Page 31 - The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design

How to Grow Strong, Healthy Engineers

the young engineer, and should be held responsible for the project results.
We should not invest project leadership too early in young engineers; it's
not fair to them. The engineer will also lay the circuit out, characterize it,
and make the data sheet. Each step should be overseen by an appropriate
senior engineer. This phase is a full-time effort for about five months for
design, is in abeyance while waiting for silicon, and full-time again for
about two months during characterization.

5. The first solo design can now begin. The engineer now has been
led through each of the steps in a design, except for product development.
Here the designer (we'll call the young engineer a designer only when the
first product is delivered to production) takes the project details from the
marketing department and reforms them to a more producible definition
of silicon. At the end of the initial product planning, the designer can
report to the company what the expected specifications, functionality, and
die size are. There are always difficulties and trade-offs that modify mar-
keting's initial request. This should be overseen by the design manager.
The project will presumably continue through the now-familiar sequence.
The designer should be allowed to utilize a mask designer at this point,
but should probably characterize the silicon and write the data sheet one
last time,

This regimen takes a little over two years, but is valuable to the com-
pany right from the start. In the long run, the company gains a seasoned
designer in about three years, not the usual seven years minimum. It's
also an opportunity to see where a prospective designer will have difficul-
ties without incurring devastating emotional and project damage. The
grad can decide for himself or herself if the design path is really correct,
and the apprenticeship gives opportunities to jump into other career paths.
I like the concepts of apprentice, journeyman, and master levels of the
art. If you hang around in the industry long enough, you'll get the title
"senior" or "staff." It's title inflation. I have met very few masters at our
craft; most of us fall into the journeyman category. I put no union con-
notation on the terms; I just like the emphasis on craftsmanship.
There are a few engineers who graduate ready to make a company
some money, but very few. Most grads are fresh engineering meat, and
need to be developed into real engineers. It's time for companies to train
their people and eliminate the undeserved failures. I worked for five years
at a well-known 1C company that was fond of bragging that it rolled 20%
of its income into research and development. The fact is, it was so poorly
organized that the majority of development projects failed. The projects
were poorly managed, and the company was fond of "throwing a designer
and a project against the wall and seeing which ones stick." Most of the
designers thrown were recent graduates.
We should guide grads through this kind of apprenticeship to preserve
their enthusiasm and energy, ensuring a better profession for us all.

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