todd.tokubo.com

As an electrical engineer, I owe so much to the transistor.  It ushered in the age of the integrated circuit and is responsible for the miniaturization of so much starting with the radio and the TV.

EETimes has a FANTASTIC article on the transistor.  It starts with the telegraph, goes to vacuum tubes and onto where we are today.

Transistors come in many varieties, the field-effect transistor (FET) being the most important. Invented in 1960 (drawing on Shockley’s work) by John Atalla, it was at first a novelty. RCA introduced a series of logic chips using FETs, but they were used only in specialty, low-power applications due to their low speed. Everyone knew the technology would never replace the much more useful junction transistor.

Now, of course, FETs are the basis of the digital revolution. The speed problems were solved, and their extremely low power requirements made it possible to pack millions on to a single IC.

It’s amazing to thing that so much has happened over the last 100 years to change how our day-to-day lives work.  In many countries, the cell phone has 70% penetration, meaning 7/10 of the population own a cell phone.   The transistor allowed for the software industry to even be conceived in its current state.  There are so many people in the Valley that owe their success to this invention; it’s worth the few minutes to read about the reason for our success.

I stumbled across this article via digg.

It’s an interesting thought on 10 hot “computer jobs”. The titles should probably be computer-related jobs or jobs that use computers extensively (but then again, name a job that doesn’t now a days). My choice comments are below about how this doesn’t just need a degree in Computer Science.

1. Environmental Simulations Developer
- The computer is the tool here to make the calculations simpler nothing more.
- The real expertise is in how the thermal model is created
- probably something to do with environmental effects
2. Video Game Developer.
- Sexy graphics always gets you thinking video games are cool. Graphics and 3d modeling are only a small part of video games. Most people in the industry have jobs as testers… not sexy.
- This is the equivalent of saying you want to play in the NFL or NBA when you grow up and realize that most jobs are in the team PR.
3. Bioinformatics Simulations Modeling.
- Similar to item #1
4. 3D Animation Technician.
- Similar to item #2, except Hollywood is becoming even more involved
5. Internet Entrepreneur.
- You still need a different idea and find the right computer technology to mate to it
- How many people do you know actually understand why Google is worth so much money.
6. Medical Modeling Systems Developer and Technician.
- See item #1
7. Digital Film Production Assistant and Technician
- Hollywood job
8. Website Network Manager / Administrator.
- Traditional IT type things. There is always a lot of confusion between IT jobs and Computer Science jobs.
9. Training Software Developer.
- You need the idea of how to train people before you write the software…
10. Visual and Audio Content Producers.
- Again the computer is the tool

Sometimes lists like this make me a bit mad.  “Hot jobs” typically means demand which typically means you can make money.  At the end of the day, it’s still important that you like your job and enjoy it.  Chasing a job without knowing truly what’s involved is why there are a lot of unhappy people in the workplace.

I read a fortune cookie once that said “Managers do things right.  Leaders do the right thing.”

In case you were ever curious about a short version of “the right thing”.  I found a good list here via Digg.

A quick Google query of “managers vs. leaders” will give you a lot of people with various takes.  Here’s the short version: You do what a manager tells you to because you HAVE to.  You do what a leader is saying because you WANT to.

There was an usual number of posts on EETimes.com over the past couple of days.  Most of them center around a number of debates regarding the US education system and engineering with some surprising discussion.

• Engineering education study draws industry fire
  • According to the report (from the Urban Institute), “available data indicate increases in the absolute numbers of secondary school graduates and increases in their math and science performance levels.” Further, the study found, “there has been growth in the number of undergraduates completing [science and engineering (S&E)] studies and the number of S&E graduates remains high by historical standards.”
• Prosperity 101: Education equity
  • A new study published by the Washington-based Urban Institute challenges those assumptions, arguing that U.S. math and science test scores are in fact better than previously thought. Its most controversial finding, however, is that there are plenty of U.S. engineering graduates but too few jobs.
• Competitiveness debate shifts to U.S. tech priorities

So many of the questions come from:

• Is the USA producing enough engineering (or simply more core Math / Science people)?
• Is engineering still a growth area to attract talent?
• What should US policy makers (ie politicians) do to change this situation?

For me, it’s the last one that seems to be out of sorts.  Why should politicians get involved?  Shouldn’t they be spending their time on something other than telling corporations how to make their jobs more appealing?

Lifehacker links:

These are two of the best succinct on-line guides I’m seen for writing a resume.

• How to construct the killer resume
  • Remember, always, that you’re trying to sell yourself to the company.
• Ten tips for writing a resume that will get the right kind of attention
  • In a nutshell, the goal of any resume is to get an interview, and the best way to get there is to show off your best accomplishments in a professional fashion and make sure that the trails they follow indicate professionalism as well.

After poking around Computerworld.com from the previous post, there was a thought provoking post about Top 10 Dying Computer Skills.

I disagree with C.  As C is still heavily used for embedded work, and there is a lack of competent, hardware-savvy C programmers.  Linux is also heavily C for lower level work.

Overall, the article is interesting from the standpoint of being an “engineer” vs. “coding expert”.  Computer languages are more like tools rather than skills.  Becoming great at a tool is a way to guaranteeing yourself extinction in the tech world. Engineering should always be a “problem solver” first using the skills and tools at their disposal to do so.

I can’t count how many times I wished I could have done the analysis on this. The California Lottery commission keeps a file of all winning combinations.

This guy did analysis of the numbers.