Priority Interrupt by Steve Ciarcia Moving Forward

If it weren’t for the fact that I get to meet and talk to Circuit Cellar readers, I’d hate going to trade shows. The practice isn’t new but the procedures have surely changed over the years. Back in the early days, I used to sit on a tall stool at the BYTE booth and exchange ideas and opinions with a crowd of enthusiastic supporters. Of course, the definition of enthusiasm was often broadened to incorporate field service. Frequently there would be readers who arrived at the show booth with a shopping bag full of electronic components. The more resourceful among them would even drag along test equipment and a soldering iron. Essentially, the logic was that they had read my article, built the project, and just needed a “little” help getting it running. Entirely oblivious to the commercial madness of a trade show environment, I had guys who spread entire hand-wired computer systems across the booth counter, and then pass me a probe and say, “Can you fix this?” Fortunately, eccentricity was a more acceptable reader demographic back then. Advertising sales people even accepted that success, and having Ciarcia around, occasionally involved some solder fumes wafting through the ranks at trade shows.

Today things are different, yet still the same. I’m sure that every one who took the time and trouble to lay a project in front of me in search of a design answer charted a career course that has left its own valued mark on the world. People with that much drive and ambition typically find success wherever they go.

Readers still meet me at shows to discuss projects and ideas, but it’s rare that anyone dumps out a bag full of hardware on the table. Today, a reader it more likely to pull out his PDA and start scrolling through a thousand lines of C code before I can get it across to him that I still speak mostly “solder.” The other big difference in show talk today is the testimonial aspect of a lot of it. Readers frequently tell me stories about how Circuit Cellar had a strong influence in directing their career paths. Although it completely confirms that our message is valuable, I’m embarrassed to take personal credit when I truly believe that Circuit Cellar has always been a community of engineers, rather than an individual effort.

Talking to readers is important if we want to stay editorial-centric. I’d be talking only to advertisers if I were thinking of making Circuit Cellar like a trade magazine. In truth, however, all our readers can’t be at trade shows, and I can’t be there to hear everyone who wants to be heard. That’s where I have to rely on the Internet.

By the time you read this, a survey will be posted on our web site at www.circuitcellar.com/survey. In some ways, this is like most of the surveys we’ve sent to you by snail mail, but now I ask that you to come to us instead. I want to know what kind of job you have, whether you’ve thought about participating in our contests, and what kind of editorial you want to see. Most of all, I want to know what you think about us, and whether or not you think we’ve benefited your livelihood. I’m putting in a large comment section, and I invite you to add your two cents. If you think Circuit Cellar has affected your career path, please tell me about it. It’s not that I have any particular marketing objective in mind, it’s just that sometimes I need to be reminded why we’re doing all this.

Speaking of doing all this, it reminds me of our latest contests. While you are on the site filling out the survey, check out the winners of our recent Atmel Design Logic 2001 contest.

Of course, design contests have always been a big deal around Circuit Cellar. I’m proud to say that the way we do them is really different from other magazines. The majority of magazine contests only involve design ideas and not physical projects. All you have to do is describe how you’d use an XYZ widget. Simple, sweet, and direct, but not our cup of tea and certainly no challenge.

Because of your enthusiasm and dedication, we get to approach them differently and with purpose. For the magazine, it’s an incentive bonus plan to find new, good Circuit Cellar authors. For an entrant, it’s a subsidized design adventure.

In next month’s magazine, we’ll show you the winners from our Atmel Design Logic 2001 contest. Right now, our Texas Instruments Ultra-Low Power MSP430 Design contest is in full swing, and it isn’t too late to enter. If you’ve ever thought about building that neat little portable widget, this is your opportunity. But wait, don’t unplug your soldering iron. If we haven’t hit your favorite processor yet, hang in there, we’ll get to it eventually. We have an entirely new Circuit Cellar contest sponsor for early 2002. With all of these contests in the pipe, subscribers can count on a lot of terrific project articles covering a variety of great processors in the issues to come.

steve.ciarcia@circuitcellar.com

Published: Nov-2001