Some years back, one manager said "No one knows for sure what Bruce does, but every organization needs one of him". I'm one of those guys who have many tasks instead of being focused in one area. I have called myself a generalist, but I am not sure that really says much. I have a varied past performing lab admin and lab planning functions, designing relational databases and programming in C language. Today I work in a hardware development group. I assist the developers in any way I can. I bring up new boards. I verify proper operation of those boards, especially in the RF area. I use test equipment like oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers with VSA capabilities, network analyzers and RF signal generators to isolate problems to the component level and determine RF signal quality. I solder, removing and placing SMT components and making special modifications. I make sure things are ordered and in place for testing environments and I assemble those test environments. Then I run tests and make the test results available to others. These tests are run in thermal chambers at various temperatures. Testing can run for weeks or months. My current manager tells me I am a hardware verification engineer; I conduct tests and support activities centered around verifying that hardware designs meet their requirements; especially the RF hardware. In this day and age, I consider myself very lucky to have a job and to work for a good company with good people. I think I will continue being that generalist and keep others wondering, sometimes including myself, just what I do, but whatever it is, I strive to do it well.
Listed skills include Test Equipment, Spectrum Analyzer, Electronics, Soldering, and 14 others.
