Many UK Electronics jobs in UK..especially SMPS, seem to be "fake" - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ocset
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2020, 08:42:20 pm
content: Hi,An ex-colleague has been working at an electronics company in the north of England. He has been doing schematic designs of 2kW SMPS’s . Every time he completes a schematic and layout, they simply rip it up, change the spec , and ask him to start all over again. Not a penny has yet been spent on any components or PCBs. There do not appear to be any customers for the company’s prospective “product”.He believes that the company is just simply milking Government Engineering grants, which he believes possibly originate from the 4 billion pounds of “rebate” money that comes back to the UK from the EU every year.Many of my ex-colleagues have this exact same story, at many different Power Supply and Power electronics companys in UK….ie, there is no “real” work…just kind of “fake” projects…. And the occasional prototype that gets shipped as a free trial to various prospective customers…..but no sales ever emerge.Many of my ex-colleagues have been to UK Electronics companies in Power electronics, only to find large groups of electronics engineers all working on a project which was a load of trash….many were simply ignorant of it…and others were aware, but too scared to say anything....think Dave's Solar roadways but even worse than that.Is this the same in the EU?...eg Germany , France, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Netherlands etc etcAlso, what about the States, and Australia and New Zealand?My UK born friend wishes to leave the UK now, but wonders if it is the same elsewhere?

author: donkey77
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2020, 09:23:19 pm
content: Fuck me, you're like a broken record!

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2020, 09:44:19 pm
content: Quote from: treez on January 13, 2020, 08:42:20 pmNo, I've only heard about this from you. Is this really a friend or is it you, you're talking about in real life?

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2020, 10:05:27 pm
content: Most designs go nowhere, moreso in the UK than in countries with a solid industrial base. Why would SMPS designs be any different from other electronics?

author: Andy Watson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 02:08:09 am
content: I like these threads. They give me hope that thereisan alternative reality that I've somehow missed for the past 50 years

author: Gregg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 02:47:42 am
content: It looks like a "random tree" wants to find a new forest where his skills of gleaning answers from forum members will truly be appreciated.Good luck

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 03:07:18 am
content: Quote from: donkey77 on January 13, 2020, 09:23:19 pmYou do realise that for an entire generation of MP3 users you've just left them scratching their heads?For those of youinthat generationBroken Record.Franky, for me, a 'treez thread' is a bit of light relief at the moment as a diversion from a certain middle aged man berating some of us about the evils of "dating" while rapidly moving towards foaming at the mouth.I will say this, although I don't recognise the precise scenario treez describes Idorecognise the large-company phenomenon of pissing away huge quantities of money on projects that everybody knows will fail, never seem to reach a conclusion, and will at best deliver deliver savings/profits of around 10% of what was ploughed into them. The most recent place I saw this happening was in Germany last year, so it's not a UK only phenomenon, it certainly takes place in other countries and - based on my experience - is mandatory in multinational companies.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 03:18:33 am
content: Quote from: treez on January 13, 2020, 08:42:20 pmAnother side of the coin's view, maybe the designs were really-really crappy, even after so many years and still in the realm of hobbyist grade designs, and yet the company is still so generous enough to keep churning out paychecks him, as he is still very good/efficient at re-labeling job for the imported far-east products that the company mainly sells.You just never know.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 04:46:55 am
content: Actually, vynal has made a resurgence here in the US. Major retailors like Walmart and even Best Buy sell vynal now.

author: nigelwright7557
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 05:37:05 am
content: When I was a electronics design engineer my boss kept getting grants for projects.Did some interesting stuff, some quite ground breaking like NFC 20 years ago.But none of it ever went into production.I am currently looking for software work.Despite having all the skills asked for in the job specs I haven't been interviewed yet.Despite my applications the jobs are still around months later.Something very strange going on.....

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 06:21:28 am
content: If this is true it will soon be over won't it?But what I have experienced over twenty years ago, I worked for an R&D division and had to allocate my hours for a third of my hours to some european granted project I had nothing to do with.I refused to do this and said to my boss he could sign the hours table himself because I did not want to do anything fraudulous. My performance reviews dropped after this and I left for another job.

author: beanflying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 07:12:22 am
content: Just 9 more largely inane repetitive topics to start and you will be on a top 10 list

author: all_repair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 07:32:35 am
content: Quote from: Kjelt on January 14, 2020, 06:21:28 amI don't know is it the government or the companies that are to be blamed for this. It is also the case here in SGP. Government took the money from all companies through taxes, and new taxes because they got new ideas to guide the companies ahead. Most or all of them in the government doing the policy don't have any industry experience nor make money on their own before. And then they tell the companies that they know better how to run their companies in choosing the directions and projects though these grants-giving.Here, the companies that go after the grants are government-linked companies that have redundant administration staff to milk the grants. And most or all the money go to these government-linked companies. The wisdom in the industry is you may or may not succeed if you do not get the grant, but you shall definitely fail if you get the grants. The reporting maybe better over your side. Because it is tax-payer money, there are loads of reporting to do periodically.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 08:02:39 am
content: Quote from: all_repair on January 14, 2020, 07:32:35 amWith us it is the EU who distributes the grants over the companies. In this case it is research for new technology grants but indeed in Brussel they do not know what is needed in 5 years so they probably throw it at already old technology buzzwords. The companies themselves then have to do the paperwork.So yeah I can get your point, still I do not put my signature under some statement I worked on some project while I did not do any work for it (and probably did not even exist) because that company wants to get grants. It is talking someting crooked to right.What should happen is fix the flaw, the grant allowers should know what the company thinks is important and if the grant allowers agree they should give the money, not the other way round.But hey that is probably why I never will be rich, I adhere to the rules too much and don't like walking passed some lines.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 12:48:09 pm
content: Quote from: nigelwright7557 on January 14, 2020, 05:37:05 amBack in the 70s a friend was one of the early team members on a large defence project that was moving from the system design phase to full development when the government quietly cancelled the whole thing. They were recruiting hard to ramp things up at this point, but the company had to shut the whole operation down and lay everyone off. They spent their notice periods interviewing people for jobs that no longer existed, because the company didn't want to admit what had happened.Job ads have a very weak relationship to vacancies. Sometime a company is looking for unicorns, and sometimes they are not really looking for anyone at all. I've heard people say they always have jobs ads out there, just to see if anyone interesting might turn up.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2020, 02:26:27 pm
content: I've worked at a few engineering firms in the UK. Never heard of this.You can write off up to 230% of your R&D expense from your tax bill, but you have to have made a profit for that to be worthwhile (I stand to be corrected but the tax credit is much smaller for loss making companies.) This is written off against your corp tax bill (~20%).Engineering grants exist but they are on a per-project basis and based on an approvals process by a board. The UK government won't fund "yet another 1kW SMPS" unless your design is truly innovative and groundbreaking.Plenty of companies that I have worked at have spent years engineering projects only for the projects to be scrapped because the market has changed or competitors are faster to the market or some unforeseen technical problem occurred - that's not unusual in fact and I would say at least 50% of projects that I worked on suffered this fate.