Re: gEDA-user: Open-source friendly EE programs

[Al Davis <ad62@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday 12 January 2005 12:33 am, William Dieter wrote:
> Many students and faculty want students to use "real" tools
> that are commonly used in industry.  To some extent it is
> hard to blame them.  Some employers (particulary the HR
> people) are looking for certain keywords on the resume and
> anyone without them gets weeded out, regardless of how well
> they understand the underlying concepts.

I get that too, so I asked some questions of some people in 
industry at a conference recently.  I found (and confirmed) a 
bunch of points.

The most common OS for development in the IC business is Linux.  
Sun/Solaris is second.  None of those I asked used Windows.

If the resume says "PSPICE".  Ask:  Can they use HSPICE?  Can 
they use Smart-Spice?  Can they use Accusim?  Probably the 
answer is no.  So, if they want HSPICE, PSPICE isn't close 
enough.  But SPICE is.

The same people that insist on "real" tools won't use them (or 
anything) until senior year, then blow a lot of time on them.  
The "real" tools are very hard to use, for a beginner.