[Paladin79]

Fact: the iPhone would have happened much, much sooner if Apple hadn't "Steve'd" the Newton Messenger.

That may well be true but I was only talking iphone and ipad, not that I watch Fox news or care to be associated with them but..

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2010/06/02/jobs-says-ipad-idea-came-iphone.html

 

[CAPT Deadpool]

Fact: the iPhone would have happened much, much sooner if Apple hadn't "Steve'd" the Newton Messenger.

My brother had one of those Apple Newton's back in the 90s. I remember the first commercial for the initial Galaxy note "smartphone". They showed Apple "sheeple/fanboys" waiting in line for the latest iPhone while the "smart" guy walked by writing on his Galaxy Note with a stylus. The tag line was something about the Galaxy being more innovative and not waiting in line. I laughed my A** off. The Apple Newton beat Samsung by 18 years with a stylus type "smart" device/pad. Ironic I think.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Newton

 

[Jason Stoddard]

The worst such story like that I was ever involved with was when I was at Raychem in the 80's. We were creating heat-shrinkable metal (some NiTi alloys have that property) and we had a contract from the Air Force for a mechanism that used it. Their specs were very different from what we had in the standard repertoire so a team of materials scientists set to work, and after a couple months of experimentation they had a sample that my testing showed met the spec. Eureka, we thought, and the management team informed the Pentagon we had cracked the nut, and they placed a very large order with a very short cycle delivery time. Problem was the next batch using the same formula did not perform the same way. Nor the next. It took another 6 months of trial and error (and differential equations) to figure out why and to get it to work right and by then the application had changed so the military could use a different solution and we had no more use for this alloy (and it was classified by contract so we couldn't have sold it if we wanted to.) A few heads rolled for that one...

Oh gawd oh gawd oh gawd oh gawd, I'm physically shivering. Our world here is sooooooo small. Kinda puts any problems we have in perspective.

(And yeah, I know, it still sucks when we're out of stock.)

 

[DrJam]

Reading Jason's last chapter and a lot of the posts that followed, I suppose I've been lucky to have a job where I've used a lot the math I learned in EE undergrad as well as grad school and beyond.

 

[FrivolsListener]

I actually liked differential equations in school, even though we dubbed them "difficult equations."
Having marketing sell something because the prototype worked once? Been there, done that.

A really satisfying moment in my career was doing a difficult bit of work on some kernel-mode assembly that inserted itself on-the-fly into a running kernel, in a RISC instruction set I didn't know too well and having work flawlessly the first time! That never happens. (Or, to quote Bull Durham, "That was beautiful what'd I do?")

 

[dieslemat]

Speaking of math, I thought I was done with Linear Algebra and Probability & Statistics. And then Machine Learning came about.

 

[Zojokkeli]

I was never too hot on math so I'm glad I barely need in the working life. Back in the day I figured I'd never be an engineer so no need to study math or physics too hard, a decision I later regretted during my engineering studies.

Now I'm a little over a year in my first real career job in project engineering, and I have to say it's been great. Very stressful at times, but knowing that we pulled off a major new product launch on our manufacturing lines with a team full of junior engineers new to the company feels great, and gives me confidence to face future projects.

 

[KoshNaranek]

Aside: when I got married, I thought it a bit simplistic and utopian when Lisa called me out on “spreading negativity” when I had a “worst day” (yeah, you get them in the agency biz as well). But you see now I’m counseling people not to go home and make life bad for friends and family because they had a bad day. The reason is simple: she’s right. Spreading negativity comes back to you in spades…hell, it can ruin your life.​

So here’s how I stay sane on those worst days. What I call my "sanity mantra." It goes like this:

No PERSON is always right. Not even you.​

Jason, I have read this post several times and I believe that it is best that you have ever written. You are a closet philosopher. Don't worry, we will not spread it around. Perhaps you should write a survival manual for engineering students.

As my own aside regarding difficulty with differential equations. My son took differential equations in 11th grade and actually had a meltdown when we refused to let him enroll in the next level class(I don't even know what it is) because we had to drive him college every day. I am proud that my son appears to passing me intellectually, but it was sobering to realize that I could not help my 11th grader with his homework, not because I had forgotten it, but was incapable of ever learning it.

 

[riffrafff]

Back to alcohol but only for a a brief moment. I am so impressed by Zwilling-Henckels double walled glass, glasses that I ordered some beer and highball glasses. The beer glass keeps the beer nice and cold even when outside.

Today is International Beer Day.

 

[Khalaris]

[...]
#1 is absolutely possible. I miss things, I make mistakes, I slap myself on the head and say, "What were you thinking?" It's part of those "worst days." In addition, the more engineering I do, the more I learn. What I'm designing now is based on a lot more knowledge than I had when I started. This doesn't make it better all the time, but it can help you avoid some boneheaded mistakes. And, some things aren't so obvious until you hear from a whole lot of customers with different "use cases," to use fancy corporate terminology. So fixing mistakes, more knowledge, and more data all contribute to progression over time. Or at least you hope so.
[...]

This. As any sort of engineer, you never stop learning. And never underestimate the immense value of personal experience. Many things that seem like a good idea now (and that do work) aren't looking so clever when you come back to them a year later.

 

[Paladin79]

Jason, I have read this post several times and I believe that it is best that you have ever written. You are a closet philosopher. Don't worry, we will not spread it around. Perhaps you should write a survival manual for engineering students.

As my own aside regarding difficulty with differential equations. My son took differential equations in 11th grade and actually had a meltdown when we refused to let him enroll in the next level class(I don't even know what it is) because we had to drive him college every day. I am proud that my son appears to passing me intellectually, but it was sobering to realize that I could not help my 11th grader with his homework, not because I had forgotten it, but was incapable of ever learning it.

I was in advanced classes from the seventh grade on and luckily had college math and algebra courses put out by the University of Illinois during that time frame and they helped greatly in college later. I was able to help and teach my son a bit and I started him out at an early age. By the time he was 14 he made $50 an hour and was able to be graduated from college with no debt. He had clear cut and realistic goals and so far he has exceeded them. I may have exceeded him in a few small areas but not many.

 

[Paladin79]

Today is International Beer Day.

Luckily I am not working today so I can try to get out and search before the lines get too long. Better yet, I can send the wife, I hate to shop. Generally I walk in, buy something and leave.

 

[riffrafff]

Luckily I am not working today so I can try to get out and search before the lines get too long. Better yet, I can send the wife, I hate to shop. Generally I walk in, buy something and leave.

I tried that a couple of days ago (sending the wife). The store she went to didn't have what I was after, so I tried a different store last night...score! lol.

 

[audio philestine]

Today is International Beer Day.

Then I shall have an International Beer!

 

[sam6550a]

The worst such story like that I was ever involved with was when I was at Raychem in the 80's. We were creating heat-shrinkable metal (some NiTi alloys have that property) and we had a contract from the Air Force for a mechanism that used it. Their specs were very different from what we had in the standard repertoire so a team of materials scientists set to work, and after a couple months of experimentation they had a sample that my testing showed met the spec. Eureka, we thought, and the management team informed the Pentagon we had cracked the nut, and they placed a very large order with a very short cycle delivery time. Problem was the next batch using the same formula did not perform the same way. Nor the next. It took another 6 months of trial and error (and differential equations) to figure out why and to get it to work right and by then the application had changed so the military could use a different solution and we had no more use for this alloy (and it was classified by contract so we couldn't have sold it if we wanted to.) A few heads rolled for that one...

Been there, got burned in a similar situation, and learned a lot.