08/11/04

Kidder, Chapter 9

pages 171 - 182

1. West was booted out of Amherst for a year (because he was an underachiever) and played the guitar with some folk singers who later became famous or semi-famous.

   When West returned to school, he taught himself a little bit of digital electronics and wanted to become an engineer in the space program. Specifically, he taught himself some of the content of what is now taught during the first digital circuits course in electrical and computer engineering. When he couldn't find a job in the space program, he went to work for the Smithsonian installing digital clocks. This experience helped him flesh out his self-taught knowledge of designing simple digital circuitry. Such knowledge is not enough to design computers, however.

   After a few years at the Smithsonian, he spent 6 weeks at the public library learning some computer jargon and rushed out and talked himself into a job at RCA before he forgot the terms. It was at RCA that West learned about computer design. When RCA lost out to IBM as a producer of mainframe computers and closed down computer operations, West went to Data General.

   Note that West learned about digital circuits and computer design, on his own, mostly after he left school. To repeat an earlier observation, West is a good example of lifelong learning in practice.

2. West speaks of some great delight, "almost a chemical change," that came over him when he saw the Eclipses that he debugged gliding down the conveyer belt. Many engineers experience such a sense of a kind of personal euphoria upon successful completion of a challenging project. These feelings apparently arise independently of financial gain or professional recognition, although these certainly are welcome. Samuel Florman wrote extensively about such ideas in his book, The Existential Pleasures of Engineering. Tom West merely says " You wouldn't have to pay me very much to do this." That's the ideal way to feel about your work. Such fundamental satisfaction is essential in coping successfully with the inevitable unpleasantries that arise in every project.

   Which people on the Eagle project do you think were doing what they were doing mainly for the money and professional recognition?