[sdiy] EE Degree

[Grant Richter]

> ...one of the other
> EE's at work kids about quitting and becoming a burger flipper

Being an engineer can be very frustrating lately. The accountants are in
charge of the semiconductors, and things get "obsoleted" for no sane reason.
There is nothing like spending 3 months perfecting a picture in picture
camera controller and then have Motorola wack ALL the P-in-P chips.

Having three projects where parts are obsoleted after design is REALLY a
bummer. It is not in the best interest of distributors and sales reps to
tell you about end of life for parts, they might get stuck with inventory on
the shelf. So they will avoid telling you as long as possible.

Even the manufacturers own people will swear it is a good part up until the
day the bean counters pull the plug. Be VERY cautious in selecting single
source parts, and always ask the question "what if I can't get it?".

A great deal of technology is about fashion. Digital is very fashionable
now-a-days because the small die sizes are more profitable for the fabs.
Analog requires higher voltages and larger dies and is less profitable. So
it is in the best interests of the some people to convince everybody that
microphones should have SPDIF ports with no access to the analog signal. But
don't believe it, it is simply a method of maximizing the suppliers profit
margin at the expense of the customers bottom line.