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08.08
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... On Nerdiness (December
2007)
Your nerdiness article in
Today's Engineer really hits home. And the
link to the Pojman pocket protector site is just
wonderful. Keep us posted on the Nerd Pride
march.
Here are some related articles
for the Kodak "1000 Nerds" blog that may be of
interest. Hope you enjoy them.
http://johnfredlund.1000nerds.kodak.com/default.asp?item=682628
http://johnfredlund.1000nerds.kodak.com/default.asp?item=772176
— Randy (John)
Fredlund
Director, Technology Analysis Group
Eastman Kodak
I wholeheartedly support the
idea of a Nerd Pride Day. I can think of no
better locale for the Nerd Pride march than the
1-mile stretch along Mass. Avenue in Cambridge,
MA, between MIT and Harvard. Perhaps the parade
should be held on March 14 ("pi" day) and begin
promptly at 1:59.
— Jeremy Kepner
IEEE Member
I enjoyed your article on
nerdiness. My two younger children — 15
and 20 years old — identify themselves as
"Nerds, and proud of it." They are living,
breathing oxymorons: nerd athletes! My 20-year
old daughter is studying engineering, is a D&D
enthusiast, computer game nut, and attends a
division I school on a full athletic (swimming)
scholarship. My son is also a total nerd —
math, science, computers, D&D, etc. And if he
continues his swimming progress he may also get
an athletic scholarship — time will tell.
It is incredibly interesting to
watch, and it is not without its adjustments and
issues for the kids who are like this. For
example, my son must take a break from being on
the computer all day for his swimming practice,
and he can figure out math problems while
swimming laps (the new multitasking?) Perhaps
this is the beginning of nerds infiltrating
those areas that were traditionally off limits
to them.
— Barb Mozdzen
I enjoyed your nerdiness article. Well over a
decade ago, a friend and colleague and I took a
break from a marathon work session at NASA-JPL
to ponder the difference between a nerd and a
geek. We came to an interesting conclusion:
Nerdiness is a quality of intelligence, and
geekiness of social unacceptability.
We used the following as extreme
examples:
Richard Feynman: max nerd, min
geek
Pee-Wee Herman: max geek, min nerd
We arrived at this conclusion
based on the origins of the two words. Nerd, as
Don Christiansen noted, came from a Dr. Seuss
(big nerd!) book, and Northern Electric R&D
(place for nerds). On the other hand, geek was
used to identify a carnival performer
specializing in bizarre and unappetizing
behavior (from Wiktionary).
My colleague and I agreed that
most JPL engineers have a high degree of both
qualities, and we went on to rate everyone we
knew — and we still finished our work on
time!
— Brian Lim
IEEE Member
CEO, Automate Corp.
Your nerdiness article reminded
me of a joke once told among engineers at a
dinner meeting. One posed the question, "What is
the world's shortest book?" After hearing
several attempts at an answer, he revealed the
correct answer to be the "Engineers' Book of
Fashion." But a colleague took issue. "I don't
see how that can be," he said. "My copy has more
than twenty pages on pocket protectors alone."
— Lyle Lunsford
Niceville, FL
Here is my favorite nerdy engineer riddle:
Question: How can you tell if an
engineer is an extrovert?
Answer: When speaking to you, he
does not look down at his shoes. He looks down
at yours!
— Len Taylor,
Prof. Emeritus
ECE Dept., Univ. of Maryland, College Park
... On "So What Do You Do?" (Aug.
2007)
Don Christiansen articulates in
this column what so many of we "electronics
engineers" feel these days but find difficult to
express. Thanks.
— Roger L.
Boyell
IEEE Senior Member
Forensic Analyst (Electronics)
Moorestown, NJ
...On ”What Every Engineer
Needs to Know About Leadership and Management”
(Dec. 2007)
The Three R’s.
Besides learning how to do one's tradecraft, how
to read and write effectively and
constructively, and other traits mentioned in
your article, I feel that a career should be
driven by the three R’s: “relationships,
relationships and relationships.” I believe that
building honest, enjoyable relationships will
achieve satisfaction and happiness at home and
work.
— Alfred Paiz
IEEE Member
Pasadena, CA
***
...On “Help Wanted: Embedded
Engineers Why the United States is losing its
edge in embedded systems” (Feb. 2008)
An excellent article. It hits
the nail right on the head. As an embedded
developer with 25+ years experience it is
becoming increasingly difficult to hire good
embedded engineers. We got lots of resumes with
Java and HTML experience but if you gave them a
flash datasheet to program an algorithm for they
would be completely lost. Some interviewees had
never even looked at the assembler output of a
compiler in all their college coursework.
— Randy Bolton
IEEE Member in college
Huntsville, Alabama
***
Did a simple Monster.com search
for "embedded systems software" for all of North
America. Got 2154 hits. Searched for Java
software, got >5000 hits. Searched for "software
development web" got >5000 hits. Searched for
C++ software, got >5000 hits. Cobol was less, at
854 hits. Linux software, got >5000 hits. Get
the picture? The jobs aren't out there. The
embedded world, since I was in it in the
early-mid 1990s, has fled to Asia.
— George Talbot
Philadelphia, PA
***
If companies paid decently then
there'd be plenty of embedded developers. Most I
know just moved on to consulting in other areas
or even out of tech altogether. Every time I
look at an embedded job and see they pay less
than the average pay in my area, I figure the
Chinese already killed that industry and forget
about it. Every time someone asks me about tech
I tell them to become a doctor or lawyer. If
you're smart enough to complete an EE or even a
CompSci degree then you deserve to make a decent
living. Tech is being decimated by labor visa
workers and offshoring and that trend is not
slowing.
— Tim Jowers
Cary, NC
***
I've been involved in embedded
systems work for the better part of my 30+ year
career and I agree with [the author]. I think, however,
that there is a worldwide shortage of embedded
engineers, which is a failure of the educational
institutions. Public schools teach classical
Greek logic and ignore Boolean logic. They teach
base 5 number systems when they could teach base
7 or 2. Very few books are available to the
non-engineering student which attempt to
explain how computers work (Code by Petzold is
the only exception I know about).
— Jim Medding
IEEE Senior Member
Redmond, WA
***
I agree with what [the author] said. I
have seen similar lack of embedded training in
my work. Because the cost of this lack of
training and expertise is not well understood or
in the limelight, companies do not see the need
to bring in the proper training, thinking that
on-the-job, seat-of-the-pants training is good
enough.
— Gary Stringham
IEEE Senior Member
Boise, ID
***
As someone who dabbles in
embedded systems on my own, I think I have
noticed an accelerating uptic in the
availability and popularity of open source
embedded projects. Home automation devices,
pmp's, routers, dvr's, etc., are all targets now
for the embedded experimenter. I wouldn't lose
hope yet, though a concerted effort that does
not disrupt what is already going on would not
go amiss.
— Bill Hughey
Seattle, WA
***
First of all, it's great to see
a fellow USF alumni succeeding as an influential
engineer. Recently, I have been looking for well-established, higher-level (MS) embedded
engineering degree programs in U.S. universities
so that I may continue my education. I have not
stumbled upon any and have resorted to learning
from sites I've found on the internet (which
tend to be outdated). Mr. Anderson mentions that
"only a few colleges and universities have good
embedded systems programs in place." Is Mr.
Anderson willing to share that information? I
graduated with a BSEE and it seems universities
are having a difficult time developing
multi-disciplinary programs, which means I will
have to find a computer science/engineering
program where the main focus is on software. The
hardware portions of these programs will
strictly be review. Here's to more embedded
systems, microcontrollers, and FPGA instruction
in today's engineering curriculum. Bring back
the excitement in engineering schools.
— Ben Simpson
IEEE Member
Tampa, FL
***
Companies often create the
problems that they are trying to overcome by not
taking "care" of their employees. Companies want
experience, but right now, seasoned professionals are hard to come by, and the company has no
“time” for the new grad.
Many companies have an attitude,
shining like a beacon for miles, that people are
dispensable and can be replaced easily. "Nerd
Wrangling/Wrestling" is a very popular method of
gaining the experience and knowledge needed.
Because companies feel this way about employees,
they make their own problem.
Schools are trying to make
well-rounded engineers, NOT specialists. Getting
too narrow an education can cause one to become
unemployable. Not finding a job after spending
4-5 years and becoming eyeball deep in loans is
UNACCEPTABLE! Schools are even considering
expanding the undergraduate curriculum to
include MORE classes, because there is so much
more technology to include. The “powers that be”
are discussing having to wait until you complete
a Master’s degree to be considered a graduate
and you still are not allowed to call yourself
an “Engineer” until you pass the PE Exam four years
later.
Who in their right mind wants to
burn more time and money on a degree that is so
hard to finish?
There have been at least two
people that I know who could have finished. Both
decided to stop killing themselves and go into
some non-related field. One in his senior year,
switched to business, overloaded with 21
credits, and said “…the (business) classes are
still easier than the engineering classes I
took.” He is now the owner of his own business
and making more money than I do as an electrical
engineer in aerospace.
There is not a shortage of
engineers, and the foreigners that are on H1-B
visas are not any better schooled, or they would
not still be coming to the United States for their
education. Companies are looking for the 5 lb
butterfly and they are not developing their own.
— Todd Caswell
IEEE Member
Sedro Woolley, WA
***
I have advocated the
implementation of embedded systems curricula at
my Institution. This is an uphill battle as
there are other academic interests that want to
be promoted within our ECE program. For
instance, my natural areas of research are DSP and
Image Processing, and obviously I want to
promote these areas for my own research
interests.
After working at Motorola (now
Freescale) for a few years, I became what you
would call an embedded systems engineer. Although
not a seasoned one, dangerous enough to get
things done.
My impression is that embedded
systems are so "close to the metal," as the
article points out, that most academics will shy
away because (this is my opininon): 1) It is
very applied; 2) There is a steep (ever moving)
learning curve; and 3) You need to have real-world
experience to be able to teach embedded systems.
"Embedded systems are
everywhere," seems to be the mantra you hear and
read everywhere. As we place microcontrollers
across every single aspect of our lives, we need
to develop this expertise as part of any
electrical/computer engineer program.
Bringing this type of change
amounts to a paradigm shift in our education. I
hope the IEEE starts a serious and profound
discussion on this matter.
— Gerardo Rosiles
IEEE Member
El Paso, Texas
***
... On “Résumé Tips for
Engineers Over 40” (March 2008)
With respect to item #5 in the
article: "Do not include work experience before
1980. It is generally not relevant anyway. If
you were a tradesman back in 1973, it doesn’t
take a rocket scientist to figure out your
approximate age and eliminate you from the
candidate pool."
On average, I review four to
eight resumes
per week, sometimes many more. When I resume
comes across my desk and it's clear that the
work history has been cut off at some date (you
suggested 1980), it's obvious to me that
someone's trying to hide something. The same
thing happens when resumes don't show the year
that degrees were awarded. I see these things
all the time and it always causes me concern.
Mind you, I'm 58 years old and
would easily hire over-50 workers — and have. I'm
not looking for a job, thankfully, but I can
tell you that I remain energetic enough to work
a 12-hr day when necessary and still be
bouncing off the walls.
In summary, my recommendation
differs from yours. Be up front — they're going
to figure it out anyway. I know you want the
resume to get a person in the door. But when
things are obviously made unclear, alarm bells
go off.
— Jack Puglis
IEEE Member
Parsippany, NJ
***
Many of these ideas are common
sense and have been around for a while, but I
have been failing to realize that recruiters,
who are getting relatively younger and younger,
pick up my resume and scan for red flags, like
functional resumes. Those that know me know I
have a lot of energy, but those that don't know
me, haven't a clue. Timely article. Thanks!
— Gary Winters
IEEE Member
San Antonio, TX
***
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