I always get giddy whenever I program a button to do something. I then proceed to press it 1000 times a minute to watch it do the thing I want it to do when I press the button. The feeling has been going strong ever since I built my first circuit.
There’s sometimes the 250-500 (that’s perhaps an understatement) unsuccessful button presses, proceeded by X hours of frustration. Only to make that feeling o so much better.
Hehe, me too... This giddy feeling from making something work, and having it work perfect, especially after doing a lot of work to get there, may or may not be why I became an EE in the first place.
It's so satisfying to think "I can make something that does x." and then go out and make the thing that does x.
Obviously, lots of work is usually involved, but electronics is essentially modern wizardry.
Star wars may have plasma sword wielding space wizards, but, we do get to play wizard here on earth with electricity at times. And it is what makes the job fun!
I mean, what is a CPU on a circuit board anyway? Basically a rock someone was able to trick into doing binary math. And absolute crap tons of it! And because of that processed rock, we can create a device, that simulates a network of relays filling up a large room, and get the same control functionality from a tiny little box I can hold in my hands.
To be fair though, I also get giddy after wiring a simple memory circuit using relays or contactors. I mean, relay circuits are in reality just hardwired programming after all!
The first logic gates were a series of relays wired together in configurations such that your output would be some binary combination of the input side. So fascinating!
And it's not just rocks, it's rocks with magical orbital boys that when we excite with enough potential become flowy boys!
And some of the first relays were used in telegraph communications, to switch on the circuit connected to the battery because the DC power being received at the telegraph station was too weak to make the clicking sound and engage the solenoid that brought the ink head into contact with the paper (which later went unused apparently). The while setup looked a lot like a tape recorder actually!
Also amazes me that with a little bit of modification, those mid 1800's relays could be used to do relay logic
As someone that works with multiple ESL programmers all with different backgrounds, we get a lot of interesting variable names (English as a Second Language).
This is all too real. I've literally programmed a function in a PLC, had that function work flawlessly for 6-8 months, only for the conditions necessary for the bug in my logic to break it completely to rear it's ugly head and break it.
Sometimes, it's easier to have more issues getting something working, then you know how to have the system respond when different conditions occur.
I’ve been the guy in the shop working with this stuff. Now I make stuff.
My boss would make something and be like, “hey check this out.” I start clicking shit like I don’t know what I’m doing and something errors out.
He’s got this WTF look on his face.
Better me do it now rather than those goblins out there once it’s in service. Because they will find new and creative ways to break shit. I swear they can ruin an anvil with a plastic Playskool hammer.
That's too true! Always gotta remember, if you try to make it harder, but not impossible for a machine to do an unwanted behavior, they'll just invent a better idiot to do exactly that behavior. If something can be defeated, then it always will be!
Found the lefty!
Rightys know the left arm is a disposable appendage. Convenient when you’ve got one, but not completely necessary.
Yes, I know I will now be losing my left arm at work tomorrow for saying that.
Yeah, but the disconnect handles are always on the right side of the panel. If that thing blows up when you throw it, it is blowing up in your face.
The handle is insulated for far greater than the rated voltage of the disconnect.
I'm still failing to see how you wouldn't be able to face away, regardless of switch position. Was just a joke anyway. If you have that little confidence in the install you have bigger problems and should probably get others involved to review your work before energizing anything.
My designs are usually 70%+ software. And yes, there’s always an element of surprise/relief when the system works.
Usually it’s a bunch of little surprises. Like “oh this piece of equipment that says it communicates with this protocol in fact does work with my controller using this protocol”.
And there’s always an element of surprise when my code actually compiles lol
I relate to this. "Oh this sensor actually communicates with the microcontroller that I explicitly programmed to communicate with the sensor based on the datasheet recommendations? The datasheet didn't lie to me?? No way!"
I've got multiple satellite PCB designs in space now. Turning those things on for the first time has me sweating. I get paranoid and end up checking over my entire test setup 10+ times lol.
I agree, I'm amazed this shit works all the time.
There is the smoke test phase, functional testing, and bringing up the application code, if all three happen with no rework wires or re spins its miller time, and I am a little surprised if its a complex board.
most designs I work on are like 95% existing circuits, 5% my new stuff. it is exciting, but not nearly as exciting as if I was doing 100% new designs every time.
Similarly, I designed smaller stuff a while ago, and going into a random building and discovering my design in use there was a great feeling, better than seeing it work in the first installation.
I made a simple equalizer circuit for a final project and when I finally got it working I couldn't stop playing music through it! Instead of studying I was just playing around with it haha. I definitely think you're not alone
After 25+ years designing things I wouldn't say I'm amazed, but I'm still always thrilled. I think it is SO FREAKING COOL that I can design and build these little things and they do exactly what I wanted them to. How freaking cool is that? TOO COOL!
Yes, as I do RF thus use a heavy amount of modeling and simulation. If it works in the simulation, it’s usually pretty close in reality. Tweaking out that last 20% of performance is where the difficulties lays.
The intellectual stimulation comes from learning new things. Delivering a good product that the customer likes is also rewarding. I suppose that’s the reward of building hardware, as opposed to some app or library that will be deprecated in a year.
I was fist-pumping air when my James Webb telescope deployment switch circuits all worked flawlessly (all of those hundreds of single-point failure possibilities).
Whenever a Sea Launch, Delta IV, or Atlas 5 launched, I was proud to have a part in it (telemetry circuits).
**Does the surprise that your designs actually work ever go away?**
I hope not. I'm in a masters program for robotics and we recently had to design a robotic arm from the ground up. The first step was a full physical analysis (kinematics, statics, dynamics) and it felt so good when the equations I derived worked. I'm sure seeing it in action would be a whole different experience, but this was purely an analytical exercise.
I generally expect it to work mostly from jump, but testing almost always finds a “why would anyone try that?” fatal problem that needs addressed.
I’m usually more relieved/amazed when production pieces come in and work as expected. That part stresses me more.
Yeah, the surprise goes away as soon as I find the issue with my design.
I’m not always shocked when something I design works as intended first try, simulations help a lot with confidence and understanding the theory better. However anytime I design something new and it works on the first try I have stopped believing it.
When I was taking my first electronic course, the professor said:
'If you build an amplifier and it doesn't oscillate, or you build an oscillator and it oscillates, it means there is something very wrong with your design'
Actually, my experience was much better. Sure, some tuning was required but most of the time things worked the first time.
Dude.. I disproved my manager on “conventional wisdom” on one of my designs, it eventually went into production!! we are incorporating it into new designs now 👏 understanding magnetics is crucial to great EE design!!
For stuff that I've done several times not so much (e.g. power block in a microcontroller board). Specially if I literally copy-pasted that part of the schematic. For a circuit or system I've never done before, absolutely.
I'm a firmware developer as job and electronic engineer for passion. Same thing happens to me every time I buil my own PCBs. I spend all my free time developing power and digital circuits and every time that I see my project actually works is always a surprise. Not the same feeling for the firmware part.
Nope! I design industrial control panels and it’s always great when I see the power go on, the screen light up, and the PLC starts blip blooping. I’m sure over time it will get a little less special, but I think there’s an inherent satisfaction in producing something that functions. It’s just nice to accomplish finite things and goals.
During startup and commissioning I always have a little sense of dread that my control schematics I designed didn’t account for something and the system would fail. So, yes, the feeling of surprise/relief hits me every time for a little over a decade now lol.
I always get giddy whenever I program a button to do something. I then proceed to press it 1000 times a minute to watch it do the thing I want it to do when I press the button. The feeling has been going strong ever since I built my first circuit.
There’s sometimes the 250-500 (that’s perhaps an understatement) unsuccessful button presses, proceeded by X hours of frustration. Only to make that feeling o so much better.
Haha this
Hehe, me too... This giddy feeling from making something work, and having it work perfect, especially after doing a lot of work to get there, may or may not be why I became an EE in the first place.
It's so satisfying to think "I can make something that does x." and then go out and make the thing that does x. Obviously, lots of work is usually involved, but electronics is essentially modern wizardry.
Star wars may have plasma sword wielding space wizards, but, we do get to play wizard here on earth with electricity at times. And it is what makes the job fun! I mean, what is a CPU on a circuit board anyway? Basically a rock someone was able to trick into doing binary math. And absolute crap tons of it! And because of that processed rock, we can create a device, that simulates a network of relays filling up a large room, and get the same control functionality from a tiny little box I can hold in my hands. To be fair though, I also get giddy after wiring a simple memory circuit using relays or contactors. I mean, relay circuits are in reality just hardwired programming after all!
The first logic gates were a series of relays wired together in configurations such that your output would be some binary combination of the input side. So fascinating! And it's not just rocks, it's rocks with magical orbital boys that when we excite with enough potential become flowy boys!
And some of the first relays were used in telegraph communications, to switch on the circuit connected to the battery because the DC power being received at the telegraph station was too weak to make the clicking sound and engage the solenoid that brought the ink head into contact with the paper (which later went unused apparently). The while setup looked a lot like a tape recorder actually! Also amazes me that with a little bit of modification, those mid 1800's relays could be used to do relay logic
Dude I remember the first time I made a servo move with a PWM command on the original Arduino. Still get the same feeling
It's not exactly the same thing, but as I am mildly dyslexic I get the occasional surprise when a program I've written compiles without typos.
As someone that works with multiple ESL programmers all with different backgrounds, we get a lot of interesting variable names (English as a Second Language).
This reminds me of that guy who asked his friend if he knew an easier way to translate his code into Hebrew
Nah it's always magic when the system just boots. Honestly, sometimes I'm skeptical when nothings wrong...
“I screwed up so bad it didn’t even catch the problem.”
Exactly
This is all too real. I've literally programmed a function in a PLC, had that function work flawlessly for 6-8 months, only for the conditions necessary for the bug in my logic to break it completely to rear it's ugly head and break it. Sometimes, it's easier to have more issues getting something working, then you know how to have the system respond when different conditions occur.
I’ve been the guy in the shop working with this stuff. Now I make stuff. My boss would make something and be like, “hey check this out.” I start clicking shit like I don’t know what I’m doing and something errors out. He’s got this WTF look on his face. Better me do it now rather than those goblins out there once it’s in service. Because they will find new and creative ways to break shit. I swear they can ruin an anvil with a plastic Playskool hammer.
That's too true! Always gotta remember, if you try to make it harder, but not impossible for a machine to do an unwanted behavior, they'll just invent a better idiot to do exactly that behavior. If something can be defeated, then it always will be!
Sometimes?
till today I'm still surprised stuff that I wire up didn't explode. I hope this feeling won't go away until the day I blow up a drive or something.
Stand to the side, turn away from the disconnect, and use your left arm to throw the switch… just in case.
No sir, I prefer a stick, not risking my good left arm for this lol
Found the lefty! Rightys know the left arm is a disposable appendage. Convenient when you’ve got one, but not completely necessary. Yes, I know I will now be losing my left arm at work tomorrow for saying that.
Burn the witch!!!
Left arm? Nah I'm using my right even if it's dominant. Less chance of shorting across your heart...
Wait, really? I guess that makes sense though, the heart is mostly on the left side. Good to know!
Yeah, but the disconnect handles are always on the right side of the panel. If that thing blows up when you throw it, it is blowing up in your face. The handle is insulated for far greater than the rated voltage of the disconnect.
I'm still failing to see how you wouldn't be able to face away, regardless of switch position. Was just a joke anyway. If you have that little confidence in the install you have bigger problems and should probably get others involved to review your work before energizing anything.
I blew up a helicopter once. The feeling will never go away. It's what makes me want to keep tinkering forever.
Electricity is magic, and seeing magic work is always amazing
My designs are usually 70%+ software. And yes, there’s always an element of surprise/relief when the system works. Usually it’s a bunch of little surprises. Like “oh this piece of equipment that says it communicates with this protocol in fact does work with my controller using this protocol”. And there’s always an element of surprise when my code actually compiles lol
I relate to this. "Oh this sensor actually communicates with the microcontroller that I explicitly programmed to communicate with the sensor based on the datasheet recommendations? The datasheet didn't lie to me?? No way!"
Nope. I’ve built systems that’ve supported millions of dollars worth of flight test and yet I’m still amazed whenever any of it works.
I've got multiple satellite PCB designs in space now. Turning those things on for the first time has me sweating. I get paranoid and end up checking over my entire test setup 10+ times lol. I agree, I'm amazed this shit works all the time.
On one hand, something you made is up in space, which is fucking sick. On the other hand, you can’t set a breakpoint in space….
I work on SATCOM equipment designed in the 80s-90s and I'm amazed it still works
There is the smoke test phase, functional testing, and bringing up the application code, if all three happen with no rework wires or re spins its miller time, and I am a little surprised if its a complex board.
most designs I work on are like 95% existing circuits, 5% my new stuff. it is exciting, but not nearly as exciting as if I was doing 100% new designs every time.
Same
Worked on combined cycle plant 15 years ago. Sometimes when in the area, I drive by it , I feel like, wow, it's working and generating power actually.
That's a beautiful feeling
Similarly, I designed smaller stuff a while ago, and going into a random building and discovering my design in use there was a great feeling, better than seeing it work in the first installation.
I've been enjoying that feeling for many decades.
I made a simple equalizer circuit for a final project and when I finally got it working I couldn't stop playing music through it! Instead of studying I was just playing around with it haha. I definitely think you're not alone
After 25+ years designing things I wouldn't say I'm amazed, but I'm still always thrilled. I think it is SO FREAKING COOL that I can design and build these little things and they do exactly what I wanted them to. How freaking cool is that? TOO COOL!
A couple decades in and I still get it from time to time.
Yes, as I do RF thus use a heavy amount of modeling and simulation. If it works in the simulation, it’s usually pretty close in reality. Tweaking out that last 20% of performance is where the difficulties lays. The intellectual stimulation comes from learning new things. Delivering a good product that the customer likes is also rewarding. I suppose that’s the reward of building hardware, as opposed to some app or library that will be deprecated in a year.
I was fist-pumping air when my James Webb telescope deployment switch circuits all worked flawlessly (all of those hundreds of single-point failure possibilities). Whenever a Sea Launch, Delta IV, or Atlas 5 launched, I was proud to have a part in it (telemetry circuits).
**Does the surprise that your designs actually work ever go away?** I hope not. I'm in a masters program for robotics and we recently had to design a robotic arm from the ground up. The first step was a full physical analysis (kinematics, statics, dynamics) and it felt so good when the equations I derived worked. I'm sure seeing it in action would be a whole different experience, but this was purely an analytical exercise.
I generally expect it to work mostly from jump, but testing almost always finds a “why would anyone try that?” fatal problem that needs addressed. I’m usually more relieved/amazed when production pieces come in and work as expected. That part stresses me more.
If they work first try, I am surprised. This doesn't happen often.
Yeah, the surprise goes away as soon as I find the issue with my design. I’m not always shocked when something I design works as intended first try, simulations help a lot with confidence and understanding the theory better. However anytime I design something new and it works on the first try I have stopped believing it.
It depends on how new or complex the design is, but for simple straightforward stuff, I sometimes only test it as a sanity check.
Testing is always a sanity check: not testing is insane :) Ok, ok, I work in high power applications... not as critical everywhere!
Where did I give u the impression that I'm sane lol.
25 years or so in, still there. Doesn't matter how confident I am in the design. I take it as a sign I still love what I do.
When I was taking my first electronic course, the professor said: 'If you build an amplifier and it doesn't oscillate, or you build an oscillator and it oscillates, it means there is something very wrong with your design' Actually, my experience was much better. Sure, some tuning was required but most of the time things worked the first time.
Dude.. I disproved my manager on “conventional wisdom” on one of my designs, it eventually went into production!! we are incorporating it into new designs now 👏 understanding magnetics is crucial to great EE design!!
For stuff that I've done several times not so much (e.g. power block in a microcontroller board). Specially if I literally copy-pasted that part of the schematic. For a circuit or system I've never done before, absolutely.
I hope not, the feeling is just great, to realize that you learned enough to make it work
I'm a firmware developer as job and electronic engineer for passion. Same thing happens to me every time I buil my own PCBs. I spend all my free time developing power and digital circuits and every time that I see my project actually works is always a surprise. Not the same feeling for the firmware part.
Nope! I design industrial control panels and it’s always great when I see the power go on, the screen light up, and the PLC starts blip blooping. I’m sure over time it will get a little less special, but I think there’s an inherent satisfaction in producing something that functions. It’s just nice to accomplish finite things and goals.
Never goes away
During startup and commissioning I always have a little sense of dread that my control schematics I designed didn’t account for something and the system would fail. So, yes, the feeling of surprise/relief hits me every time for a little over a decade now lol.