Priority Interrupt by Steve Ciarcia Moving Forward

OK, I admit it. I’ve been at this game for quite a few years. I want you to know it was a choice. It isn’t like I was too lazy to look for a job someplace, and so I ended up hanging around in the cellar inventing stuff. I’m one of those fortunate people who really got to tailor his career to be in line with his interests.

The downside is being reminded that I started all this 25 years ago, and the clock has kept moving ever since. I wish I had a nickel for every time someone came up to me at a trade show and said, "I’ve been reading you since BYTE." Of course, I realize they mean this as a compliment even when they tell me that they were in high school at the time or that they now own a company and have piles of grandchildren. The reality of being one of the few successful magazines in the embedded electronics business is that we are, by definition, in it for the long haul. I guess it was finally time to update the picture. Yeah, it’s grayer. But let’s think of it as wiser too. ;-)

So, how has Circuit Cellar sustained its relevance and prospered while others have failed over the years. For those of us old enough to remember BYTE, there is a lesson. BYTE was at the top of its game when it switched directions to follow the money instead of the readership. They switched from being a broad-based technology magazine to just another PC-centric magazine following the advertising rainbow. We all know how that story turned out.

The level of technology in this issue of Circuit Cellar is certainly greater than the first issue, but the message is still the same, and we said it first: "Inside the box still counts." Along with trusted staff members like Jennifer Huber, Dave Tweed, and John Gorsky, we’ve endeavored to stay relevant and broad-based. The fact that Circuit Cellar is revered as a reference-quality magazine isn’t because I’m some great Editorial Director; it’s only because of the great authors and designers who fill our pages. I give them the vehicle to publish it, but it is their talented designs that make it all relevant.

So what’s one of the best ways to find these great projects and great authors? Contests, of course!

While we have more editorial than we need, sometimes in the past we have had difficulty planning specific theme issues. For example, it’s good to actually have a few wireless design articles when you plan a wireless theme issue <grin>. Editorial quality and technical variety is a numbers game. If you have 10 manuscripts to review, a few will be great, a couple will be perfect for special issues, and the rest you’d prefer to pass on. If this number is 100 manuscripts, then the percentage that is considered great and unique is enough to fill half the editorial calendar. Give me 100 contest projects a year and I’ll show you what a reference-quality magazine is all about.

If you’ve ever wondered why Circuit Cellar design contests are managed so much better than anywhere else, it’s because our relationship with the contestants starts when they enter a project, not ends with it. Win or lose, I’ll work with you to maximize the benefits of putting the work into a contest project. For some of you, this means publishing a feature article in the magazine, while for others it’s an opportunity to have your project posted on a major semiconductor manufacturer’s web site. For everyone, it just might be the boost you need to launch a product or a career.

Circuit Cellar will continue to host two official Circuit Cellar design contests again this year. (In fact, we’re already booked through 2005 for these kinds of contests.) The first is the Atmel AVR 2004 Contest that starts this month. The second is a Cypress MicroSystems PSoC contest that starts in August. Finally, if two contests aren’t enough for you, we will be announcing two more during the year as well. Just watch our web site for details.

Probably the best reinforcement that we must be doing something right is the number of contest "regulars" we seem to have. Just for the heck of it, I made a list of all the project entries for the eight contests held during the last three years. I have 35 people who have entered at least two different contests during that period. Six people had the fortitude to enter five separate contests: Bruce Pride (USA), Indranil Majumdar (India), Lindsay Meek (Australia), Radu Constantinescu (USA), Seenath Punnakkal (USA), and Virachat Boondharigaputra (Thailand). Of course, the trophy for the most entered—six contests—goes to Robert Lacoste. (For anyone worried about competing with Robert, since his contest-stimulated consulting business took off, he seems to be limiting himself to two contests a year. ;-)

Just so you know that all this repeat activity isn’t wasted, 60% of the 35 people who entered two or more contests have ended up as winners. Eighty-five percent of the 19 people who entered three or more contests ended up as winners at least once. And, 100% of the nine people with four or more contest entries were winners. Perseverance counts.

Yup, it’s a new picture, but it’s the same old story, and knowing its history could be helpful to you. I once used a magazine and a few design projects to launch a career. Perhaps it’s worth thinking about whether this could be the same success formula for you. Pick a contest and start with the design project.