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On 6/11/2010 6:11 AM, Invisible wrote:
> Seriously... Doing what? Everything seems to be made of off-the-shelf
> parts (which, by definition, already exist). What's to design?
Have you ever opened an electronic gadget and peered inside? That PCB
isn't off the shelf. It may have off the shelf components on it, but
someone, somewhere had to design it. There may even be a customized chip
on it.
For example, my Wacom Intuos3 (RIP) was waterlogged, so it was an
opportunity to look inside. They have a chip on the board with their
logo. Probably some customized DSP to translate the signals generated by
the stylus and tablet grid.
These sorts of things need design all of the time. I work for a company
in the construction industry. We produce software for a niche market.
I've worked for an industrial equipment manufacturer (a sister company)
those machines need electrical design, and software to make them work,
some of that software is actually rather involving mathematically, and a
portion of it requires an understanding of calculus to really get a grip
on how to properly set the tuning parameters.
Somebody needs to design the drives that control the motors. They may
even want to produce a custom CPU for those drives because an
off-the-shelf CPU may not fit their needs exactly. Someone needs to
design the IO controller so each solenoid on the machine can be
controlled by the host system, someone needs to design the embedded
computer to command the system. Heck, we have engineers that design the
electrical systems for the machines. They also do the mechanical design
of the machine.
There are plenty of opportunities to apply your skills. Look at the
machinery at your company's lab, look at the analysis equipment. There
are people who design these things, and are always looking for ways to
improve the design, implement new features and cut costs.
--
~Mike
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