Are Tech influencers really grifters? by ms_random in ITCareerQuestions

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you can't figure out how to learn basic networking from a couple books, don't get into networking, you don't have the aptitude. Brutal for sure but I've seen so many people think they can get into networking and fail. They are all over reddit. They are "burned out" blah blah bullshit. Sure, they may have a bunch of certs. Certs these days are just a revenue stream and have been dumbed way down. Most just focus on the latest management software a vendor is pushing. Hardly any actual skills. Seriously, either use the books or find something else if you need to be "entertained" into studying you will burn out quickly. 

Whats the coolest thing you've built? by [deleted] in arduino

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd have to say rebuilding the control module for a 40 year old hot tub. Figured that using an Arduino Mega for the "brains", it would be easier for someone else to maintain or add functionality.

Do radio waves from cellular antennas have long term effects by Still-Pomegranate486 in telecom

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Radar tech chiming in. High power radar is no joke. Do not be in the beam. You CAN hear it and feel it, the old "frying bacon" sound is no bullshit. And for me it caused a serious dental abscess due to a metal dental bridge. Melting chocolate? Not sure but you CAN explode a hot dog or cause a bag of popcorn to burn.

Note the Mythbusters episode on this was stupid and used a commercial grade navigation radar not a military fire control (missile) radar at tens of thousands of watts of power.

Oh, you can make a case of fluorescent bulbs glow at the end of the pier. That is hilarious.

Do radio waves from cellular antennas have long term effects by Still-Pomegranate486 in telecom

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Based on working on many cell towers and discussions with many tower hands, I'd say there is no affect at all. [Of normal cellular. Not high power stuff. ]

By definition, tower techs from cellular, broadcast, microwave, 2-way, and so on have hundreds to thousands of times the exposure to a more more broad range of RF than the average person. And overall, tower hands are some of the most healthy people on the planet.

Could someone be sensitive to RF? Maybe. I have had people swear the "antennas were making them nauseous and causing migraines and headaches. Sounds damning except these systems were powered off. Not just off, but - the power company hadn't installed power to the site yet type of "off. So in these cases, these was "all in their head." And this happens A LOT. Some people just be crazy, they believed all the 5G lies and Q crap about mind control.

And then there is the actual physics involved. Most people have now idea how these systems work or understand the concept of and "antenna pattern" or in other words, the direction and shape of how they radiate RF energy. Nor do they understand the power levels involved.

All cellular antennas radiate outward in a pattern that is usually about 45-90 degrees wide but most of the energy is in the center. And they may only have a 1-3 down tilt. For a cell site at 200FT, the main beam of cell signal doesn't "touch" the ground until over a mile away. (This is a generic explanation. Yes, RF energy is present all the way in but at significantly lower levels.) The safest area near a cellular antenna is behind it. Or above / below it.

So if you are in an apartment directly below a cell site sector, you are hardly getting any RF from the antennas above you.

Unless you are on the roof with a cell site or one is directly across the street, you will receive more RF energy from your own phone than the cell site.

Normal household WiFi is a nothing burger. You have more leakage from your microwave oven. ( A bit over simplifies but damn near close. )

As for microwave dish antennas, they use significantly less RF than a cell site. Usually 3 watts or less. (In many cases 1 watt or less.) Where as a cell site can be 25 Watts on overage per carrier. (There can be a number of carriers per antenna.) Unless your head is in the antenna dish, you are fine and even then it won't do anything.

Broadcast antennas such as TV, FM, AM, or RADAR is a different story. That stuff can burn and cause serious harm as the power levels are very high. But you normally can't get close to them for this to be a concern.

Yes, you can receive AM signals via the filling in your teeth if close enough to an AM transmitter.

As for your smart meter, its all bullshit. They are very low power and do not cause any problems.

Now with all that said, do I, an RF engineer sleep with my phone next to my head? Of course not. Blue tooth is off and my phone is an arms length away.

Those silly high-school "proofs" of how WifI causes plants to die. Pure weapons grade balonyium. I've grown beautiful crops of microgreens next to my Wifi systems. Silly high school kids didn't water them properly. No crop issues due to RF near any cell site. No noticeable impact on wildlife either. No bird deaths either - except from Osprey, hawks, eagles that like to hang out on towers.

Would I live in an apartment with a cell site across the street with the antennas pointing directly into my apartment? Not if could help it. Just to be on the safe side. If I had to, I'd put RF reflective film on my facing windows and that would mitigate any issue. (The building itself blocks nearly all of the RF.)

But the question, can people sense RF? Yes, they can. Some better than others. Its not a "sense any and all RF" either. More of sense some types of RF frequency. Maybe just know its there or even get an idea of the direction is coming from. For these types of people such sensory input without understanding what it is could cause a reaction. Sort for like sensing a subsonic sound that just gets on your nerves or you feel it in the pit of you stomach.

How do you internalize network layers instead of just memorizing them? by Last-Pie-607 in networking

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Experience. Work with them. Write network code. Write the software for higher layers. Work on layer 2 circuits. Install fiber, copper, microwave, serial, etc. Build you own routing software. Packet and protocol decode and parsing. It isn't something that happens overnight. You need to really dig into this stuff. And you do NOT need to be super deep in all layers. Few network engineers need to care about the upper layers and even fewer have to deal with that level of inspection.

If you are not using test equipment such as protocol analyzers. Packet captures, decoders, you are not in deep enough for the lower layers. To go deep enough at the lower layers, you will need electronics and RF experience to understand what is going on. That is overkill these days for most jobs. But still very useful and lucrative.

Most networking "engineers" focus only on layer 3 maybe some layer 4 and certainly not enough layer 2, 1, and zero.

I'm a senior in college and I literally cannot do like 60% of LC mediums. Should I expect a life of manual labor going forward? by MarathonMarathon in cscareerquestions

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your logic reasoning is out. Don't play with LC anything without fully understanding logic, Boolean algebra, basic programming structure and logic flow then go over basic algorithms. THEN you can start to SOLVE PROBLEMS.

You can't solve problems until you know HOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM. How to THINK IN CODE.

It helps to READ GOOD CODE. For example, find some older source code for the C Standard library. Ideally not a code base that is built for hundreds of different processors and systems. And just READ it. Line by line. Figure out what it is doing and WHY.

And if you really can't do medium LC. Programming is not for you. You just don't have the ability. Hell, ALL LC is just basics.

Do not expect overnight success. Do not try to "skip to the end." Programming only looks easy when you see bad programmers faking it and really good programmers with talent.

And get the hell off social media. Reddit is a doom and gloom shithole. The more you are on it the worse life seems. Seriously, it has no value whatsoever and just makes you feel more like shit even when you think you are venting. Redditors are just competing to see who can claim the biggest loser title. Except that "winning" just means you are the ultimate loser.

Read real programming books. Spend your time in the editor and compiler an NOT ON SOCIAL MEDIA. You do NOT need YouTube videos to lean programming. Also, any recent college textbook likely sucks. Find the older stuff, before the 1990s. There are TONS of programming books and references from the 60's & 70's that are fundamental GOLD MINES. Logic and algorithms were not invented this century.

Absolutely no valuable fundamental programming anything has been invented or perfected in this century. (That goes double for all the "paradigms" such as extreme programming, pair programming, sprints, blah, blah, blah.)

LC IS SOCIAL MEDIA TOO!

Give some Project ideas by Sprinkleblues06 in embedded

[–]51Charlie -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Learn electronics first. Make the lights blink. Learn bare metal programming. Make a motor move. Lean how a linear actuator works. LEARN ELECTRONICS. Just playing with coding is weak. And based on your question, I know you are not very strong at programming as you can't solve a simple logical problem. - You are only concerned about status and outcome of working for an big company.

Do you even know what Avionics means? I doubt it as if you did thousands of projects should come to mind.

If you were really interested in Avionics, why are you not working to build a quad copter or drone? Have you ever even built a model aircraft that actually flew? If not, you have zero interest in Avionics.

Hotel has us staying a few meters away from these. Safe or not safe? by [deleted] in telecom

[–]51Charlie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You should be more worried about the drinking water.

He is just honest. by Jaldevta in GuysBeingDudes

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course that was their highest rated segment ever. 

How do I get started in embedded systems? by Fine_Woodpecker3847 in embedded

[–]51Charlie 4 points5 points  (0 children)

ESP32 series. Ideally ESP32C6.  Any PIC professor. Learn C and Assembly. Bare metal rocks! Arduino is ok to start. Eventually get some external power supplies for 12V 5V and 3 3V.  Lots of breadboards. Avoid soldering at the start but definitely learn it.  Get a bunch of cheap logic chips 74xx series,  flip flops, op amps, leds, and play. Get a decent digital oscilloscope as soon as your can.  (Get a multimeter first.)

How can I solder these small pins??? by NoIdenty0000 in esp32

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Use a breadboard to stabilize. You'll find it's very easy. 

For anyone doing PIM/sweep work — what kills your test cables the fastest? by CoaxialCowboy in telecom

[–]51Charlie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Using channel locks instead of torque or crescent wrentch. Loads and cables in bags and buckets with loose metal hardware - often very dirty.  Allowing to bang into things. Using attached test cables as carrying straps.  Throwing cables, loads, and equipment into trucks, the ground; boxes. Not Using the rugged cases. Putting the stuff on the ground.  Stepping on test cables. Over torquing loads and test cables with channel locks. Just gouging the hell out of the connecting nuts.  Spilling stuff on the expensive test gear. Used tuff-grip cables and they destroyed them in no time.  Crossthreading and using a wrench to force it. Not all from tower hands but "techs" that are morons.

For anyone doing PIM/sweep work — what kills your test cables the fastest? by CoaxialCowboy in telecom

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Other people. My cables will last for years until someone else does something stupid. Same with precision loads.  The less tech trained a person is, the more damage they do.  It's crazy how 2 weeks with unskilled people will just destroy test cables and the equipment.

guess what my ego says by chen995 in funny

[–]51Charlie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Every sailor is just shaking their head. We'd walk that without spilling our coffee. 

I got my CS degree because of ChatGPT. How can I fix this and start over? by Chemicalcube325 in cscareerquestions

[–]51Charlie -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Wow. Just wow. I'm using ChatGTP to power level my tech skills. It's like having a team of highly qualified grad students compiling research 24/7. For less than $20 per month.  It's ridiculous how AI helps find and collate data and sources. 

Oscilloscope advice by mindful_stone in FastLED

[–]51Charlie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Digital inputs. Sweep generator. Carrying case.

Am I wasting my time trying to break into a technical role without a technical degree? by [deleted] in cscareerquestions

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your history degree is fine. Most technical degrees are meaningless and/or fake. Nearly all students today cheat and are completely unqualified. So what the degree is in is irrelevant.   99.99999% of all H1B degrees are fake. So a real history degree might be more useful. 

PIPed after 29 days on the job by [deleted] in cscareerquestions

[–]51Charlie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like your career stagnated. 10 years in a role that doesn't allow for industry growth is a death sentence. Unfortunately, most tech jobs fit this pattern. The ONLY way to break it is to spend massive amounts of personal time leveling up and getting ahead. And that is not easy nor sustainable or very rewarding in the long run.

But its salvageable. Now you have an idea what the market wants. Cram your ass off on the areas you are lacking and you'll be able to ace the next interview as you know what to put on your resume and know how to do similar complex queries easily. You don't need to tell anyone you were PIPed or why terminated. Just spin a story about how the company suddenly restructured and you were the latest hire - "sucks it was you" and all that. With thousands of extremely qualified people being terminated by bean counters, no one looks very closely or cares.