staying current

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

My new employer apparently is very reluctant to upgrade ATE equipment.

I see test stations with PCs running Win 2000.

Test equipment 15-20+ years old.

With the current economic climate, I doubt I will be able to stay with this employer until retirement which means

I would be on the job market with skills working with technology that is ancient.

How do I stay current in such an environment?

[Rodéric]

Wait for the systems to crash, then they'll have to rebuild it from scratch

[crossrulz]

I've been there.  I worked for a company that does space and military equipment.  All test sets must last for 20 years.  And, needless to say, we developed using the "old" technology because "we've already done that".  The only real reason I was able to do the massive technology updates was because equipment went obsolete.  I pushed where I could before that, but no use.

At the very least, try to keep up in the ATE news what equipment is out there and a general idea of their specs.  Most equipment, at the core, hasn't changed much over the years.  I imagine most of your equipement uses SCPI with GPIB.  Well, the SCPI shouldn't be changing.  I see a push for LXI, which is a LAN based bus.

I find that NI's newsletters keep me as up to date as I need to be as far as the latest technologies I could possibly take advantage of.

[Intaris]

There's also the argument that a lot of "legacy" systems don't have the support required.

Fortran anyone?  Or Cobol?

Sometimes fresh knowedge of legacy systems can be of outright up-front value.

Anyway, technology (as crossrulz says) doesn't change as fast as it sometimes seems.

Shane.

[johnsold]

I worked for a university supporting research instrumentation which was often older than the students using it.  As Shane pointed out, knowing the old stuff has a value of its own.

Also, think in terms of transferable skills rather than the details of the current technology. What you know about the fundamental processes and how to apply them, what you know about reverse engineering equipment to trouble shoot when no documentation or manufacturer support is available, and your established record of being able to learn new skills as required may be worth more than knowing what is in the latest iPad.

Lynn

[PaulG.]

My experience is that most companies will not upgrade to new systems until the old systems become impossible to support. But it does happen. Most of the work I've done in the last 5 yrs has been to upgrade testers that were at least over 10, and in some cases 20 yrs old. One system was even DOS-based. Keep good notes. The old stuff is great to know since it gives you a lot of ideas on how you would do it better next time. 

[JW-JnJ]

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@crossrulz wrote:

I've been there.  I worked for a company that does space and military equipment.  All test sets must last for 20 years.  And, needless to say, we developed using the "old" technology because "we've already done that".  The only real reason I was able to do the massive technology updates was because equipment went obsolete.  I pushed where I could before that, but no use.

At the very least, try to keep up in the ATE news what equipment is out there and a general idea of their specs.  Most equipment, at the core, hasn't changed much over the years.  I imagine most of your equipement uses SCPI with GPIB.  Well, the SCPI shouldn't be changing.  I see a push for LXI, which is a LAN based bus.

I find that NI's newsletters keep me as up to date as I need to be as far as the latest technologies I could possibly take advantage of.

---

Hehe, says the contractor still technically working for us.

Anyway, I agree with crossrulz. The core technology hasn't changed much. Having a bit of old knowledge mixed with the new only makes you more adaptable. There will always be old equipment to either cobble along or even update.

As much as I hate to admit it, it isn't always in the companies best interest to upgrade test sets. However, I do agree with the doubt in staying. I would hate to be the guy standing next to the test set for 20+ years with a defribulator. Personally, I just keep throwing new ideas around until some of them stick. My trick is to not take it personally when 95% of my ideas hit an immovable object. I just cackle, run back to my engineering corner, and have fun with the 5%. It does accumulate after awhile. **rambling commentary off**

[crossrulz]

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@JW-L3CE wrote:

Hehe, says the contractor still technically working for us.

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After 8 years in that company, they just can't live without me.  Besides, I enjoy the big raise of changing companies.  And when you can get a contract from your old company, it just makes it better (and funnier in some ways).

I had more ideas shut down than you could possibly imagine.  I learned to pick your battles and enjoy your little victories.  They add up eventually.

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

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@johnsold wrote:

Also, think in terms of transferable skills rather than the details of the current technology. What you know about the fundamental processes and how to apply them, what you know about reverse engineering equipment to trouble shoot when no documentation or manufacturer support is available, and your established record of being able to learn new skills as required may be worth more than knowing what is in the latest iPad.

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Finally got my power back late Friday.

I am concerned with resumes that don't get read by a human, where software is used to look for keywords. Does a sentence such as established record of being able to learn new skills as required get "picked up"?

[crossrulz]

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nyc wrote:

I am concerned with resumes that don't get read by a human, where software is used to look for keywords. Does a sentence such as established record of being able to learn new skills as required get "picked up"?

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I know the feeling all too well.  The only times I have had success is when I got my resume directly into somebody's hands.