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HV hobby and interviews?

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LAN_403

Conundrum

Wed Feb 20 2008, 10:45AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

Hi all.

This is interesting. I was asked about hobbies during an interview, and mentioned high voltage research. The guy doing the interview was very interested and asked some in depth questions about what I was working on etcetera.

How would I best approach this in future? I tend to go on a bit when discussing such things...

Recommended topics not to discuss? (obviously anything weapons related?)

Please advise.

TIA,
-A

Mates

Wed Feb 20 2008, 12:09PM

Registered Member #1025 Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566

I think that HV voltage science is very empirical. You can hardly simulate or calculate how HV device will exactly behave. This could be the strong point I would use in the interview - practical experience with something which is not commonly available and no theoretical book can perfectly prepare forâ€¦

Zum Beispiel

Wed Feb 20 2008, 01:15PM

Registered Member #514 Joined: Sun Feb 11 2007, 12:27AM
Location: Somewhere in Pirkanmaa, Finland
Posts: 295

Heh, I just had this conversation 20 minutes ago.

I just always say that I build all sorts of dangerous things, that usually go *braat!* *huge arcs from the wrong places* *fuse blows*, but I always stand well back, so I won't kill myself. And that it's just for fun.

Avalanche

Wed Feb 20 2008, 08:49PM

Registered Member #103 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:16PM
Location: Derby, UK
Posts: 845

Use the opportunity it gives you to show off your skills that go into doing what you do. Do not describe the end result of your projects unless they show a genuine interest, and actually ask.

For example, avoid the following: "what do you do for a hobby?" "high voltage, eg building tesla coils, emp gunz, driving tv flybacks etc"

It's too big a leap. They might not be interested, or will ask a basic top level question like "what does a tesla coil do?!" your only answer then can be "generates big sparkzzzz lol" then they will probably grin and move on quickly, and you've missed an opportunity.

What I did in my last (sucessful) inverview was handle it like this: "what do you do for a hobby?" "...blahblah etc....and a number of high voltage hobbies which involve building and debugging high frequency inverters for resonant transformers... (etc) ...writing software for low-end microcontrollers... ...for example recently I was implementing an MPPT algorithm in a solar controller I built etc.. ...all the way to designing and producing one-off PCBs for my projects, etc...". Not only then have you shown them you are interested, but you have hinted to them that you have 'the knack' for electrical engineering, otherwise you wouldn't be doing it as a hobby. No doubt the questions will follow after this - I was able to talk about how I measured current on a shunt in an isolated way and turned it into pwm to stuff it through an opto into the micro. I only talked about that part because they showed an interest in it (or more likely were testing me).

Of course some people will show an interest if you just mention tesla coils and coilguns, but in my experience that was never a very good idea. Trust me you don't want to be in a situation where you're in an interview, shirt and tie, trying to describe how you built something that shot holes in baked bean cans! I've been there - and I couldn't keep a straight face either! Neither could they!

Just my 0.02, I only gave examples because I'm useless at describing things but you get the idea... good luck

...

Thu Feb 21 2008, 01:33AM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

Agreed that rocketry seems to get a lot more points than does HV, it seems that is always what I get asked about when I talk with people at the company I intern at (telecom/solar power). I just say that I like designing things, like my tesla coils, rockets, gps tracker, etc. Then let them ask questions about whatever interests them (assuming it is possible to do that).

edit:
on a similar note, make sure to let them know that you have spent some time with a soldering iron, scope, screwdriver, etc. My boss at ortel specifically noted that he choose me other other candidates (like masters level people) was that I sounded like I had experience working with the electrical/mechanical design.

Hazmatt_(The Underdog)

Thu Feb 21 2008, 03:08AM

Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735

I submitted a picture of my Tesla Coil in my resume, along with pictures of other things I have built, and it really was a conversation starter!
High power RF is important these days, not necessarily in such a low frequency as a TC, but it is relavent to power supplies and other forms of energy conversion.
During the job fair and my resume submission I was able to talk with and share some fun stories with other engineers, and you know what, I'm working for Northrop now so maybe there's some creedence to it.

I would say Always include projects in your resume. It gives you something to really talk about during an interview. I think this is why I got a job and one of my friends didn't. I think he failed to "sell" himself to the interviewers.
Hiring Engineers want to see motivation, curiosity, experience, and something you can bring to the table, so by all means, do and LIST as many projects as you can, it really breaks the ice!

Tesladownunder

Fri Feb 22 2008, 10:07AM

Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424

When you said interview, I assumed a press interview and everyone else assumed job interview.
Guess I don't have many job interviews these days....

TDU

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