Have your circuit-building activities led you to a career? I know Roy
does RF engineering consulting work and is most famous for NEC code
for antenna simulation. Any others? Is anyone here working at
Perkin-Elmer? OI Corporation? Or any of the numerous smaller
instrumentation companies? I can see what types of engineering
careers homebrewing can lead to: not only RF, but also
instrumentation/controls. In fact, many of the projects in the ARRL
books are electronic measuring devices.

I graduated with my BSEE from UIUC in 1996. If I had been a ham radio
operator and a homebrewer as an undergraduate in electrical
engineering, I would probably have invented a time machine by now.

In fact, if it were not for ham radio and the Northern Virginia QRP
group, I would have no business in EE today. Although I had
originally intended to study RF engineering when I applied for
graduate schools last year, I changed my mind and switched to the
control systems specialty when I enrolled. Working on simple
electronics projects (like a car battery tester and electromagnetic
field monitor) opened my mind to other parts of EE. I saw that
instrumentation and control systems are used in a much wider variety
of industries than RF systems. I saw instrumentation/controls as an
area that would have value in many areas outside telecom and defense.

Last semester, I designed and built a better SWR/wattmeter, one that
could handle 100W like the MFJ versions, provide good measurements at
QRP power levels, AND provide good resolution at high SWR levels. (I
owe a thank-you to those of you who helped answer my questions.)

I am scheduled to graduate with my MSEE next year, but I am willing to
delay my graduation for an electronic instrumentation engineering
position.

Jason Hsu, AG4DG

Much as I'd like to take credit for playing any part in the development
of the NEC codes, I can't. NEC-2 and its successors were developed
mainly at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and I had no part in
that work. What I did was to first take MININEC (developed independently
by John Logan and Jay Rockway) and make a usable interface for it. This
program was called ELNEC. Later, I adapted the interface to NEC-2,
naming the result EZNEC. ELNEC and EZNEC are really interfaces to the
underlying calculating engines, which I had no part in developing.

I'll second Jason's reminder that there's a lot more to EE than RF. In
my career, I've designed video test equipment including a very fancy TV
camera, slow scan video instruments, switching power supplies,
micropower vehicular speed recording and data logging equipment, very
high speed pulse generation and sampling gear, high precision samplers,
delay line compensation networks, infrared imaging equipment, time bases
and other oscilloscope circuitry, and many other types of equipment.
Traditional RF circuitry is more a part of my hobby than my career,
although as Jason said, I've done some consulting work in that field.

And those of us who are engineers weren't born that way. I began as a
ham when I was a kid, studied for and got my FCC commercial license,
worked as a broadcast engineer and then chief engineer, went through the
Air Force radar school, worked as a radar technician, and fixed radios,
TVs, and telephone answering machines before working my way through
school (with a bit of help from Uncle S.) first as a technician then as
a design engineer. People following a path like that can "get off" at
any point where the work is satisfying and interesting.

Right now and for the foreseeable future, it looks like there are
opportunities in EMC (electromagnetic compatibility -- EMI reduction).
With the proliferation of wireless devices, the EMC environment is
getting tougher and tougher. Antenna design seems to be in steady
demand. And there's plenty of work for a good analog or analog/digital
engineer, and technicians, in a wide variety of small, mostly startup
companies. I haven't seen age as an issue -- in fact, it seems that
there aren't many young folks learning some of these skills. If you can
do the job, you should be able to get a job.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Jason Hsu wrote:
Have your circuit-building activities led you to a career? I know Roy
does RF engineering consulting work and is most famous for NEC code
for antenna simulation. . .

Much as I'd like to take credit for playing any part in the development
of the NEC codes, I can't. NEC-2 and its successors were developed
mainly at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and I had no part in
that work. What I did was to first take MININEC (developed independently
by John Logan and Jay Rockway) and make a usable interface for it. This
program was called ELNEC. Later, I adapted the interface to NEC-2,
naming the result EZNEC. ELNEC and EZNEC are really interfaces to the
underlying calculating engines, which I had no part in developing.

I'll second Jason's reminder that there's a lot more to EE than RF. In
my career, I've designed video test equipment including a very fancy TV
camera, slow scan video instruments, switching power supplies,
micropower vehicular speed recording and data logging equipment, very
high speed pulse generation and sampling gear, high precision samplers,
delay line compensation networks, infrared imaging equipment, time bases
and other oscilloscope circuitry, and many other types of equipment.
Traditional RF circuitry is more a part of my hobby than my career,
although as Jason said, I've done some consulting work in that field.

And those of us who are engineers weren't born that way. I began as a
ham when I was a kid, studied for and got my FCC commercial license,
worked as a broadcast engineer and then chief engineer, went through the
Air Force radar school, worked as a radar technician, and fixed radios,
TVs, and telephone answering machines before working my way through
school (with a bit of help from Uncle S.) first as a technician then as
a design engineer. People following a path like that can "get off" at
any point where the work is satisfying and interesting.

Right now and for the foreseeable future, it looks like there are
opportunities in EMC (electromagnetic compatibility -- EMI reduction).
With the proliferation of wireless devices, the EMC environment is
getting tougher and tougher. Antenna design seems to be in steady
demand. And there's plenty of work for a good analog or analog/digital
engineer, and technicians, in a wide variety of small, mostly startup
companies. I haven't seen age as an issue -- in fact, it seems that
there aren't many young folks learning some of these skills. If you can
do the job, you should be able to get a job.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Jason Hsu wrote:
Have your circuit-building activities led you to a career? I know Roy
does RF engineering consulting work and is most famous for NEC code
for antenna simulation. . .

Homebrewing led me directly to my present job and has gotten me many
others as well. In fact, I'm not sure I could cite a job where
homebrewing wasn't a factor in getting the job.

A great thing about the job I have now is that the bosses recognize
the link between homebrewing and learning, so I get to take parts from
our stockroom for my projects.

David

Homebrewing led me directly to my present job and has gotten me many
others as well. In fact, I'm not sure I could cite a job where
homebrewing wasn't a factor in getting the job.

A great thing about the job I have now is that the bosses recognize
the link between homebrewing and learning, so I get to take parts from
our stockroom for my projects.

David

Jason,

Take my advise, graduate first then look for a job! You could finish up with
a job going belly up and have no MSEE.

Play it safe, get the ticket first. I see this happen all the time.

Good luck & 72/73

Jack
G3PVG

"Jason Hsu" wrote in message
I am scheduled to graduate with my MSEE next year, but I am willing to
delay my graduation for an electronic instrumentation engineering
position.

Jason Hsu, AG4DG

Jason,

Take my advise, graduate first then look for a job! You could finish up with
a job going belly up and have no MSEE.

Play it safe, get the ticket first. I see this happen all the time.

Good luck & 72/73

Jack
G3PVG

"Jason Hsu" wrote in message
I am scheduled to graduate with my MSEE next year, but I am willing to
delay my graduation for an electronic instrumentation engineering
position.

Jason Hsu, AG4DG

I agree, homebrewing is great. It actually got me interested in taking
engineering in College. I started homebrewing partially out of interest,
and mostly because I couldn't afford real gear! After a few simple
transmitters, receivers and stuff, I realized that I REALLY enjoy this
stuff, so I decided to go with it.

Alex/VE3LEG

Bruce Raymond wrote:
Jason,

Congratulations on your choice of career direction. I wish you well.
I'm not sure whether or not homebrewing makes you a good
engineer, or if being a good engineer triggers something that makes
you homebrew. Bob Pease (I think) once said something to the
effect that the really good engineers he'd hired were the ones who
continued to do engineering things even when they weren't at work.
(My apologies to Bob if I've misstated his intent.) The idea is that
doing technical things is a passion for some of us. We'd do these
things even if we don't get paid. Homebrewing is a passion.

A general observation - many young engineers (and far too many
older engineers) have little or no hands-on experience. They can
model something and run great simulations, but are stopped cold
when it comes to actually troubleshooting hardware. Knowing
how real hardware works will give you an edge. Homebrewing
is a great education.

Bruce Raymond/ND8I



"Jason Hsu" wrote in message
m...

Have your circuit-building activities led you to a career? I know Roy
does RF engineering consulting work and is most famous for NEC code
for antenna simulation. Any others? Is anyone here working at
Perkin-Elmer? OI Corporation? Or any of the numerous smaller
instrumentation companies? I can see what types of engineering
careers homebrewing can lead to: not only RF, but also
instrumentation/controls. In fact, many of the projects in the ARRL
books are electronic measuring devices.


snip

I agree, homebrewing is great. It actually got me interested in taking
engineering in College. I started homebrewing partially out of interest,
and mostly because I couldn't afford real gear! After a few simple
transmitters, receivers and stuff, I realized that I REALLY enjoy this
stuff, so I decided to go with it.

Alex/VE3LEG

Bruce Raymond wrote:
Jason,

Congratulations on your choice of career direction. I wish you well.
I'm not sure whether or not homebrewing makes you a good
engineer, or if being a good engineer triggers something that makes
you homebrew. Bob Pease (I think) once said something to the
effect that the really good engineers he'd hired were the ones who
continued to do engineering things even when they weren't at work.
(My apologies to Bob if I've misstated his intent.) The idea is that
doing technical things is a passion for some of us. We'd do these
things even if we don't get paid. Homebrewing is a passion.

A general observation - many young engineers (and far too many
older engineers) have little or no hands-on experience. They can
model something and run great simulations, but are stopped cold
when it comes to actually troubleshooting hardware. Knowing
how real hardware works will give you an edge. Homebrewing
is a great education.

Bruce Raymond/ND8I



"Jason Hsu" wrote in message
m...

Have your circuit-building activities led you to a career? I know Roy
does RF engineering consulting work and is most famous for NEC code
for antenna simulation. Any others? Is anyone here working at
Perkin-Elmer? OI Corporation? Or any of the numerous smaller
instrumentation companies? I can see what types of engineering
careers homebrewing can lead to: not only RF, but also
instrumentation/controls. In fact, many of the projects in the ARRL
books are electronic measuring devices.


snip

Bruce Raymond wrote:
Jason,

Congratulations on your choice of career direction. I wish you well.
I'm not sure whether or not homebrewing makes you a good
engineer, or if being a good engineer triggers something that makes
you homebrew. Bob Pease (I think) once said something to the
effect that the really good engineers he'd hired were the ones who
continued to do engineering things even when they weren't at work.
(My apologies to Bob if I've misstated his intent.) The idea is that
doing technical things is a passion for some of us. We'd do these
things even if we don't get paid. Homebrewing is a passion.

A general observation - many young engineers (and far too many
older engineers) have little or no hands-on experience. They can
model something and run great simulations, but are stopped cold
when it comes to actually troubleshooting hardware. Knowing
how real hardware works will give you an edge. Homebrewing
is a great education.

My father, one of the great mechanical design engineers, used to
tell the know-it-all recent graduates that an engineer was just
a technician with no practical experience. It holds true in most
fields. He was very strong on getting his EITs and co-op students
into the machine shop to make things and to work with the people
who had to use them.

He turned out some awfully good engineers by using those methods.

--
"I think when people get on the Internet their common sense may be
weakened if not suspended."
- Charles Harwood, regional director of the Federal
Trade Commission's Seattle office.