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Maxed Out: A Need for Mentoring Programs
July 13, 2011 |Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
As usual, so many things are happening here in the pleasure dome (my office) that I really don’t know what to talk about first, so let’s start with…
Mentor: Someone whose hindsight can be your foresight
My first position (“Look Mom, a real job!”) after graduating with a B.Sc. in control engineering in the summer of 1980 was with International Computers Limited (ICL) in Manchester, England. At that time, ICL made honking big mainframe computers and I was hired as a member of one of their CPU design teams.
At that time we were designing custom chips (ASICs) as gate-level schematics using only pencil and paper. These devices each contained only around 2,000 equivalent logic gates, but that was pretty much state-of-the-art in those days.
My first task at ICL was to design a 128-bit barrel shifter and rotator; that is, a unit that could shift or rotate the contents of a 128-bit bus by any amount from 1 to 128 bits in a single clock cycle. I was informed that the specification called for this unit to be implemented using eight chips, each of which would handle a 16-bit chunk of the data bus. Furthermore, all of these chips were to be functionally identical in order to keep the project within budget. Part of my solution was to employ a couple of the pins on each ASIC to act as a device ID, thereby instructing each chip as to its position in the chain.
What I didn’t know at the beginning was that there were multiple layers of complexity involved. In addition to processing all 128 bits on the data bus, the shifter/rotator also had to be capable of working with only the least-significant 64 bits or the least-significant 32 bits. Furthermore, in addition to binary data, it also had to work with Binary Coded Decimal (BCD). And the list of requirements went on, and on, and on...
If I had simply been presented with the full-up specification for the shifter/rotator on the first day, I wouldn’t have known where to start. The result could well have ruined my self-confidence and left me feeling like a failure, which would almost certainly have negatively affected the rest of my career.
Fortunately, ICL had a really good policy whereby junior engineers like me were partnered with more experienced team leaders. I was lucky in this regard to be assigned a mentor called Dave Potts, who taught me far more than I’m sure he ever realized. Dave started off by presenting me with a small part of the puzzle. When I had solved this he added another function, then another … and gradually guided me to the final solution. I remember Dave as being endlessly patient and always available to answer questions and to offer suggestions as to different ways to do things and cunning logic tricks one might employ.
In hindsight I now realize that the shifter/rotator was something Dave could have designed himself in just a couple of days, but that wasn’t the point of the exercise. Their goal was to bring me up to speed and make me a useful, productive member of the team as quickly as possible.
I am endlessly grateful for this mentoring program, which I absolutely feel was a key part of making me the man I am today.
The reason I’m pondering this now is that I recently heard from a young ASIC/FPGA design engineer working at a large aerospace firm. The problem is that no one is mentoring him. They just give him tasks to do and leave him to sink or swim. As he says, “I find myself frequently getting stuck and staying stuck for much of the day because senior personnel are too busy to help. I ultimately resolve my issues, but I feel like I am not learning the trade very well. I believe that I am capable and bright, but I lack the coaching.”
I’ve talked to a number of my friends and colleagues and they agree that few companies these days seem to have mentoring programs in place. I for one am saddened by this. I would be interested to hear your thoughts and experiences (e-mail me at max@CliveMaxfield.com).
Does your design team have a mentoring program, or is it strictly sink or swim?
Pining for the Norwegian Fjords
Do you remember Monty Python’s classic “Parrot Sketch” in which John Cleese purchases a “Norwegian Blue” that turns out to be a tad less energetic than he had hoped. When he returns the parrot to the pet store saying “This parrot is no more,” Michael Palin responds “No, it’s just pining for the fjords.”
During my career I’ve been fortunate to travel extensively around the world. In the case of the Scandinavian countries, which include the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, I’ve visited Denmark and Sweden on several occasions, but I’ve never been presented with the opportunity to go to Norway. Until now.
As an aside, Finland (which I would also love to visit) is not considered to be part of Scandinavia. Instead, the term “Nordic Countries” refers to a broader group comprising Scandinavia itself along with countries and territories that are historically associated with the Scandinavian countries, including Finland and Iceland. But we digress.
Figure 1. The “A” pin marks the location of Trondheim, Norway.
I recently received a call from Espen Tallaksen in Norway on behalf of the FPGA-Forum Program Committee. Espen asked if I would like to give the keynote presentation at next year’s annual FPGA-Forum, which is to be held in Trondheim, Norway, on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 February 2012.
I must admit that this is all rather exciting (not the least that I don’t have a clue what I’m going to talk about). Since I received the invitation I’ve talked to several friends who have been to Norway and who have told me that it boasts some of the most spectacular vistas on the planet. If you do a Google search for Norwegian Fjords you will see what they mean. These images take your breath away.
Figure 2. An example of a “typical” Norwegian fjord.
Originally I was planning on stopping off in England to visit with my dear old mom for a few days, then flying to Oslo, which is the capital of Norway, to see the Kon-Tiki Museum, and then hiring a car and taking the 7 or 8-hour drive up to Trondheim immersing myself in the countryside.
What do you mean, “What’s the Kon-Tiki Museum?” This is a tribute to one of my personal heroes – the Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl, who had some interesting theories as to how ancient peoples had travelled around the world. In particular, Heyerdahl proposed that around 500 AD Neolithic people sailed from Peru to the Polynesian islands on pae-paes – large rafts built from balsa logs, complete with sails and each with a small cottage.
In 1947, Thor and five companions constructed such a raft that they called the Kon-Tiki and set off from Peru in an attempt to reach the Polynesian islands using only the ocean currents and the wind. Just about everyone else at that time predicted that the expedition was doomed to failure and all hands would be lost at sea. In fact Thor and his companions sailed the raft for 101 days over 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean before smashing into a reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands on August 7, 1947.
I first read the story of the Kon-Tiki expedition and all of Thor’s other works when I was a teenager, but I had never hoped to see any videos of this incredible feat. Then, last year, I purchased a copy of the book for my father-in-law, who loves to sail.
Figure 3. An archive picture of the Kon-Tiki approaching landfall.
While searching for the book I discovered that Thor and his team had carried a film camera on the trip with them, and that the film they took was later made into an award-winning documentary. So I immediately ordered the DVD and watched it with my father-in-law, and it was absolutely amazing. (Click here to find the DVD on Amazon – this is highly recommended; thinking about what these guys did still sends shivers down my spine.)
The thing is that the original Kon-Tiki raft is now on display in the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, which is why my original plan was to fly to Oslo, see the museum, and then drive up to Trondheim. Sad to relate, I now discover that the time of my visit in mid-February is just about the coldest month of the year – almost permanently below freezing and with only around five hours of daylight. It seems that I need to bring sturdy boots for walking on the snow and ice, a down-filled waterproof outfit, hat, gloves, scarf, and long underwear.
Hmmm… I REALLY want to see the Kon-Tiki – and how many chances does one get for this sort of thing? But I can’t realistically see myself driving from Oslo to Trondheim, so I guess I’ll have to fly, assuming I can afford it. One thing I can promise is that I will be taking lots of photos and reporting back in a future column.
Until next time, have a good one!
Clive (Max) Maxfield is founder/consultant at Maxfield High-Tech Consulting. He is the author and co-author of a number of books, including Bebop to the Boolean Boogie (An Unconventional Guide to Electronics) and How Computers Do Math featuring the pedagogical and phantasmagorical virtual DIY Calculator. To contact Max, click here.