So I was knuckle deep in a crazy board rework today at work trying to fit a 1206 cap where it didn’t belong because it was left off the schematic and consequently the layout. About halfway through I realized that the rework I was performing required a pretty steady hand, like I imagined a surgeon would need. I chuckled to myself and tweeted that if being an EE didn’t work out I was going to become a surgeon as all the reworks I’ve done over the years count as practice.
Satisfied with my wittiness I pocketed my phone and continued on modifying the board. That would be the end of the story if my brain would ever let anything go. Instead I kept thinking about surgery the rest of the day and realized that actually, EEs are quite a bit like surgeons when you think about it.
- Operating Room & Table = Lab & Bench
- Scalpel = X-acto Knife
- Heart Rate Monitor, O2 Monitor, etc. = Oscilloscopes, Multi-meters, etc.
- Cauterization Tool = Soldering Iron
- Nurses = Techs
- Tweezers, Hemostats, Cotton Swabs = Tweezers, Hemostats, Cotton Swaps
- Isopropyl Alcohol, Antiseptics = Isopropyl Alcohol, Board Cleaners
- Anesthesia = Flux (Just makes the whole process a lot smoother)
- Microscopic Surgery = Soldering & Scrapping under a microscope
- Defibrillator = ESD Gun
- Too much caffeine makes operating harder = ditto
- Sinus Rhythm = Steady State Response
So I guess all that’s separating me from becoming a surgeon is jargon am I right?
Fake EE Quips 