Why you be hatin?

What do yo do as an EE? I'm an EE major myself.

 

Hatin? I aint be hatin, just statin.... The facts that is. If you look like, sound like and act like a moron, guess what? That's how peeps will be treatin ya. That's all. If that's hating, then I guess I'm one hatin bastard. Anyway,

I specialized in semiconductor physics in college as an EE, anticipating finding employment in the wafer fabrication and IC industry. I interned at a company called Micro-Rel in Tempe, Az and was hired permanently after graduation as an IC Product Engineer. It was medical electronics, heart pacemaker technology company. When I moved back East, I was again involved in Medical Imaging and was in on the first CAT scan machines and flouroscopy / tomography. From there I worked for 18 years as a Satellite Telecommunications Engineer. All told, 25 years of my career has been in Telecom including my current employment with NEC Corp as a VOIP System Test Engineer. It's always been fun and most of the time challenging. I test new product integration with our proprietary PBX switches for small and medium size deployments. EE is one of the more versatile engineering disciplines and you are definitely on the right track to a very rewarding career Good Luck to you.

Have a great Christmas and New Years!

SMOKEM

 

How did the switch from semiconductor/IC design to telecom go? Since you studied semiconductors in college, wasn't your knowledge of telecom systems not as good as those who studed telecom? I'm still not sure what I want to go, but I have a pretty good idea of where I don't want to go. I'm pretty sure I won't be going into computer/logic design.

 

I'm a senior at the University of Central Arkansas. Finals were last week for me. I got my grades on Tuesday. 4 As and 1 B. I worked my butt off for those too. And by work, I mean sat in front of the computer writing 150+ pages worth of papers for a month and a half, gaining 10 pounds in the process...

Only 12 credit hours left.

 

I would have never applied for the job at the Satellite Tracking station in a million years if I read the job description. The head-hunter set it up. I lucked out since they were looking for someone with some digital design background. At the risk of dating myself, I designed a few circuits for them using 4000 series CMOS chips. Anyway, the Director of the tracking station said don't worry about this sh*t, referring to the microwave and satellite commanding, we'll teach you that. The only bitch was having my continued employment hinge on passing the FCC RadioTelephone License exam within 6 months. I studied and studied and took practice exams out the *** then drove to NYC to take the exam. No calculators allowed ( no TI-50 ) I passed the first time andobtained my license one month after starting there. The rest of the Telecom stuff just comes to you on the job as long as you're assertive enough to take on new challenges. NOTE: When you go out into industry, it's all very different from the University experience. You won't be reinventing the wheel or deriving anything. Turn the crank and get the job done. Period. Unless you go the R&D route, then it might be more academic.

Learn everything you can both in school and when you get out. Also follow the old premise of "Lead, follow or get out of the way!"

Have a Merry and Happy !

SMOKEM

 

Wow Rob, I feel like I really learned a lot through your last few posts about the post University life and work assertiveness. Thanks.