Comments on: When to Try Something vs When to Study Something

By: Thank You, Steven Chu | Chris Gammell's Analog Life

Thank You, Steven Chu | Chris Gammell's Analog Life — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:49:23 +0000

[...] like it when I understand things. The universe feels like a little safer place, even if I realize feeling secure is only a state of [...]

By: Fluxor

Fluxor — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:45:02 +0000

Every situation is different. When I first broke into doing RF IC design, I bought a text book and read it front to back. Before then, I had no clue about RF circuits or systems. However, it’s not a method I’d recommend. Personally, I’m a tinkerer more than a reader. Tinker first. When that fails, search papers. Rarely have I had to go back to text books unless it’s to pull out the odd equation or two. They do look nice sitting on the shelf though.

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:23:43 +0000

Sounds about right to me. I keep a stack of textbooks on my desk within easy reach (as I’m sure most engineers do) and whenever I come to a problem I don’t understand, I pull out the books and read up on it to get a handle for the basic idea. Then I look online to see if there is anything out there that’s more recent than my textbook, or if anyone has had a similar problem. Then I go try some things on my own to figure it out, and if I still have trouble, then I bug a coworker. I think coworkers are an excellent resource because they understand what you work on, how it fits in with the whole project, what tools you use to get your work done, and that sort of thing. However, if you haven’t done some work on your own beforehand to figure it out, they aren’t very pleased, so asking for help should never be the first thing you do. After that, it becomes an issue of working with your coworkers or anyone else around that might be an expert in your problem.