the rest of the Shuttle crew wore in space. I designed the little amplifier/hybrid electronics inside the earpiece, back in my consulting days.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 06:01:55 pm
content: Quote from: TheUnnamedNewbie on May 31, 2022, 04:30:57 pmIf you are highly skilled its not usually that hard to get a job. Getting a good job, on the other hand, is almost always a problem. Even if 50 companies would hire me tomorrow, I'll usually find that at least 45 of them are offering something worse than my current circumstances.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 06:08:06 pm
content: Quote from: coppice on May 31, 2022, 06:01:55 pmJust so.It baffles me that people have to be told that interviews aretwo-waymeetings.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 06:09:53 pm
content: Quote from: IDEngineer on May 31, 2022, 05:21:27 pmThat is pretty cool indeed! The 84-key "Model F" keyboard already had a numeric pad to the right (and 10 F keys to the left). Since you mention 101 keys, I assume you designed the first Model M, with F keys on top and the separate cursor & navigation keys between the main and numeric keypads?

author: fourfathom
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 06:10:40 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on May 31, 2022, 05:57:57 pmAnd "experience and competence" aren't the only factors, not by a long shot. I have declined to hire a few people who had massive amounts of these qualities, but with a personality and attitude that was guaranteed to fail in our organization. Perhaps in a huge company you can isolate the assholes, where you put your specs into the barrel and they eventually hand out the finished design, but when you have a well-running team you need to be very careful about the personal dynamics. You hire one jerk, and you might lose two superstars who don't need to put up with that kind of garbage.

author: IDEngineer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 06:39:59 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on May 31, 2022, 06:09:53 pmAh, a stroll down memory lane....Actually, the original 84 key keyboard had its numeric keypad and cursor keyscombined. You toggled their behavior using the NumLock key, which is why this seemingly (today) unnecessary key even exists. There wasn't width in the original form factor to spread the keyboard that wide.When the IBM PC first came out, this combo-keypad thing drove financial users nuts. And guess who were the earliest adopters of PC's in the workplace? Financial types running spreadsheets (think VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3, etc.). To speed market penetration of PC's into businesses the industry needed to make those spreadsheet users very happy, and they were very used to a standard 10-key calculator keypad layout without losing their cursor keys.I was working for Key Tronic Corporation at the time, world's largest manufacturer of keyboards. We made the keyboards in virtually every PC clone company in existence. We came up with the idea for making a 101 key version of the PC keyboard, with the numeric keypad separated and dedicated, while retaining the navigation cluster. I was the Project Engineer and did the hardware and firmware personally, while overseeing the key layout, PCB design, enclosure design, etc.One of the more interesting aspects was reverse-engineering the keystroke data so I could trick the BIOS into accepting the discrete numeric keypad stroke info. The original PC keyboard didn't emit ASCII like most keyboards of the day; it emitted pure downstroke/upstroke info that the BIOS then translated into various behaviors. The keyboard DID handle things like autorepeat internally, so it was a weird hybrid of normal and weird keyboard data.(Fun fact: This downstroke/upstroke data design is why it's possible for you to "phantom lock" a Shift, Control, or Alt key on a PC. If things are busy and the BIOS misses the upstroke, that key's state is not updated and the system behaves as if you're still holding down a Shift/Ctrl/Alt key! If your PC keyboard starts acting weird, giving you shifted characters when it's not supposed to, etc. just press and release all six Shift/Ctrl/Alt keys one at a time. This will generate fresh upstrokes from each one, clearing the lock state in the BIOS. No count is kept so the fact that you don't have a 1:1 relationship between downstrokes and upstrokes doesn't matter.)The resulting keyboard was marketed as the "KB5151" (a play on the IBM PC's original part number "5150") and was sold for USD 350. I thought the price was outrageous and would never sell in any volume, but that's why I'm in Engineering and not Marketing {grin}. Those things absolutely FLEW out the door. That keyboard was the primary reason the company went public soon after, built a huge Taj Mahal corporate headquarters, etc. No, I did not enjoy any of those perks, I just got my paycheck. And that was OK, it was the deal I signed up for.The 101 format quickly became the standard, and all the PC clone companies wanted it. So now I have an example of my work in virtually every office I ever visit. It's a nice calling card. The very earliest ones had my initials in the PCB copper.Another fun fact most don't know about: When that keyboard became super successful, thevulturesattorneys started circling like they always do and we got sued by Honeywell Microswitch. They claimed we had to be infringing their patents on how they scanned the keyboard matrix. It turned out the standard, everyone-else-uses-it canned routines were pretty close, but when I designed the 101 layout I wrote my own 8049 Assembly from scratch which happened to use a completely different algorithm from literally everyone else in the company. I was grilled pretty hard in some depositions over that, but in the end the big cash cow product did NOT infringe solely because I wrote my own code from scratch. Some of the older guys had lightly bullied me about not using their "proven" code but everyone was pretty respectful after that. {grin}Thanks for dredging up some fun history, I haven't thought about that in a long time.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 06:40:06 pm
content: Quote from: TheUnnamedNewbie on May 31, 2022, 04:30:57 pmIt's not always cause you have to. Sometimes it's cause you want to.

author: Ground_Loop
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2022, 06:46:01 pm
content: I don't think taking anything to an interview is a good idea. But here's a tip I bet you don't hear often. Try to find a company that needs your skill, but whose primary business has nothing to do with that skill. For example, the son of a friend of mine recently graduated college in computer science in addition to having some experience and decent coding skills. He applied to and got a position with weight loss company managing their IT and web development. Obviously the weight loss business has nothing to do with engineering and IT, so the position is unique and very specialized in their organization. His starting salary right out of college was just under $200K.

author: Kerlin
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2022, 12:08:23 am
content: Quote from: ebastler on May 31, 2022, 05:57:57 pmPractice some reading comprehension my friend, your summary is not what I said or what happened. You have made incorrect assumptions, of course there are hundreds of details you don't know.I really have better things to do, will cover it just a tiny bit, only because it just shows how you never know what experience can lead to.Experience is a great thing to take to an interview.The job was a position in Avionics. I only stayed about one and a half years. I took an overseas position in product design.In the mean time Avionics was affected by privatization, it happened in many countries.That meant that the government was no longer training Avionics people.Years later there was a shortage in that field and I was approached by a employment agency head hunter, on a recommendation from a defense Avionics person.I took the job, eight years later I still work there and have gone part time, also do some product design for past employers..........perhaps you can help the thread by telling us a bit about your experiences and recommendations, is that what you were trying to do?

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2022, 04:23:42 pm
content: Thank you for pointing out my utter lack of comprehension. I re-read your original post (reply #4) and finally got your point that they hired you entirely for your good looks.

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2022, 05:11:43 pm
content: 11 years ago I was having a nerdy conversation with a friend who just got his degree in electronics and started working.I was (And sadly I'm still) a simple "technician" but when you like something, you'll learn a lot of things by your own.Talking about some details of a project they were struggling at, I made some suggestions, the guy went working on Monday and talked about the idea, the result was great, and the boss simply said: "Does your friend already have a job?"Had a interview, the thing were incredibly smoothly, few seconds later we were talking like we knew each other for years, he randomly said he liked my watch... What model is it? Looks really nice! Want one!Had a whole year losing hair to challenges, but was great. Sadly the economics crysis finally screwed everything up, they had to cut down a lot of projects and very litle work was left, not enough to sustain me.Following companies just looked at the CV, not a single technical conversation or any challenge to show what I was capable of.In other jobs, where I noticed doing X or Y would boost productivity by a lot, I tried to contribute, but the old engineers fossils wanted everything to their way, wouldn't accept anything from anyone not being an engineer.Ex. while the Pickit/ICD could program the device in seconds with on-the-go programming feature, their method was to open the IDE, import HEX file, connect to programmer, program, close the ide and repeat. So that was like a minute for each board.They had unused pickits/ICD, so running 2, 3, 4 of them in parallel would program easily 20x faster.But hey, shut-up, you ignorant dumb without a PhD!Few later conversations were surrealistic, where I had to demonstrate the 60yr old enginners things like:- 74xx TTLs won't output amps into their outputs even when shorted, but more like 10-20mA, neither it's likely to damage it by doing so. They usually die when some external voltage comes in and burns the output stage. The eng said it would short the power supply!- A diode has threshold voltage! Placing a series diode, even without load, won't measure full supply voltage in the DMM (Unless it has a LOT of leakage...).- A high-side n-mosfet switch needs greater voltage at gate than at drain to properly work! (The eng. said: Huuh I don't remember how mosfet worked...wtf! ).- Arguing with an engineer about a short in the VDD rail. He said, pointing to the first capacitor he saw in the schematics: Must be shorted! Dude, there're 150 caps in this rail! I talked about current injection and he almost put his eyes in white while yelling at me.The worst is the lucky bastard got lucky and that was the bad capacitor!I'm the only guy there, else than a 45yr old specialist and few engineers, that knows and understands electronics.Not joking, 4/5 of the people there solder what they call "bugs", "cockroaches", "little blue beans".And the small "black things" (diodes), must have "this white strip to the left".But as they have better titles than me, so they earn more.This country has a stupid title illness thing!

author: CaptDon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2022, 06:00:00 pm
content: I have been very lucky in my electronics career. I have found H.R. to be the scourge of preventing talented people from getting good jobs. And it is getting worse!!! All of these buzz-word parsing programs designed to make H.R.'s life easier is a total disaster. You could easily be the very best candidate for the job but never get past the word parser front door. My luck has come from the fact that many of my potential employers met me as a friend in a ham radio club, or being very knowledgeable about a piece of equipment I was selling at a hamfest. Sometimes it was because I fixed a radio or television or some electronic gadget for a guy who worked at an electronics company and he told one of the engineers "Hey, I know this guy who fixes things and you may want to talk to him". Also, like minds have similar interests, I was a radio broadcast engineer and often worked at remote broadcasts as the remote sight engineer. My name was always announced pre-game and post-game. Due to being reliable, able to think on the fly to resolve issues and being known by name and face got me an interview with one of the worlds foremost touring sound companies! Sadly I had to decline because I was not able to stay away from home for the typical 8 month tours. They called me, I wasn't even looking for a different job at the time. Same thing happened about 4 years back, I have a reputation as a very competent sternwheel paddleboat master captain. Someone from over 300 miles away came for a ride on our boat just to observe me and at the end of the cruise offered me a job on his boat. Sadly I had to turn him down as I had a loyalty to my current employer and experienced paddleboat captains are hard to replace. I got interviewed and hired at Lord Corporation. The reason they hired me was because I recognized parts in their prototype project and asked specific question about the project and its parameters. They said no one else was as interested in their design and the problems they were trying to resolve. No one else even offered potential solutions during the interview. I am only sharing my experiences in the field, take from it what you may find useful. Cheers!!

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2022, 06:21:30 pm
content: Quote from: CaptDon on June 01, 2022, 06:00:00 pmYes. It's not just for making their life easier. The whole point is also to hire people that are pretty much all "clones" that are easy to manage and easy to replace.They are actually afraid of people who perfom better than average.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2022, 06:21:38 pm
content: Quote from: CaptDon on June 01, 2022, 06:00:00 pmTypically HR filters out most of the good candidates, especially if they are using automated pre-selection tools. Once you realise this, then as someone looking for good people you learn to try to steer around HR.

author: IDEngineer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2022, 06:55:10 pm
content: Which is exactly why networking (the human kind) is so important. I can think of only one job in my entire career for which I "interviewed". Every single other one, whether employment or consulting, was through people I knew (aka "connections"). And in several cases I walked by a "hiring freeze" sign in the lobby on my first day! As I've told my EE-in-progress son: If they want you, they'll find a way to make it happen - even in the middle of hiring freezes, layoffs, whatever. And most true career-changing job changes occur when the candidate wasn't looking for a job. It's like dating... the girls/employers most desire what the market telegraphs as proven-successful candidates, which means those candidates are already employed! If you don't have a present job (or girl), that's a huge strike against you. The corollary to that is: Always be looking for the next opportunity while you still have a job. I won't explore how that translates to romantic relationships. {grin}

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2022, 07:22:17 pm
content: Quote from: IDEngineer on June 01, 2022, 06:55:10 pmI was once pursued by an HR dept at a place claiming they had a hiring freeze. It turned out they were eagerly looking for a bunch of people with specific skills. However, they'd just lost a big contract, and had to lay off a lot of people with skills they couldn't use. So, they had to create the facade that they were not hiring anyone new, or face the wrath of the unions.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2022, 07:35:01 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on June 01, 2022, 06:21:30 pmHR may or may not be aiming for clones, but it is a recognised problem - particularly if the filters are training Ned on existing employees.But under all circumstances HR are looking to armour-plate their backs against hiring a problem employee. They have much more explaining to do about a bad apple they hired than the superb person they didn't employ.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2022, 04:26:51 am
content: Quote from: IDEngineer on June 01, 2022, 06:55:10 pmThat is just plain looking for trouble(the romantic part)

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2022, 08:49:57 am
content: Quote from: IDEngineer on May 31, 2022, 06:39:59 pmIf this is the KB5151 then it doesn't quite look like the later IBM 101-key layout.https://picclick.com.au/Vintage-Key-Tronic-KB5151-Professional-Series-Mechanical-Keyboard-303727050050.htmlThe IBM extended keyboard was a cost-reduced derivative of the IBM 5271 (aka IBM 3270 PC) terminal keyboard - simplified internal construction, fewer F-keys and modified protocol to make it more DOS-friendly. The 5271's arrow cluster may have been a ripoff of KB5151, or maybe they came out at about the same time.https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102625128The AT keyboard was also extremely similar to the earlier DEC LK201.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LK201

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2022, 09:21:34 am
content: I have a single question about keyboards: Why even today they still don't have dedicated keys for CTRL+C and CTRL+V. Alterators are very annoying.I know how to change existing buttons' functionality, but why there is no standard Copy/Paste by now?We have now multimedia keyboards with RGB and button to open a web browser, go to "home page", or open an email program (which I found them rather useless as dedicated buttons), but nobody added yet Copy/Paste buttons as a standard.

author: TheUnnamedNewbie
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2022, 09:30:40 am
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on June 03, 2022, 09:21:34 am`I seem to remember having seen keyboards with dedicated buttons for copy, cut, and paste.I personally wouldn't want them because I dislike adding keys to keyboards (but I use a 60% keyboard layout).

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2022, 01:42:03 pm
content: Pretty sure you could get some key remapping software to map one of the F-keys of the 122-key IBM 5271 keyboard to work as CTRL-V.The size of said keyboard may give you some hint why there is no dedicated button for every software function in the world

author: TimNJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2022, 07:23:14 pm
content: I'm a little surprised see a fair number of people discouraging bringing a project (orsomething) to an interview. I think the key is to ~know your audience~ and make a logical decision based on that. And, it totally depends on what kind of position you are applying for. (Obviously!)If you are talking to a totally non-technical HR person, showing a project might make sense 25% of the time.But, if you are talking to an engineer, it's probably a good idea to show a project at least 75% of the time. Going along with someone else's advice, if you are hoping to do electronic product design, I think your project should show that you understand how to take an idea from concept to production. Probably no breadboards mashed together in an cookie tin.All this "advice" is sort of under the assumption that you are a new graduate or in a similar position.If you have 30 years in the industry, you will probably be applying for a fairly specialized job, and in this case, you should probably bring something which clearly demonstrates your skill in that field.This is what I brought to a few interview as a new graduate. (It was my senior year project.) I was offered a job at each place I applied. Anecdotal, of course.

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2022, 09:00:20 pm
content: Seems like you messed up Q1 orientation?Soldered upside down?Looks simple but does exactly the job: Show your abilities.That design shows a lot of care, properly done, which is the most important, you don't need $300 in parts for that.What's it?

author: TimNJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2022, 09:08:21 pm
content: Quote from: DavidAlfa on June 03, 2022, 09:00:20 pmReverse polarity protection MOSFET for the battery - yes I goofed the footprint (mirrored). Was my first PCB layout!The whole thing is an ECG monitor, which was (supposed) to stream data to an Android app over Bluetooth. But, we basically only got so far as developing the adaptive FIR algorithm and implementing it in C. Bluetooth and app development was a huge learning curve that never was overcome. The analog part worked well enough, though.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2022, 09:08:52 pm
content: Quote from: DavidAlfa on June 03, 2022, 09:00:20 pmI' d see it as a plus to the applicant's skills. Perhaps the PCB footprint was mirrored, but the guy found a solution.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2022, 09:50:25 pm
content: Quote from: Bud on June 03, 2022, 09:08:52 pmPrecisely.It is part of learning hat you would do better next time.I saw a case of a prototype pin grid array IC being upside down and getting very hot. Basically the pin out was from the semiconductor guy's PoV! Solution was easy: mount it on the underside

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2022, 04:51:45 am
content: I did bring an exactly relevant copy of my project, but was 'already' deemed suitable enough, for factory-floor trouble correcting. Mostly the work involved finding / diagnosing any out-of-place defects, such as giant pockets in the interface between people

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2022, 02:33:57 am
content: Hi folks:Here is my (repeat) post, as my text entry, obviously went South, in the last bit:Applying for work, as Factory floor Electronics Tech,the (prospective) employer was seeking those with talents in bare logic ('7400' and CMOS ICs). Plus, Z-80 working knowledge.Of course, can't 'repair' a CPU IC, but that 40 pin Z-80 ran most of the controller PCboard, so there were various BUS and control signals, UART etc. to trouble shoot, as solder bridges, dead ICs etc needed fixing.I brought the perfect match, to showcase my talents with low level logic design, but, no worries, the interviewer liked my first interview.The item I had built was a TOY PIANO, that scanned the keys, 'OPTICALLY'...That is, I had 8 tiny solar cells as (piano) 'keys' that a player would cover with a finger tip.The whole thing could take in, a few seconds worth of tones, and then come around full circle and repeat the 'sequence' including being able to, drastically speed-up playback, looping, after putting the piano notes in at a more normal pace / speed.That being 1978, folks hadn't really seen much in music 'sequencers', so it was kind of a showcase, but was 'amusing' to the interviewer, who had already decided to consider offering job.The sequencer thing used a TON, of 4-bit counters, CD4020 dividers, and LM 324 op amps, plus those NICAD batteries were on market for hobby use.QUINN-TRONICS in Berkeley, CA(Yay, Mike Quinn !)

author: wizard69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2022, 10:56:20 pm
content: Hi Dave, from another DaveQuote from: DavidAlfa on June 01, 2022, 05:11:43 pmYou think you have it bad, try contributing in a company regulated by the FDA. Nothing gets changed without endless paper work and even then it has to be an emergency. We actually have smart engineers but they want nothing to do with the validated manufacturing areas. I was actually repairing I/O modules for old 5TI controller late into the last century. That only came to an end when the laser being driven by the system died.