January, 2020

The Broken Finger Paradox of Engineering

Published 2020/01/29

The Broken Finger Paradox of Engineering

A distraught man walks into his doctors office. “What is wrong with you today?” She asks. “Oh, I am miserable” said the patient as he sat in the doctor’s exam room. “Tell me what hurts” the doctor responded. The patient gingerly touched his right kneecap. “Ouch!” He then reached up and touched his left elbow with a grimace of pain. Then the tip of his nose, right hip, and finally his left pinky toe, all the while showing great discomfort. With a curt nod the doctor stood up and proclaimed, “I see what the problem is!” The patient looked hopeful. “We will get you some painkillers right after we put a splint on that broken finger!” How much time and suffering do we endure because we often focus on the wrong aspect of a problem or issue? The proverb tells us that there are more than one way to skin…

What Does An Engineer Look Like?

Published 2020/01/25

What Does An Engineer Look Like?

An argument for re-defining what (and who) makes a good Engineer Remember the story about Goldilocks? This originally was a fairy tale about an old woman, badly behaved, who broke into someone else’s house, sat on their furniture, ate their food, and ended up sleeping in their beds. When the owners of the house returned later the old woman jumped through a window, never to be seen again. (She was probably looking for her next house to defile) It was only in later revisions that the main character morphed into a sweet young girl and the owners into a family with a mom, dad, and baby. Yet, still, the main character stayed true to her breaking and entering ways. This story is very popular in many different cultures. The Wikipedia article on the tale discusses possible analogues to Snow White and a Norwegian tale about a princess entering a cave…

Why New Engineers Should Be Realistic About AI and ML

Published 2020/01/23

Why New Engineers Should Be Realistic About AI and ML

One of the most fulfilling programs that I have had the opportunity to build and work on is a co-op program in conjunction with a local university. This program is a wonderful opportunity for college students to get feet-wet in the real world. Over a period of 6 semesters they work every other semester with a local company. While I cannot speak for other organizations that participate in this program, for the young Engineers that come to work with my team, it truly is work as they are treated like any other teammate in regards to job duties and expectations. This extension of normal business practices extends all the way to the hiring process. These co-ops go through the same hiring practices that we use for any other Engineer on the team. Interview, normal HR onboarding, the usual company meet-and-greet. However, there has been one trend that has been more…

Hiring By Belief

Published 2020/01/22

Hiring By Belief

Recently I had an opportunity to re-watch a TED talk by a gentleman named Simon Sinek. Mr. Sinek is the author of a number of popular business tomes including Leaders Eat Last (Amazon referral) and Start With Why (Amazon referral). In the presentation, there is a concept that the best businesses start with a concept of “Why” and achieve greatness when people agree with the beliefs defined in the answer to the why question. In this talk there was ample discussion in regards to the successes of Apple, the Wright brothers, and also Martin Luther King, Jr. The talk is excellent and presents a very powerful message to any business . You can check it out below. However, one thought occurred to me after watching this video: Sure, we can run companies through belief and achieve great things in the same manner, but can we hire people through belief and…

Is Coffee Creative?

Published 2020/01/18

Is Coffee Creative?

When was the last time you went to a Starbucks? As ubiquitous as they have become, that last visit was probably not too long ago. In fact, as of 2019 there were 30,246 Starbucks stores worldwide with 6,188 in the United States alone. Besides the annual pilgrimages for the famed Pumpkin Spice Latte (disclaimer: no comment on this drink as the author has never tried one), Starbucks is continually rolling out new and inventive drink options. Per a statement in 2006 by a spokesperson for the brand, Lisa Passe, there are more than 87,000 inventive combinations possible at any single Starbucks location. But I digress, as the creative efforts of a worldwide coffee chain are not the answer to this question. Is this question better served to examine the effects of coffee on creativity? We could go back to Starbucks to dive into this analysis, as coffee shops have long…

Going from 0 to 1,000 views on Medium

Published 2020/01/18

Going from 0 to 1,000 views on Medium

You may be one of the people very much like myself who is either looking for the quick and easy formula for writing that is going to catapult you to the top and get you some of that easy writing money. Either that or you have already started the grind and are looking for that edge to get more of your articles noticed by the curators. Read on for some tips to achieve these goals and a big secret to success.

The Five Actions That Impress Me In A Job Interview

Published 2020/01/16

The Five Actions That Impress Me In A Job Interview

Have you ever heard of someone getting a job simply because they were wearing a tie? Sure – we have all heard stories about those fantastically lucky people that stumble into an amazing job through sheer luck and circumstance. The waiter who manages to say something witty that charms the executive who at the end of the meal not only leaves a substantial tip, but also a job offer on the table. At a management seminar in mid-2015 with other Engineering Directors I heard a secondhand story about oil boom towns in North Dakota that were so hard up for workers that hiring managers would offer jobs on the spot to fast food employees at the drive in window. These stories must be just that: anecdotes that we tell each other around the coffee maker. Right? There once was an Engineer who went into a job interview while wearing a…

Using a 3D Printer To Explain An Engineering Mentality

Published 2020/01/14

Using a 3D Printer To Explain An Engineering Mentality

Creating a 3D print is an act of pure creation. An Engineer may not have much of an artistic streak when it comes to the traditional artistic skills, but an expression of form through technology could be considered stock in trade for this mindset. However, this comes with a caveat. For every minute of watching the X, Y, and Z-axis machinations of the busy printer head, at least 3 times that has been spent simply searching for the perfect thing to print and in getting it set up.

The Simple Power Of Going For A Walk At Work

Published 2020/01/13

The Simple Power Of Going For A Walk At Work

There are a large number of benefits that can be gleaned from this few minutes of exercise. The first of these is simply getting away from the antagonists and problems that feel stressful. That simple separation can do wonders for the outlook for the remainder of the day along with a vast number of other mental and physical benefits to some simple exercise that can be found in a quick stroll.

Creating Unique Images For Blog Posts

Published 2020/01/11

Creating Unique Images For Blog Posts

anyone writing for fun or to try and make a living understands the power of imagery in articles. This is one of the key attractors for people in getting attention to your writing and achieving those crucial eyeballs that drive page views. One of the simplest things that you can do is to create your own unique images. It is fairly simple to take free, high-quality images and combine them together into new, unique creations that can help your posts stand out.

Month: January 2020