Today, I came into work and my desk looked like this:
Not having seen any of this stuff before, my first instinct was to assume that whomever I had taken the desk from had returned. I moved my things to a different table and began doing some work, when Josh came over and laughed, asking if Daniel's notes were too overwhelming. It turns out Daniel had laid some tasks out for me, as well as that goofy drawing on the right. The tasks include learning how to program with an LED strip, learning about the Konekt shields that Daniel is working with, redesigning a mount for the Guard Llama (I'll explain in a bit), and finding bins to store my stuff in. I began looking up the Konekt shield and reading about the Arduino library that works with the NeoPixel LED sticks, until Daniel came in and we decided that the most time-sensitive thing to work on was programming and assembling the Guard Llama. |
The Guard Llama is a pocket security/safety device, where the user can flip up a tab and push a button, and the device will make an emergency call from the user's phone. It's called the Guard Llama because apparently there's an actual type of llama called the Guard Llama that herds sheep, grows a bond with them, and protects them from danger. |
We got set up in the Fab Lab, and Daniel showed me how to use the software to program and test the PCBs for the Guard Llama beta prototypes. This setup is something Daniel would like me to help improve, as it is not very user-friendly. There are pieces that are unstable and springs which require the user to hold the PCB down as it is being programmed. Not to mention that some of the rods holding the PCB in place are toothpicks. I'll be adding toggle clamps to hold the board down and somehow finding a way to secure the pins on the bottom of the mount. I soldered little vibrating motors on to each of 31 PCBs and programmed each one, with a couple of errors (debouncing, detection) noted in six of the boards. |
Now we were ready to assemble the beta prototypes. Daniel suggested that I create a flowchart to map out the assembly process for anybody who may be going through the process in the future. He showed me how to use the software Gliffy to make my flowchart. He also told me to keep a spreadsheet of the times and calculated costs of each step of the process as we worked through it.
Daniel took this opportunity to tell me about some of the roles an engineer may take in the real world. For example, if I enjoy repetition and wouldn't mind duplicating the same tasks throughout the day as we did today with the assembly, I could become a ____. Repetition like this can be pretty Zen for me, but after continuing a job like this for a while I think I would grow antsy. Today, I also worked with the testing software for the chip. If I were to be a test engineer, my job would be designing this kind of software to make sure each aspect of the program (the button, light, motor, etc.) is working as desired. I would fix bugs in the testing system, etc., and may not end up seeing the product towards its finished state. If I were a product manager, on the other hand, which Daniel believes to be a pretty ideal position, I would oversee the tasks going on and manage them so that they are being divided efficiently. I expressed my concern about having to be strict with people and Daniel said that he usually approaches it by motivating them. Then yelling at people doesn't become necessary.
Daniel also suggested to me that I ask people from the office to get lunch with me, so that can get to know them better and learn more from them about their experiences in their positions. I'm not quite sure how to approach this yet, but I know I would get a lot from the experience if I did.
Daniel also suggested to me that I ask people from the office to get lunch with me, so that can get to know them better and learn more from them about their experiences in their positions. I'm not quite sure how to approach this yet, but I know I would get a lot from the experience if I did.