Ready Set.... Employed!

That's right I got a JOB the company is General Electric. I had a long but good sit down conversation with the Engineer in charge during an interview. I figured I had to beat out one other guy but low and behold they made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. So now I have to get my suit dry cleaned and figure out what to do with 10 more hours of free time during my we--- Oh wait Senior Design! A sprint to the finish with less stress. Oh Please go fast these next two weeks

Peace out

Acutally see you soon :)

Fifteen days later

Last test tomorrow for Senior Design. The last test I'll be taking in at least six months. I have been studying like a madman. The laste few weeks have been a blur of interviews. I've had an average of two sit down interviews a week and and two phone interviews. I am now giving Oscar worthy performances after a few. Practice makes perfect.
The project for the class itself is nearing completion after I spent re-soldering the new circuit board. The first attempt had too many bugs I had to work out and I screwed a couple of runners up. The second time around the board is much better. I used a better quality perf board ( I will post pics later) I discovered a few tricks I will also share at a later date as I learned there are certain things you can do to make everything easier. Largest is to have a solder sucker on close hand.

Soon all this will end and I will write more

Poster Contest Today

Today is the day I stand before people with lots of letters behind their names and let everyone know about my poster  I'm reviewing non-linear support vector machines at the moment. I'm then going to pick my lovely girl friend run some errands and its off to the contest. The top prize is 1,000 dollars which is more than likely to not end up in my coffers seeing as it is my first time doing this but if I get anything close to an honerable mention I'll be happy.  I will hopefully have a picture or two to display to my one or two loyal readers. 

Today my problem is Orcad.

UWM has Cadence OrCad. an awesome suite for Electrical Engineers everywhere. I want it too ! But there is one serious problem with UWM's Orcad seats.  Nobody knows how to use it. It was one of those "Hey this is great software used all over industry WE should have it on our computers!" But now it's there and it sitting .... Sitting.... Sitting and nobody is using it. So in an effort to boost what I consider to be an unacceptable grade Prof Kautzer has asked me to create a simple tutorial on it. It's hard and I am absolutely begging for resources. I have found a bit online but I really need a cheap book from which to figure out all things capable with this software because it really is cool and interesting to use but as the rule for most engineering software goes the more powerful it is the more difficult it is to use. There are millions of parts wires buses, connectors etc. in this software for the user it can be a bit overwhelming.

The brighter side is that two of my three classes are winding down as most of the project work is complete in one, I have to write a five to ten page paper for another. Then the focus is on our "eFeeder" for senior design. It will rock. Just you Wait!

Are PLC's technician level projects or Electrical Engineers?????

Here's the part where I wish people actually read this and commented on it. My questions today or even all this week is working with PLC's still considered Electrical Engineering or is it Technician level stuff?
I attended a class taught by a technician. Kohler hired technicians and engineers but the technician got to do all the cool stuff which irked most of the engineers.

Every year they seem to get easier to program and the jobs just seem to be simpler and more routine. Everyone at UWM seems to think they are for techs and not engineers but they seem to want to hire engineers to do this stuff in industry. Nobody seems to want to hire me to do anything else anyways. I suppose PLC's with the ability to advance to something else would be nice but I do not see that happening at places like Oilgear where they have a routine way of doing things and just crank out projects left and right.

If only I had a choice  *sigh* .....

Let's look at some points  and lay it all out and compare it to Say VHDL code

They both create logic. PLC logic goes into a big box that outputs 24 volts DC. PLC's do the same with 24 Volts. PLC's can have analog signals VHDL needs a DAC which creates a binary number normally around 16 bits long. (Not sure if PLC's can do this)

Result: Tie


VHDL chips need to interface with chips and cannont directly store their programs in memory. They are placed on PCB boards and require all sorts of power circuits and buss circuits. PLC's are just one big box a tech can program but a tech cannot get the PCB layouts and the other circuitry correct without an enginer.

Result VHDL has this one.

Both are used in a variety of equipment though PLC's are constrained to industry.
Both have some sort of language although VHDL is a much more elegant language and is more powerful

I guess it all boils down to what you like better.

Looks like someone has a case of the MOONdays :(

Great way to start off the week. I get sick. not the flu thankfully but enough of a head cold to shut me down for a day. hopefully I'll get a phone call and a clear head tomorrow.And I cannot say this enough (Phone Call! )