New skills Vs. Old skills

[jallem]

There was a discussion a litle while ago about the use of software for
design in schools. Just as a matter of reflection the following quoted text
is from:

**broken link removed**

It is easy to plug a few numbers into a program and have it spit out the solutions. When the solutions are complex and multifaceted, having a computer to do the grunt work is especially handy. However, knowing underlying theory and principles that have been ported to computer platforms, and where they came from, makes the engineer or designer a more well-rounded and confident professional, and makes the results more reliable.

I have seen engineers using a particular software for design (Ex. Design a LNA
using ADS) and sometimes looks like they do not know anything about the design
itself only the procedures and mechanics of the software.

What do you guys think?

 

[biff44]

It is true, but a losing battle! With things like systems on a chip, mixing of RF, analog, digital, optical on a chip, you are simply entering the realm where no one person is going to have a clue how every part of a system works. There will be a team of engineers, and hopefully you can iron out the interfaces between your individual areas of expertise.

But, in the area of Microwaves, sure, the computers lie to you all the time. In fact, most computer simulators are written by programming geeks--not microwave engineers. So their software is ALWAYs suspect!

This is all complicated by the fact that microwaves are NOT intuitively obvious. If you took up woodworking for a hobby, for instance, it is pretty easy to see how the wood responds to your chisel, and the right and wrong way to work it. In microwave engineering, you can not "see" the electrons dancing along the transmission line. Only after many years of simulating. testing, and troubleshooting various designs will you develop that intuition. But after that, thing make perfect sense.