Unemployed ?

[Wartex]

Hi, I've been a fan since day one and I'm concerned about the "unemployed" thing. There is no way Youtube pays more than A***** (so that kills the "freelance blogger" theory) and I have a feeling you have been canned because some dick manager at work decided you are out of line with "company policy".

I understand this is a private issue for you, but being a public figure I'm sure a lot of people will assume the same (and I might be grossly incorrect) if you don't elaborate on unemployment and might send some flames towards your old employer. It can be anything from crank calls to 4chan/Anon-style DDoS. Think about it.

What really happened, if you don't mind?

[tesla500]

Dave elaborated some more on the last Amp Hour (#37). If I remember what he said correctly, Altium is moving their headquarters to China, and he was laid off when they downsized the team in Australia.

David

[PeterG]

Dave may not be working for Altium any longer but, i think Dave has come out on top. Altium had an opportunity to exploit Daves position as a well known video blogger in the very industry that Altium operate. Yet or some reason known only to Altium, they chose to ignore this.

This tends to make me think Altiums management is somewhat lacking in marketing smarts.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[EEVblog]

Dave elaborated some more on the last Amp Hour (#37). If I remember what he said correctly, Altium is moving their headquarters to China, and he was laid off when they downsized the team in Australia.

Correct.
No secret, in fact I have been very public about it on TheAmpHour, and a few forums.

Dave.

[EEVblog]

Dave may not be working for Altium any longer but, i think Dave has come out on top. Altium had an opportunity to exploit Daves position as a well known video blogger in the very industry that Altium operate. Yet or some reason known only to Altium, they chose to ignore this.

They knew very well about me and my blog, and have debated whether or not to "use me". Although like many big companies they have no clue about social media, and what impact individuals like myself can have.
And like most big companies they spent oodles of money and had a large and very talented creative arts team to produce top quality videos and promotional stuff that were almost totally ineffectual. Few ever watched them or cared about them. Heck, at one point they actually paid for a huge billboard on the side of the highway in silicon valley


My all time favorite is:
http://www.techtonight.com/

I could have had 100 times the impact for 1/100th the price of what they have spent on marketing, literally. But they will never realise that because it's not what the creative and marketing people or the consultants learned at uni.

Dave.

[EEVblog]

Oh, and Altium went ballistic when I had the hide to help someone on this forum who asked about Altium stuff directly, instead of me directing them to the sales and support team. They asked me to remove posts from the forum, and I got a slap on the wrist. Way to go Altium.

That lead to the infamous obfuscation of the word Altium from this forum so their marketing bots didn't pick up on any of the chat.

Dave.

[joelby]

My all time favorite is:
http://www.techtonight.com/

The inside scoop leads to a broken link

That is pretty classic - I can't imagine it lead to many sales. I hope it at least raised a wry smile within the company. It seems like it was written by a marketing department who had no knowledge of the product nor the target audience!

[MrPlacid]

Oh, and Altium went ballistic when I had the hide to help someone on this forum who asked about Altium ...

Dave.

That's just nut on Alt1um's part. Sheesh... I've been wondering all those time back why you had to obfuscation the word Alt1um from your forum. It just free advertising for them.

Now, Dave continue to obfuscate that word again. No need to give them free advertising in the search engines.

[PeterG]

I second that MrPlacid, obfuscate alt!um again.

Regards

[tnt]

Dave may not be working for Altium any longer but, i think Dave has come out on top. Altium had an opportunity to exploit Daves position as a well known video blogger in the very industry that Altium operate. Yet or some reason known only to Altium, they chose to ignore this.

Personally I think it's better that Altium didn't intervene.
That just ensure that whatever Dave says is really his opinion and not something pushed by his employer.

I think it'd be very hard to be totally objective when it's your full time employer ... but maybe it's just me.

[PeterG]

I agree to a point, i think Altium should have at least allowed Dave to advise people on the use of Altium. That alone would be worth thousands of dollars.

Regards

[EEVblog]

My all time favorite is:
http://www.techtonight.com/

That is pretty classic - I can't imagine it lead to many sales. I hope it at least raised a wry smile within the company. It seems like it was written by a marketing department who had no knowledge of the product nor the target audience!

The funny thing about that one, is that it's the only one they have ever ran by us (the real world grunts) before they published it, to get some opinion on whether or not it was appropriate. Most of course said it wasn't really the image Altium should be portraying. But of course that's not what they wanted to hear and they published it anyway. It then fizzled and was forgotten about. They spent months doing that.

Dave.

[shadewind]

It's a pity they're so clueless when Altium Designer is such a great tool. As Dave have said many times, they could own the hobbyist/semi-pro market if they only wanted...

[Neilm]

My all time favorite is:
http://www.techtonight.com/

That is pretty classic - I can't imagine it lead to many sales. I hope it at least raised a wry smile within the company. It seems like it was written by a marketing department who had no knowledge of the product nor the target audience!

The funny thing about that one, is that it's the only one they have ever ran by us (the real world grunts) before they published it, to get some opinion on whether or not it was appropriate. Most of course said it wasn't really the image Altium should be portraying. But of course that's not what they wanted to hear and they published it anyway. It then fizzled and was forgotten about. They spent months doing that.

Dave.

Of course the number of hits on that has shot up recently since it was mentioned on a renouned electronics blog forum.

Neil

[Lawsen]

Unemployment is a part of life in business cycles and changes in the company ownership.  It is important to try to save some money for long periods of down turns.  It can lasts for 3 to 6 years in my region.  Stockton, California is an agricultural region and we have typical 18% unemployment, 1 in 4 people experienced some form of unemployment in their life time.  

My recommendation for Dave Jones is to find another company or business that can use his skills legitimate way.  That is the same thing we all have to do.  His house is not foreclosed and he does not have to move all of his stuff to a next of kin's house like many who are unemployed or unable to find work or an employer with enough money to pay for the work.  I have done some projects for an employer that went broke and unable to pay me.  It is very typical in my region.  I rather you focus on finding work than producing videos.  I do enjoy viewing your lectures, reviews, and shows.  These are better than television!!!

Lawsen

[Hypernova]

I've thought up this little axiom:
In an engineering company, the competency of the managers is inversely proportional to that of the engineers.

It's a natural check and balance I tell ya, those that manage to be bad at both fizzle post haste, while those who manage to be good at both take over the world like Apple (even though I'm an Apple hater you give credit where it's due).

[djsb]

Oh, and Altium went ballistic when I had the hide to help someone on this forum who asked about Altium stuff directly, instead of me directing them to the sales and support team. They asked me to remove posts from the forum, and I got a slap on the wrist. Way to go Altium.

That lead to the infamous obfuscation of the word Altium from this forum so their marketing bots didn't pick up on any of the chat.

Dave.

I hope that wasn't me? 

David

[tom66]

They knew very well about me and my blog, and have debated whether or not to "use me". Although like many big companies they have no clue about social media, and what impact individuals like myself can have.
And like most big companies they spent oodles of money and had a large and very talented creative arts team to produce top quality videos and promotional stuff that were almost totally ineffectual. Few ever watched them or cared about them. Heck, at one point they actually paid for a huge billboard on the side of the highway in silicon valley


My all time favorite is:
http://www.techtonight.com/

I could have had 100 times the impact for 1/100th the price of what they have spent on marketing, literally. But they will never realise that because it's not what the creative and marketing people or the consultants learned at uni.

Dave.

This seems to be a common problem in the electronics engineering industry. Marketing department doesn't understand we don't want flashy products. We want something that works.

I had to laugh at TI's description of GPS (then, they smash a GPS device to pieces - why?) I'd like to find a GPS device which sends a signal to a satellite. Would be quite a useful paperweight.

[Rufus]

I had to laugh at TI's description of GPS (then, they smash a GPS device to pieces - why?)

What are they smoking? After watching that am I supposed to start designing a GPS receiver or flip channels looking for an episode of Sesame Street?

Microchip isn't doing much better...

[tom66]

Microchip isn't doing much better...

I want my 3:44 back after watching that. What was it? I don't think I can remember.

[EEVblog]

Wow, hadn't seen that series before.
I can just picture the marketing department brainstorming and coming up with that.

In the credits:
2 x Executive Producers
2 x Writers
Producer/Director
Director of Photography
Technical Consultant
And a bunch of TITV folk.

And the budget is??

Geeze, I feel inadequate. My credits:
Dave
Neville Nobody
Jack Shit
Budget=0

Dave.

[comox]

Dave,

I am now looking forward to all of the video blogs that you could not do when with Ultium: e.g. reviews/comparisions of electronic CAD packages, etc....  Bring it on!

Comox

[EEVblog]

I am now looking forward to all of the video blogs that you could not do when with Ultium: e.g. reviews/comparisions of electronic CAD packages, etc....  Bring it on!

That is on the list.
However, those ones will take a LOT of work to produce.

Dave.

[Wartex]

I am now looking forward to all of the video blogs that you could not do when with Ultium: e.g. reviews/comparisions of electronic CAD packages, etc....  Bring it on!

That is on the list.
However, those ones will take a LOT of work to produce.

Dave.

It's not like you have to go to work 

[Kiriakos-GR]

I do enjoy viewing your lectures, reviews, and shows.  These are better than television!!!

Lawsen

I agree ...  there is no television programs, for people who likes to think for them self's .
I am also recently unemployed,
and I know the pain.