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Tim Wescott
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:53 pm
I do not -- thank God -- have to reenter the job market. But I've seen
a lot of posts recently that start something like:
"I haven't worked in engineering since 20xx, and I'm (starting)/
(looking for) a job. To make my (job search)/(first week) more
successful I'm thinking of doing a project to put on my resume
and get the juices flowing."
Does this seem to actually help? Is anyone here in a position to hire,
and if you saw a resume (or interviewed a person) who had done some
hobby/home project just to get back into the swing of things, would you
give that much weight? Would you give it _more_ weight than, say, going
back to school and taking a class or two, or teaching math to villagers
in Africa for six months*, or doing something that was obviously meant
to keep your hands busy and make ends meet, like sweeping up at
MacDonalds or being an engineering manager?
I'm not dissing the notion in any way -- in fact, I have several
back-burner projects here that I pull out whenever work gets slow. I'm
just wondering if, when looked at with a cold and cynical eye, the time
and money spent does a reasonable amount of good.
* A distant friend / good acquaintance of mine is doing this, more for
himself than for the job prospects.
--
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com
Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at
http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html
John Speth
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 6:19 pm
Quote:
I'm not dissing the notion in any way -- in fact, I have several
back-burner projects here that I pull out whenever work gets slow. I'm
just wondering if, when looked at with a cold and cynical eye, the time
and money spent does a reasonable amount of good.
I also have my doubts that a one-project embedded education has any value.
Of course, it's better than nothing but it could possibly be valued at
slightly more than nothing depending on what the project is and what the job
requirements are.
When I interview people, I ask about their extracurricular engineering
activities. I think it's where their true colors show because, if such
activity exists, they are demonstrating a passion for their chosen endeavor
and will probably be much more knowledgeable and talkative about their hobby
projects than their professional projects.
For hobbies, there are all sorts of rocket people, electronic music people,
video people, etc. out there. I think some are doing amazing work and those
are the people who I'd hire. Those who make a blinky PIC just to put
"embedded" on their resume are easily exposed.
JJS
---
news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news_at_netfront.net ---
Tim Wescott
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 6:28 pm
On 08/24/2010 10:24 AM, larwe wrote:
Quote:
On Aug 24, 12:53 pm, Tim Wescott<t...@seemywebsite.com> wrote:
successful I'm thinking of doing a project to put on my resume
and get the juices flowing."
Does this seem to actually help? Is anyone here in a position to hire,
and if you saw a resume (or interviewed a person) who had done some
hobby/home project just to get back into the swing of things, would you
give that much weight? Would you give it _more_ weight than, say, going
back to school and taking a class or two, or teaching math to villagers
In short: yes, as long as it's a project using reasonably modern
technology (Applicants building their project in CHIP-8 running on a
CDP1802 need not apply). This is more valuable than random coursework
at a university - honestly, a couple of seminars are more useful than
six months of college (in terms of teaching recent, relevant info),
and actually getting down and dirty and getting something real to work
is more relevant still.
What if they made the CDP1802 in their kitchen oven, from sand found in
the driveway?
(I ask because I've been toying with the notion of replicating the
COSMAC ELF that I had in high school on an old Spartan 3 FPGA eval board
I have lying around. If I ever get the spare time).
--
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com
Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at
http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html
Tim Wescott
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 7:03 pm
On 08/24/2010 10:59 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
Quote:
On 2010-08-24, Tim Wescott<tim_at_seemywebsite.com> wrote:
I do not -- thank God -- have to reenter the job market. But I've seen
a lot of posts recently that start something like:
"I haven't worked in engineering since 20xx, and I'm (starting)/
(looking for) a job. To make my (job search)/(first week) more
successful I'm thinking of doing a project to put on my resume
and get the juices flowing."
Does this seem to actually help? Is anyone here in a position to
hire, and if you saw a resume (or interviewed a person) who had done
some hobby/home project just to get back into the swing of things,
would you give that much weight?
Definitely. Somebody who does home/hobby projects probably enjoys the
work. People who like what they're doing are always a step ahead of
those who don't.
Would you give it _more_ weight than, say, going back to school and
taking a class or two,
It depends on the classes.
My question isn't so much do they do it all the time for a hobby -- I
would certainly look favorably on someone who's been a radio amateur, or
who's been building Lego robots since they came out or something like that.
I'm talking more of the folks who peel themselves away from the Wii just
long enough to do some "embedded" project _just because_ it's embedded
and they want a job.
--
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com
Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at
http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html
Dirk Bruere at NeoPax
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 7:08 pm
On 24/08/2010 17:53, Tim Wescott wrote:
Quote:
I do not -- thank God -- have to reenter the job market. But I've seen
a lot of posts recently that start something like:
"I haven't worked in engineering since 20xx, and I'm (starting)/
(looking for) a job. To make my (job search)/(first week) more
successful I'm thinking of doing a project to put on my resume
and get the juices flowing."
Does this seem to actually help? Is anyone here in a position to hire,
and if you saw a resume (or interviewed a person) who had done some
hobby/home project just to get back into the swing of things, would you
give that much weight? Would you give it _more_ weight than, say, going
back to school and taking a class or two, or teaching math to villagers
in Africa for six months*, or doing something that was obviously meant
to keep your hands busy and make ends meet, like sweeping up at
MacDonalds or being an engineering manager?
I'm not dissing the notion in any way -- in fact, I have several
back-burner projects here that I pull out whenever work gets slow. I'm
just wondering if, when looked at with a cold and cynical eye, the time
and money spent does a reasonable amount of good.
* A distant friend / good acquaintance of mine is doing this, more for
himself than for the job prospects.
If it was a non-trivial piece of s/w in a popular language, then yes.
--
Dirk
http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onetribe - Occult Talk Show
Joerg
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 7:12 pm
Tim Wescott wrote:
Quote:
On 08/24/2010 10:59 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
On 2010-08-24, Tim Wescott<tim_at_seemywebsite.com> wrote:
I do not -- thank God -- have to reenter the job market. But I've seen
a lot of posts recently that start something like:
"I haven't worked in engineering since 20xx, and I'm (starting)/
(looking for) a job. To make my (job search)/(first week) more
successful I'm thinking of doing a project to put on my resume
and get the juices flowing."
Does this seem to actually help? Is anyone here in a position to
hire, and if you saw a resume (or interviewed a person) who had done
some hobby/home project just to get back into the swing of things,
would you give that much weight?
Definitely. Somebody who does home/hobby projects probably enjoys the
work. People who like what they're doing are always a step ahead of
those who don't.
I'll second that.
Quote:
Would you give it _more_ weight than, say, going back to school and
taking a class or two,
It depends on the classes.
My question isn't so much do they do it all the time for a hobby -- I
would certainly look favorably on someone who's been a radio amateur, or
who's been building Lego robots since they came out or something like that.
I'm talking more of the folks who peel themselves away from the Wii just
long enough to do some "embedded" project _just because_ it's embedded
and they want a job.
That would be delivering lip service on the part of the candidate. No, I
would not hire if I found out there's no depth. But there it usually
doesn't matter whether it was a hobby project or classes. I know people
who have passed classes at our university with flying colors yet cannot
even repair simple electronics. Not so good.
--
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com/
"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.
Phil Hobbs
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 7:34 pm
Tim Wescott wrote:
Quote:
I do not -- thank God -- have to reenter the job market. But I've seen
a lot of posts recently that start something like:
"I haven't worked in engineering since 20xx, and I'm (starting)/
(looking for) a job. To make my (job search)/(first week) more
successful I'm thinking of doing a project to put on my resume
and get the juices flowing."
Does this seem to actually help? Is anyone here in a position to hire,
and if you saw a resume (or interviewed a person) who had done some
hobby/home project just to get back into the swing of things, would you
give that much weight? Would you give it _more_ weight than, say, going
back to school and taking a class or two, or teaching math to villagers
in Africa for six months*, or doing something that was obviously meant
to keep your hands busy and make ends meet, like sweeping up at
MacDonalds or being an engineering manager?
I'm not dissing the notion in any way -- in fact, I have several
back-burner projects here that I pull out whenever work gets slow. I'm
just wondering if, when looked at with a cold and cynical eye, the time
and money spent does a reasonable amount of good.
* A distant friend / good acquaintance of mine is doing this, more for
himself than for the job prospects.
Sure. Many of the best engineers I know started out as hobbyists, and
that's something I always looked for in helping interview people at IBM
Research. Showing that it isn't just a job to you is a key
differentiator. Dave Jones has a couple of vblogs on interviewing, and
he's on the right track with them, I think.
Folks that just sit on their hands, or look like that's what they're
doing, start to appear less valuable with time.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058
hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net
larwe
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:24 pm
On Aug 24, 12:53 pm, Tim Wescott <t...@seemywebsite.com> wrote:
Quote:
successful I'm thinking of doing a project to put on my resume
and get the juices flowing."
Does this seem to actually help? Is anyone here in a position to hire,
and if you saw a resume (or interviewed a person) who had done some
hobby/home project just to get back into the swing of things, would you
give that much weight? Would you give it _more_ weight than, say, going
back to school and taking a class or two, or teaching math to villagers
In short: yes, as long as it's a project using reasonably modern
technology (Applicants building their project in CHIP-8 running on a
CDP1802 need not apply). This is more valuable than random coursework
at a university - honestly, a couple of seminars are more useful than
six months of college (in terms of teaching recent, relevant info),
and actually getting down and dirty and getting something real to work
is more relevant still.
Grant Edwards
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:59 pm
On 2010-08-24, Tim Wescott <tim_at_seemywebsite.com> wrote:
Quote:
I do not -- thank God -- have to reenter the job market. But I've seen
a lot of posts recently that start something like:
"I haven't worked in engineering since 20xx, and I'm (starting)/
(looking for) a job. To make my (job search)/(first week) more
successful I'm thinking of doing a project to put on my resume
and get the juices flowing."
Does this seem to actually help? Is anyone here in a position to
hire, and if you saw a resume (or interviewed a person) who had done
some hobby/home project just to get back into the swing of things,
would you give that much weight?
Definitely. Somebody who does home/hobby projects probably enjoys the
work. People who like what they're doing are always a step ahead of
those who don't.
Quote:
Would you give it _more_ weight than, say, going back to school and
taking a class or two,
It depends on the classes.
Quote:
or teaching math to villagers in Africa for six months*,
That would win points as well.
Quote:
or doing something that was obviously meant to keep your hands busy
and make ends meet, like sweeping up at MacDonalds or being an
engineering manager?
Everybody's got to eat...
--
Grant Edwards grant.b.edwards Yow! I'm having a
at tax-deductible experience!
gmail.com I need an energy crunch!!
larwe
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:26 pm
On Aug 24, 1:28 pm, Tim Wescott <t...@seemywebsite.com> wrote:
Quote:
What if they made the CDP1802 in their kitchen oven, from sand found in
the driveway?
The only person I know who is sufficiently hardcore to do that sort of
thing is Jeri Ellsworth,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeri_Ellsworth -
who apparently has made her own ICs on her home lab bench (as well as
being famous for the C64-on-a-chip FPGA then later ASIC). Looks like
1974 was a good year for cool engineers ;)
Anyway - yes, if you turn sand into digital logic, you get a free
pass!
John Larkin
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:30 pm
On Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:53:07 -0700, Tim Wescott <tim_at_seemywebsite.com>
wrote:
Quote:
I do not -- thank God -- have to reenter the job market. But I've seen
a lot of posts recently that start something like:
"I haven't worked in engineering since 20xx, and I'm (starting)/
(looking for) a job. To make my (job search)/(first week) more
successful I'm thinking of doing a project to put on my resume
and get the juices flowing."
Does this seem to actually help? Is anyone here in a position to hire,
and if you saw a resume (or interviewed a person) who had done some
hobby/home project just to get back into the swing of things, would you
give that much weight? Would you give it _more_ weight than, say, going
back to school and taking a class or two, or teaching math to villagers
in Africa for six months*, or doing something that was obviously meant
to keep your hands busy and make ends meet, like sweeping up at
MacDonalds or being an engineering manager?
I'm not dissing the notion in any way -- in fact, I have several
back-burner projects here that I pull out whenever work gets slow. I'm
just wondering if, when looked at with a cold and cynical eye, the time
and money spent does a reasonable amount of good.
* A distant friend / good acquaintance of mine is doing this, more for
himself than for the job prospects.
We were interviewing programmers a year or so ago, and the choice came
down to a guy and a woman, both apparently good. The guy is a vehicle
nut and had designed and built a number of tach-style
embedded-processor things for cars, trucks, and bicycles, and had
pictures. We were impressed by a programmer who actually built and
programmed electronic gadgets, so we hired him.
In general, we'd give the edge to someone who does home electronic
projects, for almost any job position. It shows practicality and
enthusiasm for electronics.
John
Grant Edwards
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:35 pm
On 2010-08-24, Tim Wescott <tim_at_seemywebsite.com> wrote:
Quote:
On 08/24/2010 10:59 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
On 2010-08-24, Tim Wescott<tim_at_seemywebsite.com> wrote:
I do not -- thank God -- have to reenter the job market. But I've seen
a lot of posts recently that start something like:
"I haven't worked in engineering since 20xx, and I'm (starting)/
(looking for) a job. To make my (job search)/(first week) more
successful I'm thinking of doing a project to put on my resume
and get the juices flowing."
Does this seem to actually help? Is anyone here in a position to
hire, and if you saw a resume (or interviewed a person) who had done
some hobby/home project just to get back into the swing of things,
would you give that much weight?
Definitely. Somebody who does home/hobby projects probably enjoys the
work. People who like what they're doing are always a step ahead of
those who don't.
Would you give it _more_ weight than, say, going back to school and
taking a class or two,
It depends on the classes.
My question isn't so much do they do it all the time for a hobby -- I
would certainly look favorably on someone who's been a radio amateur, or
who's been building Lego robots since they came out or something like that.
I'm talking more of the folks who peel themselves away from the Wii just
long enough to do some "embedded" project _just because_ it's embedded
and they want a job.
I suppose they get partial credit. They're behind people with geeky
hobbies, but ahead of people who didn't even bother making a PIC blink
an LED.
--
Grant Edwards grant.b.edwards Yow! Like I always say
at -- nothing can beat
gmail.com the BRATWURST here in
DUSSELDORF!!
m II
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 10:07 pm
On 10-08-24 02:30 PM, John Larkin wrote:
Quote:
In general, we'd give the edge to someone who does home electronic
projects, for almost any job position. It shows practicality and
enthusiasm for electronics.
I think not. I've attached pictures of all my electronic pet control
collar tests to my CVs and have gotten nowhere.
Should I have included the shots of all the failures? I believe in
complete honesty, yet feel perhaps that the brain splatter and ruptured
eyeballs caused by the high energy discharges may actually be hurting my
chances.
In explaining the use of the little critters, I DO mention the
overcrowded conditions in the animal shelters and how I'm actually
bettering Society as a whole by freeing up space.
None of this has dampened my enthusiasm in the least and I will be
starting work with the larger breeds next week and in an effort to
diminish the 'squeamish' factor the Personnel Managers apparently have,
will be using black and white photography from now on.
Would you advise using the darker hair subjects? White tends to be a bit
graphic....
mike
Phil Hobbs
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 10:09 pm
m II wrote:
Quote:
On 10-08-24 02:30 PM, John Larkin wrote:
In general, we'd give the edge to someone who does home electronic
projects, for almost any job position. It shows practicality and
enthusiasm for electronics.
I think not. I've attached pictures of all my electronic pet control
collar tests to my CVs and have gotten nowhere.
Should I have included the shots of all the failures? I believe in
complete honesty, yet feel perhaps that the brain splatter and ruptured
eyeballs caused by the high energy discharges may actually be hurting my
chances.
In explaining the use of the little critters, I DO mention the
overcrowded conditions in the animal shelters and how I'm actually
bettering Society as a whole by freeing up space.
None of this has dampened my enthusiasm in the least and I will be
starting work with the larger breeds next week and in an effort to
diminish the 'squeamish' factor the Personnel Managers apparently have,
will be using black and white photography from now on.
Would you advise using the darker hair subjects? White tends to be a bit
graphic....
Try General Dynamics. ;0
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058
hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net
m II
Guest
Tue Aug 24, 2010 10:14 pm
On 10-08-24 11:28 AM, Tim Wescott wrote:
Quote:
What if they made the CDP1802 in their kitchen oven, from sand found in
the driveway?
I once turned paper found in my wallet into a fully functioning HP41CV.
mike
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