Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
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Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
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Re: Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
#2My example of this: I have yet to meet a junior EE candidate who understands the need for decoupling capacitors in digital circuits
That says a lot about the state of education. I'm not even officially an EE, and only did some embedded hardware stuff and some electronics as a hobby, yet I know what that's about.
Re: Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
#3My example of this: I have yet to meet a junior EE candidate who understands the need for decoupling capacitors in digital circuits That says a lot about the state of education. I'm not even officially an EE, and only did some embedded hardware stuff and some electronics as a hobby, yet I know what that's about.
It seems strange that the author has not met a single one that understands that concept since it is quite basic. I am guessing he just is bad at interviewing and asks trick questions till he meet someone who know the interviewing game inside out.
Examples he gives:
"Current limiting resistors missing (BJTs, diodes, etc.)
Shorting a potentiometer node to a rail
Voltage regulators missing capacitors at input/output
Missing pull-up/pull-down resistors on digital buses
Missing decoupling capacitors"
I mean ... looking at a schematic how should you know that the voltage regulator doesn't have internal caps without seeing the specs? Missing pullups? How do you know those are not internal? It is stupid.
Re: Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
#4My example of this: I have yet to meet a junior EE candidate who understands the need for decoupling capacitors in digital circuits That says a lot about the state of education. I'm not even officially an EE, and only did some embedded hardware stuff and some electronics as a hobby, yet I know what that's about.
Seems like it says more about the writer's hiring pool.
I can't think of one junior EE I've interacted with who couldn't have told you what decoupling caps were for. Sizing them correctly (instead of just sprinkling the 0.1uF magic fairy dust on your board) might be another matter but I've yet to see someone fail to grasp the purpose.
Re: Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
#5My example of this: I have yet to meet a junior EE candidate who understands the need for decoupling capacitors in digital circuits That says a lot about the state of education. I'm not even officially an EE, and only did some embedded hardware stuff and some electronics as a hobby, yet I know what that's about.
It seems strange that the author has not met a single one that understands that concept since it is quite basic. I am guessing he just is bad at interviewing and asks trick questions till he meet someone who know the interviewing game inside out. Examples he gives: "Current limiting resistors missing (BJTs, diodes, etc.) Shorting a potentiometer node to a rail Voltage regulators missing capacitors at input/output Mis…
It's not that stupid. If a candidate asks the questions you are asking then you know they are on the right track. It isn't about getting the right answers but about having the knowledge to ask the right questions.
Re: Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
#6My example of this: I have yet to meet a junior EE candidate who understands the need for decoupling capacitors in digital circuits That says a lot about the state of education. I'm not even officially an EE, and only did some embedded hardware stuff and some electronics as a hobby, yet I know what that's about.
It seems strange that the author has not met a single one that understands that concept since it is quite basic. I am guessing he just is bad at interviewing and asks trick questions till he meet someone who know the interviewing game inside out. Examples he gives: "Current limiting resistors missing (BJTs, diodes, etc.) Shorting a potentiometer node to a rail Voltage regulators missing capacitors at input/output Mis…
how should you know that the voltage regulator doesn't have internal caps without seeing the specs?
Can you name one voltage regulator that has them? Maybe you've worked with a few, but just off the top of my head, the 78xx, 317, and 1117 don't, and neither do all the other miscellaneous ones that I've seen in consumer electronics.
Re: Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
#7My example of this: I have yet to meet a junior EE candidate who understands the need for decoupling capacitors in digital circuits That says a lot about the state of education. I'm not even officially an EE, and only did some embedded hardware stuff and some electronics as a hobby, yet I know what that's about.
It seems strange that the author has not met a single one that understands that concept since it is quite basic. I am guessing he just is bad at interviewing and asks trick questions till he meet someone who know the interviewing game inside out. Examples he gives: "Current limiting resistors missing (BJTs, diodes, etc.) Shorting a potentiometer node to a rail Voltage regulators missing capacitors at input/output Mis…
I've yet to see a voltage regulator IC with built-in caps. DC-DC modules sure, but author argues that this kind of info (module / ic) should be present in schematics. BTW, some linear regulators can't handle ceramic and low-ESR capacitors at output, and may be better with none if that's the choise.
Re: Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
#8My example of this: I have yet to meet a junior EE candidate who understands the need for decoupling capacitors in digital circuits That says a lot about the state of education. I'm not even officially an EE, and only did some embedded hardware stuff and some electronics as a hobby, yet I know what that's about.
It seems strange that the author has not met a single one that understands that concept since it is quite basic. I am guessing he just is bad at interviewing and asks trick questions till he meet someone who know the interviewing game inside out. Examples he gives: "Current limiting resistors missing (BJTs, diodes, etc.) Shorting a potentiometer node to a rail Voltage regulators missing capacitors at input/output Mis…
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Re: Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
#9My example of this: I have yet to meet a junior EE candidate who understands the need for decoupling capacitors in digital circuits That says a lot about the state of education. I'm not even officially an EE, and only did some embedded hardware stuff and some electronics as a hobby, yet I know what that's about.
Seems like it says more about the writer's hiring pool. I can't think of one junior EE I've interacted with who couldn't have told you what decoupling caps were for. Sizing them correctly (instead of just sprinkling the 0.1uF magic fairy dust on your board) might be another matter but I've yet to see someone fail to grasp the purpose.
> Sizing them correctly
Explain please?
Yes, there are some considerations when you're dealing with RF, but a modern 0402 0.1uF cap works pretty much everywhere because it has such a great frequency response due to its small size.
Now, explaining to people that their 10uF 6VDC 0402 across the power rails probably doesn't have as much capacitance as a 2.2uF 15VDC 0402 is a little subtle.
It is also an issue that decoupling caps can hold too much energy and keep a power domain operating when you wanted it shut down. That makes for some interesting debugging. Power domains now require discharge circuits because IC's use so little power.
Re: Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic
#10My example of this: I have yet to meet a junior EE candidate who understands the need for decoupling capacitors in digital circuits That says a lot about the state of education. I'm not even officially an EE, and only did some embedded hardware stuff and some electronics as a hobby, yet I know what that's about.
It seems strange that the author has not met a single one that understands that concept since it is quite basic. I am guessing he just is bad at interviewing and asks trick questions till he meet someone who know the interviewing game inside out. Examples he gives: "Current limiting resistors missing (BJTs, diodes, etc.) Shorting a potentiometer node to a rail Voltage regulators missing capacitors at input/output Mis…
I'm looking at that list and checking the mistakes I've made in electronics classes.
I think my best one was shorting a (slow) clock to power, which made the whole thing blink on and off.