Some of Mike Fraser's most memorable moments as a computer hardware engineer
involve things going BOOM.
"On a number of occasions I have seen or caused tantalum capacitors to
explode. They go off like firecrackers," says Fraser. He is a self-employed
hardware engineer. "I was also near a 100-amp power transistor that exploded,
which goes off more like a shotgun."
Some of Fraser's past projects involved electronic circuit design and printed
circuit board layout. More recently, he did some work for the oil and gas
industry.
"I have been doing programming and hardware design for pressure/temperature
sensors and their associated systems," he says. "These are sensors that are
placed at the bottom of oil wells to monitor conditions under high pressure
and temperature."
Darren Brownell is an engineer who designs ground-based satellite communication
systems. One of his most unique experiences came when he was working on a
deep space antenna in Spain.
"The site had a visit from one of their contractors: an eagle and his handler,"
says Brownell.
Seriously?
"Birds like to nest in and around the antenna, which can affect performance,"
explains Brownell. "And so the only reliable method of keeping them away was
the occasional visit from an eagle, who flies around for a few hours to keep
the birds away."
Fraser says this field combines two things he enjoys: computers and building
things. "When I have completed a board design, from start to finish, and I
can hold the thing in my hands and make it work. That's the thing that keeps
me going," he says.
Brownell agrees. "The most exciting part of my job is when the equipment
I design is finally finished and I get to turn it on and watch it work."
Puneet Gupta is a senior hardware engineer at Amazon who helped design
the Amazon Fire smartphone.
"I'm passionate about technology in general," he says. "My job allows me
to explore this passion every day. The excitement of working on products that
are shipped and sold in a large volume across the world keeps me motivated.
"Consumer electronics has been one of the fastest growing fields in the
past decade," he adds. "Feature phones led to smartphones a decade ago. Smartphones
led to the development of tablets and e-readers. Now the world is moving towards
a closed-loop network of wirelessly connected devices."
It's important to be confident in yourself. "When I started working, I
felt a bit incompetent because of the fact that I was on my own to design,
with no teachers for guidance," says hardware designer Erica Kwizak. "But
then I talked to other engineers and realized we are all in the same boat.
There are moments you feel lost and others when you're on a real roll."
Being able to solve problems creatively is key to success
in this field. You have to be prepared to seek out new knowledge.
"There are always new challenges and opportunities to learn and advance
your skills," says Fraser. "There is nothing stagnant about this kind of work.
But one must be able to problem-solve and be creative, and one must enjoy
learning."