If you do not know how to solder, you are not an electronics engineer

[free_electron]

if you are doing only digital coding in vhdl or verilog then soldering is not a must-have skill.

if you are the dude that needs to take the chip and get it to come alive : you better know how to solder.. we can't have you waiting and 'burning time' waiting for someone else to change a part or add a wire trying to get the thing running.

in other words :
if you touch PCB's : you better know how to solder,
if you are just a button pusher ( coder / vhdl monkey ) i'd rather have yuo keep your hands off the soldering iron... you may burn your pretty fingers needed for the keyboard pounding.

[Neilm]

As far as I remember, my degree course didn't mention how to solder. If you didn't know, you were given a very quick instruction in the first lab. I mean get it hot, add the solder now get now and do it.

I only really learned how to solder from a technician at my first job who taught me how to lay out wire harnesses, do PCB repairs, solder (all about tip sizes, heating ect) and how to tie lacing cord. That last is not something you see much now tie wraps are so popular

Neil

[AndyC_772]

if you are doing only digital coding in vhdl or verilog then soldering is not a must-have skill.

...but then again, nor are you really an electronic engineer in the conventional sense. You're a specialist.

My soldering will never be pretty, but it's functional enough, and it means I can spend a day in the lab probing a circuit and swapping parts in and out without needing anyone's help besides an extra pair of hands once in a while. Given time, I can solder pretty much anything that can be hand soldered at all.

That's about the level I'd expect anyone calling themselves an electronic engineer to be at. There's no shame in calling in the services of a technician once in a while, but I'd have to agree that no engineer worthy of the name should be unable to solder and rework the parts they're designing with.

[Galenbo]

I know an Electronics Engineer (Master) who's first job was in Paper Marketing, and is still in that business as Manager.
He doesn't know how to solder, and doesn't need it.

I don't think he's an Engineer at all.
He's a Marketeer with an unrelevant University degree.

Same goes for Sales/Management/Process/Project People, with "some Master degree"
even if they talk about electronic items.

.
 

[Pentium100]

Most of them had no idea how to calculate the bands and were amazed that you could just test the resistor with the DMM to get an idea of the resistance.

I do that all the time. As I always had a multimeter nearby, I never needed to memorize the color table. Also, the colors sometimes depend on the lighting etc. Measuring the resistor does not take a lot of time anyway (and if I have more resistors I can pick the one that has the closest actual value). If I need to figure out the resistor values in circuit, I use a color table and if there are a lot of resistors I remember the table by the end, but forget it a few days later.

[ciccio]

.... if there are a lot of resistors I remember the table by the end, but forget it a few days later.

Really you can forget it? Even now that I'm approaching senile dementia  , and  maybe would like to forget it, I can't..
The color table should be taught at the elementary school, together with writing and reading, so nobody will never forget it.
Best regards

[Pentium100]

.... if there are a lot of resistors I remember the table by the end, but forget it a few days later.

Really you can forget it?

Yes. I only need it once a year or less frequently anyway. I also am not very good with remembering things literally (as opposed to understanding the concept).

[A-sic Enginerd]

if you are doing only digital coding in vhdl or verilog then soldering is not a must-have skill.

if you are the dude that needs to take the chip and get it to come alive : you better know how to solder.. we can't have you waiting and 'burning time' waiting for someone else to change a part or add a wire trying to get the thing running.

in other words :
if you touch PCB's : you better know how to solder,
if you are just a button pusher ( coder / vhdl monkey ) i'd rather have yuo keep your hands off the soldering iron... you may burn your pretty fingers needed for the keyboard pounding.

Maybe so, but this simpleton button pusher with the pretty fingers gets paid noticeably more than the board designers in the house. And that's been true at all 3 companies I've worked for in my career.

just sayin'

[David_AVD]

I learned the resistor colour code when I was about 11 years old.  I wouldn't have thought it's something you'd forget that easily.

[Jimf]

I'm color blind so I've been using a meter to check resistors for over 30 years now. Or use 1% ones that have the values printed on them. My eyesight is not as good anymore so I have a magnifying lens to help read parts.  Even soldering is getting more difficult to do. Getting old....

[Kremmen]

if you are doing only digital coding in vhdl or verilog then soldering is not a must-have skill.

if you are the dude that needs to take the chip and get it to come alive : you better know how to solder.. we can't have you waiting and 'burning time' waiting for someone else to change a part or add a wire trying to get the thing running.

in other words :
if you touch PCB's : you better know how to solder,
if you are just a button pusher ( coder / vhdl monkey ) i'd rather have yuo keep your hands off the soldering iron... you may burn your pretty fingers needed for the keyboard pounding.

Maybe so, but this simpleton button pusher with the pretty fingers gets paid noticeably more than the board designers in the house. And that's been true at all 3 companies I've worked for in my career.

just sayin'

I don't do VHDL much (some, sometimes) but in my book those who only solder are the ones closer to monkeys. If you must resort to name calling, that is.

Much is made of this question regarding soldering and whether that defines an EE. How about some other, possibly more relevant skills. Do you think a "real" EE needs to be able to:

- master basic math of the trade, say basic calculus and matrix algebra,
- do basic circuit analysis (Thevenin, Norton, suchlike),
- understand the various standard presentations of circuit properties, such as Bode plots, Nyquist plots, root loci, Smith charts - their key features and significances,
- use and _understand_ i.e. properly apply spice tools, creating new models where none exist etc,
- use and understand more advanced tools of the trade. Matlab / Simulink comes to mind,
- understand the basic theory of electron devices, especially semiconductor theory and how & why semiconductor junctions work the way they do,
- understand and be able to apply in practice core elements of circuit theory, information theory, control theory and other like disciplines. Examples would be mastering feedback and stability in analog amplifiers, oscillators, PLLs and similar, signal conditioning in measurement and input circuits (both analog and DSP), filtering, transforms.
- understand and be able to apply key math tools such as Laplace transforms, z-transforms, FFT, in advanced cases methods like Lyapunov stability analysis for non LTI systems,

These to me would be more relevant questions for an EE than whether he can manage a solder joint.

[Blofeld]

Most of them had no idea how to calculate the bands and were amazed that you could just test the resistor with the DMM to get an idea of the resistance.

... If I need to figure out the resistor values in circuit, I use a color table and if there are a lot of resistors I remember the table by the end, but forget it a few days later.

Big Boys Race Our Young Girls, But Violet Generally Wins

[kaptain_zero]

Everyone has to start "Somewhere".

http://goo.gl/0ZwQd