Electronic Design Engineer, the long way round - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: HackedFridgeMagnet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2013, 12:57:10 pm
content: I was made redundant a few months ago, I mentioned it in another thread, but luckily after 2 months of Electricians bit work, I have landed a half decent design contract.So I can now add Electronic Design Engineer to my list of jobs titles.But it's been a long road, Audio Tech, Electrician, Programmer, Field Engineer and all the other un-electrical jobs.The reason I mention this is because the job wouldn't have come up, if I hadn't spent a few years frequenting this site and learning heaps of stuff.So thanks to Dave and all the many other posters who's threads I've read and learned from.I must admit I got a bit lucky, when for no reason at all I showed someone my fairly average messy lab and the boards I had been making, so I got a bit of work from that and it now it's grown to a design contract.So to all you hobbyists, enjoy and learn even if it costs a bit of money. You might actually recoup it.So today I rang up Emona, knowing that I can justify a buying a DSO. But the DS2072s were out of stock, new shipment next month. Damn it.

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2013, 08:01:28 pm
content: Congratulations.Call me crazy, but I think getting a new DSO would be the perfect way to celebrate (and justifiable if it will help you fulfill the contract).

author: os40la
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2013, 08:19:16 pm
content: Quote from: HackedFridgeMagnet on March 14, 2013, 12:57:10 pmHmmmm, Sounds like someone is telling you to get a DS4000 instead....

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2013, 08:40:02 pm
content: Quote from: HackedFridgeMagnet on March 14, 2013, 12:57:10 pmAbsolutely +1 on this, though I would add the caveat that if you want to make any money at what you're doing, you do need to make sure you're learning skills that are likely to be commercially useful.For example, nobody makes commercial products that contain any of the various '...duino' boards, so don't bother - but learn to program a PIC in C and you have a marketable skill.Stripboard and breadboards are great prototyping tools, but a few nice looking green PCBs mark you out as more serious at what you're doing. Anyone looking to hire you will be hiring you to design something that goes on a PCB.

author: StubbornGreek
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2013, 09:21:44 pm
content: Fantastic, congratulations and good luck!BTW, I don't know if your budget allows but if you check out the Agilent Remarketing store on ebay, they have an MSOx2024A for ~$2350.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 14, 2013, 09:36:58 pm
content: Awesome, and that's exactly the way countless people get into the industry. The more things change the more they stay the same.Hang in there for the scope, it's worth it.Dave.

author: McMonster
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2013, 01:08:25 am
content: I'm a Java programmer and I generally don't expect a shortage of really good jobs in the forseeable future but I was just thinking about shifting a bit towards C/C++ and embedded programming with the possibility of even doing some electronics design. Not as a target itself, just to broaden my options.Can you elaborate on how your way into electronics design looked like, what was your starting point in electronics and how long and painful the transition was?

author: HackedFridgeMagnet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2013, 02:08:02 am
content: The funny thing was I left school with no interest in or knowledge of electronics. But I had to do something so I did an EE degree. Since then I always liked the maths and electronics if not actually the career.I got my sparkies ticket on a bit of a whim in the days it was easier to but didn't immediately use it, but actually worked as an electronic tech, which I liked, especially the interaction I got in my job with live music.I couldn't actually get a job as an EE but one day I applied for a job at a company, for a position that they hadn't advertised for, because I mixed up job applications (embarrassing) , so they decided to make me a programmer as I had done my uni project in C++.Really I have been programming at least 50% ever since. Also some field engineering, which I like.When I was made redundant I put my sparkies ticket to good use, but really it takes me twice as long to do stuff as a real sparky.Since becoming qualified 20 years ago nobody has paid me to design and lay out boards but I have wanted too.So I have been doing electronics and computing for a long time but a large part of what I know about pcb layout and manufacture comes from this very site.ps. I did like programming in Java which I did among other things, the language itself not the hideous frameworks, like EJB and JSF and Hibernate and Spring.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2013, 04:33:33 am
content: Write the scope off as a business expense and get the next level up.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 15, 2013, 04:48:31 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on March 15, 2013, 04:33:33 amAh, that old myth. Writing a higher priced item off on tax doesn't make it cheaper!Whatever your taxable income is lets say you are paying 30% tax overall.A $1K scope nets you a $300 saving on your tax bill, costing you $700 if you want to look at it that way.A $2K scope nets you a $600 saving on your tax bill.Notice how the actual cost of the $2K scope is still double the $1K scopeOk, there is aslightimprovement if you are on a scaled tax system, but it's small.Dave.

author: HackedFridgeMagnet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2013, 05:13:52 am
content: For mainly digital electronics do I need 4 channels or is 2 ok? Wondering about SPI.I'm sure I can't afford Agilent but I want a half decent scope. I want to get into Arm cortex M3 and M4 what frequency should I get?Bear in mind I have a 250Mhz analogue scope.I was looking at DS2072 because I thought they are based on a slightly newer technology.Absolutely the maximum cost being $2000 but I would prefer significantly lower.Any other contenders?

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2013, 05:58:25 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on March 15, 2013, 04:48:31 amEveryone be warned, I am not a lawyer, I'm just an engineer.http://www.section179.org/section_179_deduction.htmlI was mostly joking since it really depends on where you live, but in some places it does make sense to do that because of government stimulus programs. This year in the USA at least, as a business it looks like you can write off the entire purchase price of equipment in certain cases in the year you purchased it. Only up to 2million USD though. If you bought it new, you even get to deduct depreciation in the following years it looks like. Tax law is crazy stupid complicated but it pays to at least know something about it.As far as the 2ch vs 4ch, figure out what kind of projects you are going to be working on and if you think you will ever need to look at more than 2 things at once. I'd say get a 4ch if at all possible. Put it this way, if they made 6ch scopes in that same price range I would be saying get 6ch. You will be amazed how often you wish you had one (or a couple) more channels. You can use the trigger output/inputs to link a bunch of scopes together, but unless you have some way to correlate the data it's just a pain.

author: melonstorm
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 15, 2013, 11:26:15 pm
content: Quote from: McMonster on March 15, 2013, 01:08:25 amIt's never a bad idea to learn new programming languages just for fun. As it teaches you to see and do things from another perspective, it can improve your Java code as well. So, why not?

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2013, 08:09:26 am
content: Quote from: HackedFridgeMagnet on March 15, 2013, 05:13:52 amGo on, treat yourself:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-PREMIUM-USED-MSOX2024A-Mixed-Signal-Oscilloscope-/181094563240?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14589%26meid%3D6245160874405307007%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D2%26sd%3D190804795507%26

author: HackedFridgeMagnet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2013, 10:24:54 am
content: AndyC_772Looks seriously good, it's under consideration, can I scrape together the cash. Thanks for the tip.

author: Daniyal
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 18, 2013, 03:08:24 pm
content: congrats on the contract,I'm also on my journey to become a electronic engineer.