Jeff Johnston: In His Own Words
Before a brief Q & A session Jeff describes for us, in what he humbly calls his “dissertation”, a typical day as a Junior Engineer.
He starts off with the things we want to know most; he graduated class of 2000, earning three A.S. degrees in two and a half years, one in Telecommunications and the other two in RF technology, and Electronics. He now works for SignaSys in San Jose, CA. He interviewed for a month after his graduation, receiving offers from companies that were inviting but didn’t quite whet his appetite… until Signa Sys. It was during an informal interview in the warehouse location of this booming start up that he realized he’d found his niche; the allure of this company being it’s focus on systems integration.
With more than just charm and an impressive resume to fall back on, Jeff relies on much of his NVC course work in his daily duties, especially AutoCAD. His job is to take a project idea, draw up a schematic, and present it to the client; sometimes innovation doesn’t match practicality so he then has to consult resources like ergo management site lines to ensure that advantages in technology don’t result in physical disadvantages for operators.
Other hailed programs were Excel, Outlook and Word; overlooked and often neglected choices in a tech student’s education. Jeff related to us how he used the aforementioned software programs everyday to send communicates to clients, keep accurate logs of equipment ordered, purchased and used, by whom and at which location; details, details all the way down to their serial numbers. Not only does it show professionalism on his company’s part but it also saves project delays and, avoids potential embarrassment if something to be installed isn’t on site when needed.
With lessons learned in both Electronics and RF (kudos to Ernie and Larry), Jeff recited a Vanntra (Gary inspired mantra) that is the foundation behind his recreation and understanding of signal flow…. “what are the ins and outs”.
Following this recitation, he took the time to generously provide us with some advice:
- Make friends with everyone.
One of the first people Jeff ran into on his KGO project happened to be the head of the technical maintenance, Lee McPherson. On a visit to the then second year class, Lee approached students seeking new blood to fill some daily hire maintenance/production jobs. Jeff was unable to go on this “adventure” but gave Lee a guided tour of both the Telecomm and Electronics facilities, that left a lasting impression. Presently Jeff’s boss relies on him to be Lee’s primary contact; with this comes the responsibility to find solutions around budget and television time-constraints. - Do more than just your job.
Research what you don’t fully understand. Ask about what you don’t know. Employers understand when you say you’re just out of school and are willing to help. - Speak your mind.
You have as much to offer the company, as you have to learn from them. Be tempered in your opinions. - Build on Larry’s amplification and frequency modulation RF class.
Even though the industry is moving towards digital, the core is still in things like balanced audio. - Have fun.
Is there stress? Yes; but have fun and love what you do. You’ll be there for hours sometimes staring at a computer screen so you might as well enjoy it.
Even after all this students were still a little thirsty, here are a few of the things they wanted to know:
- Q: What’s your most interesting project?
- A: A ship being built for a Seattle-based company. The client is part owner of a major software company. The ship will feature two helipads, a submarine, and suites with digital surround sound. He wants to be able to pause a movie in one room and resume watching it in the bar at the exact same spot. It has fifty times the redundancy of any typical setup, wired with fiber optic cables so that future ventures will allow routing video through IP addressing. The technology isn’t there yet but this guy is getting ready for it. With one ship being built in the southern hemisphere and the other in the Northern Hemisphere his goal is to have easy access despite his global location.
My primary responsibility is to create the block diagrams while Jay Minkin (a former Sony Engineer), and Davin Clem (Napa grad) rack up frequent flyer miles giving this project life.
- Q: What level of experience is expected on the first day?
- A: Open mind. Open ears. Read a lot and ask questions. Look on the web for some of the answers, but don’t be afraid to ask questions.
- Q: Did you get any direction or training?
- A: After the first meeting I was expected to produce drawing on a project in a crunch. Without the familiarity of their program, the drawings came out horribly, but I took them unashamedly to the meeting.
- Q: How much licensing do you have?
- A: I got three degrees and took some network classes. I wanted more licensing, but the real goal is if you can make the company money…you’re a winner.
We can’t thank Jeff enough for his time and his direction, but we do want to wish him the best in his current endeavors with the hopes that he’ll continue to stop in and share them with us.