Ecmweb 8865 Opinion 2
Ecmweb 8865 Opinion 2
Ecmweb 8865 Opinion 2
Ecmweb 8865 Opinion 2
Ecmweb 8865 Opinion 2

Feeling a Bit Nostalgic

June 19, 2015
A glimpse at how electrical engineering has changed over the years

As we were pulling together all of the data for this year’s Top 40 Electrical Design Firms Special Report, I found myself thinking about the time I spent in engineering school and my early days working as a transmission line engineer at Florida Power & Light. Could it really be just a little more than 20 years ago that I left my engineering job behind and accepted a new challenge in the business-to-business publishing world (now known as the professional information services sector)? Was it really that long ago that I packed up my family and moved from South Florida to the Kansas City area? I then recalled it’s been nearly 30 years since I graduated from college. Needless to say, quite a bit has changed in the engineering field over this span of time.

When I mentioned this to my team, they came up with a great idea. They asked me to try and remember (yeah, they’re a sarcastic bunch) what types of tools I used back then that might no longer be used by young engineers today. It was a fun exercise that led to some fond memories and a few moments of terror. The list was long, but we narrowed it down to a manageable size and created a Photo Gallery for all to see.

I don’t want to spoil the surprise here and tell you all the items we featured in the gallery, but back then engineers in training still did a fair amount of drafting, worked with early stage computers, and created computer programs using paper cards and mechanical machines. Wow! Writing that sentence makes me feel a wee bit old. You can check out my “10 Old-School Engineering Tools” gallery.

For those of you who are my age, this will be a trip down memory lane. Just do me a favor, please. After you’re done reviewing the photos and captions, don’t point out that I didn’t include a slide rule in the photo collection (like a few kind folks have already done online). Although my grey hair may lead you to believe I’m older than I am, I never owned or used a slide rule — ever! I’m also proud to say that I was never a pocket-protector type of engineer. However, I do see the practical application and use of this product. On second thought, if you ask my wife, she’ll probably tell you that owning a pocket protector doesn’t exclude you from being classified as a “geeky” engineer.

You young engineers out there should also get a good laugh when clicking through this gallery, although you’ll probably have a hard time relating to most of the items I’ve shown. I guess if I would have included a photo of a scientific calculator then you could have related to that somewhat. But you would have probably laughed out loud when I told you I paid $400 for the one I used way back when.

It’s an exciting time to be a young engineer. That smartphone you carry around with you 24/7 is an amazing piece of technology. It gives you access to a limitless amount of research and product data. It can grant you access to any code or standard you might want to reference while performing your design work. It allows you to run complicated engineering calculations via simplified apps. It also opens your mind up to everything happening in the world today.

So how about you young engineers out there do me a favor. When you’re finished reading this on your smartphone, switch to camera mode and take a Selfie. Thirty years from now, retrieve that photo file from whatever new storage system is available to you at that time and recall this day in your life. I’m pretty sure you’ll say to yourself, “How did I ever get anything done with that so-called smartphone I carried around with me all the time?”

About the Author

eparson | Executive Editor

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