What I "think" do vs. What I "really" do

"Hello world"

That phrase is one of the memorable words I learned to program in Computer Programming class. And those exact words is what I would like to greet you all with in my first post here as a guest blogger. I am very much excited to share some of my thoughts and experiences here and I do hope we all could exchange ideas along the way.

In the past few weeks, we've seen these meme about "What others think I do vs What I actually do..." one too many times. Most of these reproductions are really funny, quite to an extent that it is a chilling truth that we hate to admit.

(My notes today will talk about electronic engineering in general, but maybe it could relate to other engineering fields.)

IP rating - IP5KX vs IP6KX

In the previous article, the first numeral code for an IP rating is mentioned as the protection level of a product against intrusion of foreign object, with IP5KX and IP6KX being the highest level. This article serves to elaborate on the latter requirements and how they differ from each other.

Dust test performed on a laptop within the dust chamber (photo taken from Espec website).

IP rating - Dustproof

Instead of claiming a product is 'dustproof', a better way of stating it is 'protection against foreign object intrusion', as is mentioned within IEC60529. There is a reason to it, as a product is not only in danger of being harmed by intrusion of dust or sand. One look at the grills of a table fan and it is not difficult to understand that its purpose is to prevent accidental and intentional (in the case of innocent infants) access to the dangerous rotating blades of the product. 

IP rating - Protection against Ingress

Sony Cybershot TX-5 (image taken
from Sony website).

Ever use products that failed because of water seeping into the interior? Or maybe sand jamming the moving parts? It is quite usual for products to be designed to be 'waterproof' or 'dustproof', but as an engineer, how do you know if they really are as they claimed, or what to look out for to know how 'waterproof' it is?

Engineered items are usually labeled as sealed against dust or water through a system known as IP rating. The IP code labeled on products and claimed in technical datasheet will provide users and buyers the degree of protection provided by mechanical casings and enclosures of electrical equipment against the following:

• protection against foreign objects (e.g. sand and dust)
• protection against effects due to ingress of water
• protection against access (accidental or intentional) by persons to hazardous parts inside the enclosure

Uni-signal - Traffic Light for Color Blind

If you think that there would not be any new designs that will surprise you the way i-whatever did, think again. Especially when you were rushing the red light. Surfing across the web in a lazy evening brought to my attention the design of Uni-signal, a traffic light with a slight variation from the norm. 

Uni-signal light - a new idea for the color blind (image taken from Yanko Design website).

Courier Services

You are working as a Design Engineer in ABC company in Penang, and urgently need to send your latest part for testing in a test lab in Singapore. You rush to your company's person in charge for delivery, be it your clerk or your in-house logistics/delivery department, and the auntie/uncle in charge lazily tells you that you need to fill in certain forms to provide certain information before delivery can be made. You bite down your curses and find the relevant information, all the while wondering how this job falls upon your shoulder when you have more important things to do.

Let's face it: in the real world, us third world engineers handle everything, and that included logistics. So arming yourself with basic knowledge of how the logistics system of a courier service works will be crucial to your work, especially so when you are the engineer, technician and office boy all combined in one.

The Journal of An Engineer

So, you have graduated from the prestigious (or not so prestigious, depending on your view) University of (insert here) with a Bachelor's Degree in (insert here) Engineering. Maybe you graduated with magna cum laude (or First Class Honors as the locals called it) and you expected a bright future ahead of you. You wanted to invent like Thomas Edison, or to build skyscrapers like the Petronas Twin Towers, or even to be worshiped like Steve Jobs even though he was not an engineer. The prospect seemed endless.

You are very sure that scores of companies will headhunt you and you have prepared your answers, but alas it is your coursemates who could not even spell the word 'engineer' who got a job first instead. Oh well, must be the financial crisis screwing things up, you thought, and so you began to look for jobs through classifieds and career fairs while being a little bitter that your coursemates got ahead of you.