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Engineering in times of Covid-19

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lteschler

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I am curious how engineers are managing their jobs and life while the social distancing mandates are in place. Are you working from home? Has your employer suspended development efforts that require collaboration over a test bench? Are you doing software simulation in lieu of hardware debug? Are you wiping down test instruments? Feel free to chime in about what you're seeing.
 

I am curious how engineers are managing their jobs and life while the social distancing mandates are in place. Are you working from home?
Been working remotely since last week.

Has your employer suspended development efforts that require collaboration over a test bench?
No but collaboration over a test bench are usually not required and if they are the labs we have are quire large so keeping 6ft+ distance is quite easy to do. Mostly I load an FPGA image on a board (remotely) and let the software engineer know I loaded and tested the image. They remote into the same system and run their tests. Neither of us would even be in the lab except to hook things up. We also us an IM service which allows us to chat or we can easily call each others cell phones if necessary.

Are you doing software simulation in lieu of hardware debug?
Always do software simulation before putting anything on the hardware, so this isn't much different than before.

Are you wiping down test instruments? Feel free to chime in about what you're seeing.
Don't know if anyone is wiping down test equipment, but that is something that should be done. I think I'll suggest that to management to have engineers wipe test equipment down. Would be easier to have the cleaning service do it, but I doubt we could get them to ensure they don't change instrument settings, e.g. would hate to see a board get fried due to the bench supply having it's output changed from 5V to 30V after being cleaned.
 

my manager has determined that we are essential
started working remotely today.

in order to reduce contact and satisfy social distancing, only two of us may be in the office at any one time,
and we're not supposed to be in the same section of the building.
this can work because our branch of the giant multi-national consists of 6 people.

we're supposed to wipe down anything we touch.

the thing that's still missing for me is access to the company server
so that puts a crimp in getting things done at home.

as engineers, most of the computer stuff can be done at home, if one has an appropriate computer and access to the software.
but very few of us have the equipment at home to test real circuits. I certainly don't.
so we have to be in the office at some point.

regarding the bench supply voltage, it is always a good practice to turn the voltage to zero before turning the
power supply off. primary result is that when you turn the supply on, nothing gets fried from the jump up
in voltage/current. its like turning your stereo on and off - turn the volume down first.

side issue: use copper/brass/bronze for all things one usually touches - doorknobs, faucets, banisters, etc.
i have no connection to the copper industry

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...y-isnt-it-everywhere?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Copper Is Antimicrobial, So Why Not Decorate With It? Kaitlin Menza - House Beautiful - Thursday, March 19, 2020
 

we're supposed to wipe down anything we touch.
Right, but getting anyone to clean up after themselves where I work is not likely to happen. There are people at my work that think their mommies work at the place and will clean up their mess.
 

lol

i want to know where the "wipe down" stuff is and how it may interact with things like
an anti-static mat, antistatic wrist strap, scope probes, knobs on various devices,
wires, door knobs, faucets, etc
 

Diluted hydrogen peroxide is germicidal and non-allergenic.

There are claims that ultra-violet lamps disinfect surfaces. A review article is in the current newsletter from WTWH Media (associated with Edaboard). Low-cost led's do not bring germicidal benefits, but the more expensive bright lamps ought to. Our eyes need to be shielded from bright UV light.
 

Hi,

First: I'm no biological expert, so all I can do is use the values given by experts and do some calculations.

Experts say the biological half time of corona virus on usual plastics and stainless steel surface is less than one hour.
Then over night (16 hours) they naturally reduce to 0.0015%.
For such a long period I see no need for chemicals (they possibly may generate resistent virus).
I see the benefit of chemicals for short time desinfection. UV could support the reduction of virus.

And our current working situation is similar as with ads-ee.

Klaus
 

I'm a IC designer from China and I have worked at home after Spring Festival via VNC tools.
I returned to Beijing on February 7.
At that time, there were few people in the subway or trains, and most of the stores were close, so you can only buy food and vegetable through APP like meituan and duodian(chinese shopping app). and
But the situation in Beijing is much better now. Many stores are open. I also had a haircut yesterday.
my company allowed half of the people to go to work, but keep the distance between everyone while wearing a mask since last week.
I really don't like people's discrimination against Asians, especially Chinese people, on Covid-19.
In fact, racial discrimination is ridiculous and incomprehensible to the Chinese.
 

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