RF & Microwave Designline Blog
Social media for engineers: good or garbage?
Sherry Hess
11/28/2010 1:11 PM EST
Two weeks ago, I attended an EDAC panel session on Social Media for emerging companies to learn from the big guys. On the panel were representatives from Altera, Cadence, Synopsys and EE Times, and out of all of them, I most enjoyed the EE Times speaker since he presented actual data (see Figure 1) in true engineering fashion. The insightful take-away… Engineers hate Twitter!
Well, I am not sure my opinion can persuade you to ignore these numbers, but as far as social media goes, I hope you agree that just like the internet, social media isn’t a passing fad. Naturally, it will evolve and change over time, but it isn’t going away. And with that, I’m proud to personally and professionally embrace social media and take a leading position using these various channels to reach fellow engineers.
Figure 2, complements of Altera, shows the many channels available to firms wanting to embrace social media. For a high-tech industry that’s innovative in design and development, we sure tend to shy away from the cutting edge in social media. I’m not exactly sure why. Engineers are precise and cautious while social media is perhaps too loose, fast and fickle?
You tell me. In addition to the usual Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and my shameless plug for blogging;-), etc. offerings that most firms have explored, AWR is also one to venture into a few other less frequently explored domains…
Witness the iPhone. “There must be an app for that.” Voila. The Transmission Line (TX-Line) Calculator. Thanks to AWR’s intern, Alex Collins, for tackling this first offering for us. Why don’t you take a look; download and use the app; and give us feedback on ways to improve it or suggest other apps to tackle? Get it here.
Or how about a Microwave Calculator? Agilent offers us a Microwave (µWave) calculator to find errors in measurements. Find that app here.
Software as a service or a so-called “online design center”? Transim Technology, recently acquired by Arrow, is providing viable portals to designers for the evaluation of products/parts in the context of typical applications long before they have to actually speak to another human being by phone or through an email exchange. More than simply an “interactive data sheet,” the site allows users to place a device from a sponsoring manufacturer into a specific circuit using the manufacturer’s device parameters (or varying them) and run a simulation. Sound enticing? Give it a try. Here you can “play” in a controlled way with designs in the RF/microwave space such as WCDMA amplifiers.
What will be next in social media for the engineering mindset? I don’t know, but like your typical engineer looking for next generation’s technology, I’m excited to see what it could be. And isn’t curiosity just one of the many traits that we engineers have in common? Well, aside from our dislike of Twitter. LOL.
Figure 2, complements of Altera, shows the many channels available to firms wanting to embrace social media. For a high-tech industry that’s innovative in design and development, we sure tend to shy away from the cutting edge in social media. I’m not exactly sure why. Engineers are precise and cautious while social media is perhaps too loose, fast and fickle?
Witness the iPhone. “There must be an app for that.” Voila. The Transmission Line (TX-Line) Calculator. Thanks to AWR’s intern, Alex Collins, for tackling this first offering for us. Why don’t you take a look; download and use the app; and give us feedback on ways to improve it or suggest other apps to tackle? Get it here.
Or how about a Microwave Calculator? Agilent offers us a Microwave (µWave) calculator to find errors in measurements. Find that app here.
Software as a service or a so-called “online design center”? Transim Technology, recently acquired by Arrow, is providing viable portals to designers for the evaluation of products/parts in the context of typical applications long before they have to actually speak to another human being by phone or through an email exchange. More than simply an “interactive data sheet,” the site allows users to place a device from a sponsoring manufacturer into a specific circuit using the manufacturer’s device parameters (or varying them) and run a simulation. Sound enticing? Give it a try. Here you can “play” in a controlled way with designs in the RF/microwave space such as WCDMA amplifiers.
What will be next in social media for the engineering mindset? I don’t know, but like your typical engineer looking for next generation’s technology, I’m excited to see what it could be. And isn’t curiosity just one of the many traits that we engineers have in common? Well, aside from our dislike of Twitter. LOL.
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KeithSchaub
11/29/2010 4:42 PM EST
I can definitely see the usefulness that Twitter has, but todate I have yet to meet an engineer that uses or has used twitter for anything. Perhaps some use it for non-engineering related topics, I don't know, but bring it up at the water cooler and risk being shunned :)
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ChrisGammell
12/6/2010 9:11 AM EST
I use it daily to keep up with others and to communicate with people about my radio show. I find that the hobbyist community has a much better grasp on it than the average industry engineer, but that is likely the age gap right now. There's uptake, but it's slow. I will say we could use a few more engineers on there.
@Chris_Gammell
http://theamphour.com
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paulborg
12/8/2010 7:15 PM EST
There's a reason it's called twitter - it's made for twits.
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Joe@Celadon
11/30/2010 10:00 AM EST
As I see it, the benefit of Twitter and other social media platforms is the ability to share industry news and opinions quickly, basically as a link-dump that's far less polluted than Facebook. Keep in mind, though, I say this as a marketing guy, not as an engineer :-)
@celadonsystems #alreadylinkedthisstoryironically
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r3son8tr
12/1/2010 9:32 AM EST
Marketing likes social media. Engineering hates marketing. Therefore Engineering hates social media.
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t.alex
12/1/2010 9:42 AM EST
I rarely touch Twitter, but I don't mind other stuff like facebook, linkedin.
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snap-crackle-pop
12/1/2010 1:08 PM EST
When engineers want info or help they need to know that the feedback they get is from a knowledgeable and reliable source. Social media is neither
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Duane Benson
12/1/2010 2:21 PM EST
I can see a lot of "potential" in Twitter, but the practicalities of the actual real world tend to get in the way.
For example, schools could use Twitter to announce school closures and important events. Real world: A large majority of parents would have to sign up to make it useful. It would have to be limited to authorized parents for safety reasons. With more than just a few feeds, most of the important stuff would get lost in the noise. And - email works just fine. It allows more content and the school can control who gets the message. Conclusion: Twitter is not ready for prime time in this application.
News organizations or local governments could use Twitter for special bulletins. Real world: unless people only subscribed to a very small number of feeds, it would still be so cluttered that all of the important bulletins would be missed. Conclusion: Twitter is not ready for prime time in this application.
Marketing people could use it for announcing new products. Don't we have enough of this already? Just more clutter. Conclusion: Twitter is not wanted for this application.
Bloggers could use it to announce their blog posts (I use it for this). Realistically, an RSS feed could do the same thing. Conclusion: the jury's still out on this one.
People could announce to the world that they ate a banana. Conclusion: need I even comment on this one?
And what about the people that follow like a thousand Twitterers? There's no way you could get anything useful out of that much other than the occasional random lucky find.
My conclusion is that while the technology is interesting, and I can see practical applications under specific circumstances, as is it is mostly not practical in a professional setting.
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SiliconCowboy_#1
12/1/2010 6:21 PM EST
Once again engineering, it all its brilliance, fundamentally misses it. Social media isn't just another tool for you to ignore. It's a technology phenomenon that is driving the uptake of semiconductors globally. 2010 and 2011 will be growth years for the semi industry primarily on the strength of new gadgets that are basically social media platforms. If you aren't using them, you have zero understanding of the end market for your work. That should be a concern to you, because it will change what you are doing. To put it bluntly, I expect that within the year, there will be a half dozen or so apps - cheap, easy-to-download, easy-to-use apps - that will replace some of the high-cost tools that you are using today. They may even replace you. There's nothing to dismiss here.
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Evoove
12/2/2010 12:02 AM EST
Cowboy - You are spot on. Many engineers will go kicking and screaming into the social media age, sounding like my parents when the "world wide web" first came out. Engineers that embrace this incredible capability will out engineer the older, nay sayers, who as you say may even be replaced. Come on engineers - use Twitter and LinkedIn for all the right reasons!
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WKetel
12/2/2010 3:04 PM EST
Benson had it right about the mindless masses twittering! As an engineer I just don't need that to waste my time. How about somebody inventing a "shut=up" virus for twitter?
Discussion forums are possibly useful, unless you are working on a top secret project for a commercial customer who demands that you don't even acknowledge the projects existence. And there are other customers who just don't want their projects talked about, except by their marketing people. I may not always agree with them, but the customers are the ones with the money. We all should remember that.
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phoenixdave
12/2/2010 3:46 PM EST
Cowboy is correct.... Future technology growth is now being fed in some part by the social media frenzy, and to not recognize it's potential value is to be left behind. Instead of saying its worthless nonsense, maybe we should see what it leads to and feeds in the technology world.
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Karen Bartleson
12/3/2010 3:18 PM EST
Yes, Cowboy is right. And we shouldn't forget that the next generation of engineers will have grown up with social media ingrained in their lifestyle. If we think social media is not for engineers, we'll soon be living in the past, branded as old fuddy-duddies who should be put out to pasture.
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Duane Benson
12/3/2010 3:55 PM EST
I don't drive a semi-truck. I would have absolutely no use for a semi-truck. If I were to get one, I'd be paying way to much money to purchase and to operate a tool wholly unsuited to my needs. But I understand that semi trucks play an important role in our world. And if my career were driving trucks, it would be a different story.
I think that's essentially what a lot of engineers down on social media are saying. It's not that engineer types are really averse to new tools. It's that engineer types are averse to using tools unsuited to their needs just because "everyone is using it."
There is a lot of societal pressure toward adopting social media because it's popular. Find a use for social media that makes an engineers life easier, and I bet the adoption will come swiftly.
Now, as SiliconCowboy suggests, I do think it is very important to at least study the end use of these technologies for the purpose of better developing products.
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Frank Eory
12/3/2010 5:58 PM EST
What I find confusing is the sometimes broad use of the phrase "social media." The article mentions some cool iPhone apps for engineering, and things like manufacturers' websites that allow you to simulate their components in an application. These are indeed great ways of using technology to help technologists do their jobs.
But I don't understand what is more social about solving a microwave problem on your iPhone than, say, solving it on your programmable TI calculator? Or on your desktop PC for that matter. Either way, it's a solo activity.
I'm not trying to nit-pick or be overly critical, but it seems like all the hype about social media means that anything that uses the internet and fits in your pocket now falls under the social media umbrella.
It makes it more difficult to discuss the pros & cons of social media and its impact on our profession if we don't all have a shared understanding of what we're talking about.
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sharps_eng
12/3/2010 6:13 PM EST
Here's a list:
High-speed comms,
Low-power gadgets,
Cloud-based apps.
Combined, these supply half my computing needs: mail, search, research and storage.
If EDA/CAD apps were available on the cloud I would drop the workstation PC.
If next-generation, higher-level design tools on very powerful 'mainframes' allowed apps to be developed, modelled, tested then deployed on a standard, connected, real-time platform available in many variants LEGO-style, I wouldn't need to employ as many other engineers... although that seems a long time off yet, it shows what *could* happen...
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phoenixdave
12/3/2010 6:39 PM EST
I have to wonder, if someone said to you fifteen years ago that you would now have a portable device that you carried around with you that would allow you to call, send and receive text messages, and access almost unlimited information at any time. And be so dependent on it that you can't leave home without it.
I suspect that most people would of said "Not likely. I would have no use for that."
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Frank Eory
12/3/2010 8:51 PM EST
Although it will take longer than 15 years to develop, I would venture a guess that the ultimate social media platform will be something like the Holodeck from Star Trek.
By that time, today's practice of typing text or posting photos or videos to communicate & interact with each other across time & distance will seem like something from the Stone Age. We'll all be able to work and play and live in a virtual world!
And even then, I suspecte there will still be the old-timers who say they prefer the real world...at least most of the time.
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Robinho
12/4/2010 3:12 AM EST
"Social media" is a big blanket. Engineers hate twitter but may accept other media like blogs, message boards, linkedin or facebook. Some folks like the perpetual update ("push") mode and others like when needed mode ("pull") mode. Twitter and facebook feeds can provide the "push" mode and blogs provide the "pull" mode (though it can be converted to push as well). Marketing obviously loves the push mode and they are the biggest proponents of social media of all forms.
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Sheetal.Pandey
12/7/2010 5:00 PM EST
Yes it would be great if there is some social media site for engineers. Facebook and twiteer are there but they are more of social networking. For engineers there are many blogs but there are no big unique sites. I guess if some initiative is taken at college level it would work out.
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theCemal
12/8/2010 6:20 AM EST
I think there are too many thoughts in social media, because I can not hear my thoughts while I am following social media. (inspired by Homer Simpson :)
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KB3001
12/8/2010 2:43 PM EST
Well, we do not hate social media, we hate wasting time. We do use social media (e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn, even Facebook) when it's needed, which is not that often, since we are busy solving problems.
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skranish
12/9/2010 12:47 AM EST
Social media does have a use after all.
I complained to TI about specific problems with their awful CCS tools. I was told to check their e2e forum for 'solutions'. My first search turned up an entry from SOMEONE else complaining about the same issues.. from TWO YEARS ago.
So.. the use is as a sanity check: No, it is not me, other people think these products and tools are crap, too!
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SiliconCowboy_#1
12/15/2010 3:11 PM EST
It's all in the perspective I guess. I'm sure the engineers at Facebook and Twitter would consider EDA a monumental waste of time, too. ; )
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codemgr
12/23/2010 8:17 AM EST
never tweeted, never will.
have a facebook account but never use it, "who cares if you just ate lunch" whats the point?
I do have a linked in account, but mostly professional contacts, again it collects links but so far has brought no additional value.
15 years ago, i could wait for someone to invent a device that replaced, my pager, cell phone, palm pilot and franklin planner. Now its finally here, Thanks to some very smart engineers!
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John McGehee
12/23/2010 1:52 PM EST
After two consulting clients mentioned that they thought Twitter was a waste of time, I concluded that for business reasons I must NOT use it--I cannot be seen as a waster of time.
One of the most important features of social media is the web of trust--you can believe the speaker if you trust that person's friends. Twitter lacks this so it's like press releases. Nobody believes them.
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tb1
12/23/2010 4:08 PM EST
It is too public to be of use for personal conversations (except, I guess, for extremely public people like actors or musicians), and too text-constrained to be of much use for group conversations (for example, almost none of the posts here would fit in a Twitter post).
But it has its uses. I like it to keep track about new products/services. Instead of going to all these companies' websites and trying to track down their press release links, I can just follow the company. Then every so often I'll connect to Twitter and browse what the various companies are up to. For this purpose the character limitation is a strength--browsing is faster If there's anything interesting I can click the accompanying link.
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