In The Trenches
Your computer ... the floor tiles ... the
light fixtures.
It’s natural for people of similar
traits to be drawn to certain jobs. It’s
very important to understand this.
Engineers like (perhaps love is a better word) their profession. (Please
note that profession and job are not
the same.) They like making things.
They like solving problems. What’s
more, engineers often take their
profession home.
Many engineers have a personal
lab. Many engineers made a hobby
of “engineering” while in high
school.
Quite simply, engineering is a
way of life. Obviously, this is very
different from administrators and
managers. Few of these people go
home and read a “Modern
Management” magazine for fun or
practice with new ways of writing
budget reports.
Engineers are generally honest
and straightforward, often to the
point of being blunt. Subtlety is not
something they recognize well. But
they have to be this way. If their
design fails, there is no one to blame
except themselves because their
signature is on the drawings. It is
also an inescapable fact that you
can’t fool Mother Nature. You can
fool yourself and others, but the laws
of physics prove the truth of any
design.
This honesty requirement manifests itself in two very important
personal aspects. The first is
responsibility. Engineers rarely try
to deny responsibility for failure.
This is quite unusual. Few others are
willing to do this. How many times
have you seen finger-pointing and
excuses? Have you ever heard an
administrator say “That’s my fault. I
screwed up.”?
Engineers do this because, as
noted above, their name is on the
drawings. At the most, they’ll say “It
wasn’t designed for that.” Or, “It wasn’t in the specifications.” The fact that
they are able to admit mistakes
indicates a large ego and strength of
character. These are important traits
JULY 2005
in themselves but are often overlooked because engineers are generally somewhat non-social. They do
not exercise these traits for social
authority as others might do. But,
simply because some things are
not obvious doesn’t mean that they
aren’t there.
The second aspect is that
they expect to see honesty from
others. Within the engineering
community, this is a reasonable
expectation. However, in a social
or business setting, it can be somewhat naive. It’s important to understand this. Don’t put them in a
situation where it can be detrimental.
And never, never lie to an engineer.
If an engineer catches you in a
lie, he will never (yes never) trust
Atmel AVRbased Micro64/128
Embedded Controller Module
8-Channel Analog to Digital Convertor
Real Time Clock/Calender
29 Digital I/O
SPI & I2C Bus
Two Serial Ports
Serial Boot Loader
RS-232, 422 or 485
Selectable Baud
Rates up to 250 Kbps
Only 1.5 Cubic Inches
Supports Assembly,
BASIC and C Prog. Languages
Inexpensive CodeVision C Compiler
Starting at Only
$119 - Single Qty
Start Developing
The Micro6/128 Development
Board takes the Micro64/128 I/O
pins and expands them out to
solder pads and headers for ease
of connection when developing.
It also connects USART1 to RS-232
drivers or directly to screw
terminals for RS-422 or RS-485
communication. USART0 is also
connected to RS-232 drivers. The
RS-232 drivers are connected to
two DB9 connectors. This board
includes a prototyping area so the user can add external
circuitry. There is an onboard voltage regulator for powering the
Micro64/128 and additional circuitry. The Micro64/64A/128/128A
development system comes complete with a Micro64, Micro64A,
Micro128 or Micro128A, a Micro64/128 Development Board, and a
power supply.
VISIT WWW.MICROMINT.COM FOR MORE
INFORMATION or Call 1-800-635-3355
Circle #111 on the Reader Service Card. 79