madbeanpedals::forum

General => Open Discussion => Topic started by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 11:33:22 AM

Title: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 11:33:22 AM
Only 1 subject left to finish my EE grade!!
I have the exam tomorrow, but I got the rest of the marks and I passed them.
I can see the light at the end of the tunel. :)
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: muddyfox on September 04, 2014, 11:36:06 AM
I've found that that light is usually the train...

If it's not, it's a neon sign that says "the real tunnel starts here".

;D ::)

Seriously, great news! Enjoy the festivities!
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: Tremster on September 04, 2014, 11:42:17 AM
Congratulations!
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: wgc on September 04, 2014, 11:58:25 AM
Awesome!
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: pickdropper on September 04, 2014, 12:01:15 PM
That's great!  Nice to see the culmination of a lot of hard work.
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: muddyfox on September 04, 2014, 12:12:37 PM

Truth be told, when I first saw the subject I thought this was gonna be another baby thread...  ;D
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: RobA on September 04, 2014, 12:21:49 PM
Excellent! A big congratulations, but does this mean you get to spend more or less time on effects?
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 12:38:55 PM
Quote from: muddyfox on September 04, 2014, 11:36:06 AM
I've found that that light is usually the train...

If it's not, it's a neon sign that says "the real tunnel starts here".

;D ::)

Seriously, great news! Enjoy the festivities!

Haha, it's a train indeed, too much incertitude about too many things, but those have been 5 hard years (specially the last 2 of them because I did not put the effort needed in the other 3....   ::)).

I feel relief, it's been hard for us because we are the last generation of this studies program (as they are changing every studies plan), and that means no one cared too much about us. For example, if I failed a subject one year, I did not have the opportunity to re-enroll next year and go to class, I have to study it all by myself at home.
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 12:44:54 PM
Quote from: RobA on September 04, 2014, 12:21:49 PM
Excellent! A big congratulations, but does this mean you get to spend more or less time on effects?

Much more time. I've been studying and working as a web developer this year so it has been a hell of a nightmare.

I also have the idea to get into a Master Degree about something that could merge my 2 passions: electronics & music.
Been searching around and the most accurate thing are some Masters specialized in Audio DSP.
The cool thing about my career here in Spain is that you can end up with 2 profiles, one centered on Signal Processing and Computation (by default) and the other based on what path you choose (RF in my case).

So I love things from both worlds, digital and analog.
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 12:46:28 PM
Thanks everyone of your kind words!!
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: stevie1556 on September 04, 2014, 12:50:00 PM
Awesome buddy! Hope the last exam goes well for you!
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: teknoman2 on September 04, 2014, 12:53:45 PM
congrats mate  ;)
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: Leevibe on September 04, 2014, 01:13:30 PM
Congratulations!!
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: culturejam on September 04, 2014, 01:48:56 PM
That is most excellent news! Congratulations on your achievement. It is truly impressive, especially to humanities flunkies like me.  :D
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: GermanCdn on September 04, 2014, 01:50:16 PM
Congratulations on finishing.  My last year in getting my Bachelor's was the worst, mostly because I just wanted to get it over with and get on with life (I'm a mechanical engineeer by trade, but I really haven't done a lot of pure engineering in the last 15 years, even though I've always worked for engineering firms).

A little bit of unsolicited advice on the Master's thing - don't do it right now.  Go out and get some work experience and find out if you really even like it as a career.  Reason I say this is that if you take another couple of years before you enter the workforce in your chosen career, you will be older than the kids graduating with their bachelors, and you will have the same amount of work experience (none).  And only do the Master's if you are truly passionate about it.  I've got a number of friends and colleagues who've gone for their Masters, and it didn't do a whole lot for them professionally (in fact, in most cases they lost money on the deal).
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: jubal81 on September 04, 2014, 02:03:05 PM
Big congrats, bud!
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 02:09:04 PM
Quote from: GermanCdn on September 04, 2014, 01:50:16 PM
Congratulations on finishing.  My last year in getting my Bachelor's was the worst, mostly because I just wanted to get it over with and get on with life (I'm a mechanical engineeer by trade, but I really haven't done a lot of pure engineering in the last 15 years, even though I've always worked for engineering firms).

A little bit of unsolicited advice on the Master's thing - don't do it right now.  Go out and get some work experience and find out if you really even like it as a career.  Reason I say this is that if you take another couple of years before you enter the workforce in your chosen career, you will be older than the kids graduating with their bachelors, and you will have the same amount of work experience (none).  And only do the Master's if you are truly passionate about it.  I've got a number of friends and colleagues who've gone for their Masters, and it didn't do a whole lot for them professionally (in fact, in most cases they lost money on the deal).

Thanks for the advice man. I've considered that many times (and still I am), the problem is that, by getting experienced, many times you narrow your profile to that field you've been working on, and I don't know many DSP companies that would hire a newbie like me... (for example: I have a year of experience working as a web developer for a little company here, I've learnt many things related to that field, but I know for sure that I don't want to do this for a living unless I needed to).

Anyway, I still have to read my final project (and to finish it, as I had to stop in August) and I have almost 9 months on which the only things I'll had to do is: build pedals, play guitar, earn money to be able to live outside this country and decide what to do with my life (that includes applications and research of the market).
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: GermanCdn on September 04, 2014, 02:13:20 PM
If you decide to go the more conventional EE route (i.e. MV and HV applications, E-house and switchgear design, etc), let me know and I can put you in touch with my offices in Germany and Italy (or China or Australia or India or Brazil or Chile or the US) in case they're looking for new recruits.  It's a little slow right now, but should pick up in a couple of years, which is about the right timing for you.
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 02:15:43 PM
Quote from: culturejam on September 04, 2014, 01:48:56 PM
That is most excellent news! Congratulations on your achievement. It is truly impressive, especially to humanities flunkies like me.  :D

There's not such a think like flunkies in the Engineering world, you always can learn some from someone. I had a teacher who had previously worked in a really big company and told us that he learned more from the mechanics and even the janitor than from the rest of engineers.

I have learned a lot about matched impedances and how electronics work in my estudies, but I feel like an idiot many times trying to understand how a pedal works (and many people here, including yourself, are masters in that area).
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 02:17:20 PM
Quote from: GermanCdn on September 04, 2014, 02:13:20 PM
If you decide to go the more conventional EE route (i.e. MV and HV applications, E-house and switchgear design, etc), let me know and I can put you in touch with my offices in Germany and Italy (or China or Australia or India or Brazil or Chile or the US) in case they're looking for new recruits.  It's a little slow right now, but should pick up in a couple of years, which is about the right timing for you.
Thanks man!! That's very kind of you, I'll take this into account if I finally decide to go that way.
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: GermanCdn on September 04, 2014, 02:39:34 PM
Quote from: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 02:15:43 PM
There's not such a think like flunkies in the Engineering world, you always can learn some from someone. I had a teacher who had previously worked in a really big company and told us that he learned more from the mechanics and even the janitor than from the rest of engineers.

Ah, the exuberance of youth.  There are such things as flunkies in Engineering.  I'd go as far as to say there are far more flunkies than good ones, but the reality is "engineering" in itself is a production machine, and as such, the need for bodies to grind out work tends to exceed the requirements for "qualified" people.  I have worked for two of the largest engineering firms in the world, and I'd say 20% of the staff were excellent, 20% were good, and 60% were completely interchangeable/replaceable/expendable.

The moral of this story - get good at what you do early, and you can surf past the flunkies quickly both in terms of professional development and salary.  A good friend of mine in university is definitely one of the 60%; in the 15 years since he graduated his overall compensation package has increased by 80% (marginally above cost of living increases).  In that same time frame, my compensation package has increased by 535%.
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 02:55:45 PM
What I really meant to say is that, although engineers are supposed to have a qualification greater in some aspects to what others have in the related field, you can always learn from those very valuable things that could help you improve your knowledge & understanding.

So, from my point of view, there should be no minions: you're good at your work, I'm good at mine the "machine" works and we both learn from each other so it can work better (I understand this does not happen most of the time, though).
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: RobA on September 04, 2014, 03:13:04 PM
Quote from: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 12:44:54 PM
Quote from: RobA on September 04, 2014, 12:21:49 PM
Excellent! A big congratulations, but does this mean you get to spend more or less time on effects?

Much more time. I've been studying and working as a web developer this year so it has been a hell of a nightmare.

I also have the idea to get into a Master Degree about something that could merge my 2 passions: electronics & music.
Been searching around and the most accurate thing are some Masters specialized in Audio DSP.
The cool thing about my career here in Spain is that you can end up with 2 profiles, one centered on Signal Processing and Computation (by default) and the other based on what path you choose (RF in my case).

So I love things from both worlds, digital and analog.

DSP and RF are both great areas to have a background in.

There are several really good labs/groups around the EU that have programs that bridge the areas of music and signal processing. If I were (much) younger, that's where I'd try to head right now. There's some really interesting work being done now in lots of areas.

Your biggest risk right now is getting typecast as a web developer ;).
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: rullywowr on September 04, 2014, 03:20:12 PM
Congratulations!  That is really exciting.  Now we need to see some awesome circuits from you ;)

Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 03:29:19 PM
Quote from: rullywowr on September 04, 2014, 03:20:12 PM
Congratulations!  That is really exciting.  Now we need to see some awesome circuits from you ;)

Thanks! many ideas, translating them to actual circuits is other thing :)
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 04, 2014, 03:35:22 PM
Quote from: RobA on September 04, 2014, 03:13:04 PM

DSP and RF are both great areas to have a background in.

There are several really good labs/groups around the EU that have programs that bridge the areas of music and signal processing. If I were (much) younger, that's where I'd try to head right now. There's some really interesting work being done now in lots of areas.

I've been researching a bit in the last few years, the Audio Engineering Society is a good starting point in this matter.
There are some groups in Europe (University of Aalto, University of Hamburg, etc) but I don't know how accesible they are... that's what I'll try to figure out in the next few months.
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: zilla on September 04, 2014, 05:38:39 PM
First, congrats on graduating!

I'm going to echo what GermanCDN has said.

go out and get experience now. See what you like and don't like. if you do end up liking it, your employer might cover your expenses and send you off to get a Masters (or maybe an MBA or PMP if that's more your thing).

I went the higher education route straight after getting my B.Sc. and after finishing school i saw my friends who went into the workforce after undergrad who had many more years of work experience under their belt (as well as owning a house, cars, a family, etc) while i was just starting out.

And about flunkies: i've lost count of how many engineers i've worked with who did not have a firm grasp of the fundamentals... to the point where it was downright scary to know that they were designing major civil structures or O&G  pipeline related things.
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: GermanCdn on September 04, 2014, 07:55:28 PM
Quote from: zilla on September 04, 2014, 05:38:39 PM

And about flunkies: i've lost count of how many engineers i've worked with who did not have a firm grasp of the fundamentals... to the point where it was downright scary to know that they were designing major civil structures or O&G  pipeline related things.

I'm pretty sure this is still called the "Alberta Advantage" (inside joke only me, zilla, and maybe Jacob will get)?  My first stint in consulting (5 years), the talent pool was bad.  My second stint (left it after 9 months), it was an order of magnitude worse.  Common sense alone would save billions.
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: zilla on September 04, 2014, 08:04:59 PM
It's not just in alberta... when i was teaching undergrad physics labs at university in ontario it was insane how many of the engineering students there were clueless even after a few years of school...  no ability for deductive reasoning or critical thinking.. they were almost as bad as those kids who were taking biology or biochem to get into med school (shots fired! lol)
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: GermanCdn on September 04, 2014, 08:14:45 PM
I know, it's just worse here.  I've currently got engineering firm clients in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, St. John's and Calgary.  Calgary ones are the worst by a long shot, to the point where I stood up in a meeting (remember, not a structural guy) and openly questioned why the walls in the building I was running my equipment in to were 1400mm thick (building was the size of two football fields).  Response was that it was to take horizontal loads of my equipment.  Told them I could take all of the horizontal loads internal to my structure (standard practice) and add one sliding joint.  Net effect was the walls came down to 600mm, millions in concrete and steel were saved.  Too bad that 8 CSA engineers had already billed for two years of design time on the building ::).
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: diablochris6 on September 04, 2014, 08:33:07 PM
First of all, congratulations! Super stoked about your achievement!

Secondly, as a high school Biology and Anatomy teacher, I see an overwhelming lack of critical thinking compounded by a poor grasp of fundamentals. I have had students who go to college to be nurses who can't read/create a graph. I push my students with the material and hope that they will grow out of their complacency. Most are glued to their phones to socialize but hardly ever to try and learn something new. My physics professor bro-in-law and I commiserate over student learning. It makes me glad to see when someone with intellect and work ethic succeeds at some aspect of life.  Again, congrats!

I am 32 years old and grumpier beyond my years...
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: copachino on September 04, 2014, 10:12:50 PM
Quote from: muddyfox on September 04, 2014, 11:36:06 AM
I've found that that light is usually the train...

If it's not, it's a neon sign that says "the real tunnel starts here".

;D ::)

Seriously, great news! Enjoy the festivities!

thats a real truth, a year ago when a got my ME degree, happend that to me... but that train hit me real hard.

you will learn many things that nobody told you while you were studing, and you will have be really patient.

and work hard...
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: m-Kresol on September 04, 2014, 10:14:02 PM
Congrats on finishing!

I don't know how things are in Spain, but here in Austria the bachelor/master system was introduced in 05. Before that, it was normal that you did a 5 year (most students took (way) longer) diploma study. What they did upon introduction of the international bac/master system is to just split the existing study program into two parts and you obviously get your BSc. after the first. Still, the bachelor doesn't mean shi** around here, so 99% of us do their masters...
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: zilla on September 04, 2014, 10:18:26 PM
Quote from: diablochris6 on September 04, 2014, 08:33:07 PM
I have had students who go to college to be nurses who can't read/create a graph.

hah.. we have engineers here who can't tell the difference between x-axis and y-axis..
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: atreidesheir on September 05, 2014, 12:08:44 AM
Congratulations.
The future is bright in engineering.  I hope you have a happy and fun future.  You should have more free time now.
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: sonarchotic on September 05, 2014, 12:12:51 AM
Congrats! I'm just starting my EE and CE schooling so I'm on the other end of it. I don't know how far I'll go with it, maybe just a two year program in each or maybe more, we'll see. Any way, I'm glad for you and know it can be a difficult path to take so take pride in your accomplishment!
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: alanp on September 05, 2014, 04:09:00 AM
Quote from: zilla on September 04, 2014, 10:18:26 PM
Quote from: diablochris6 on September 04, 2014, 08:33:07 PM
I have had students who go to college to be nurses who can't read/create a graph.

hah.. we have engineers here who can't tell the difference between x-axis and y-axis..

... can they tie their shoelaces, or do they use velcro?
Title: Re: Sharing my happiness
Post by: micromegas on September 05, 2014, 07:18:31 PM
Well, oficially done (I just have to wait to get the results, but I have a really good feeling)!

Thanks to everyone for your kind words! I now it's not going to be a bed of roses (well, at least not without thorns) but I'm really happy.

Thanks for letting me express my satisfaction here too :).