Super Seven #22 James Garvey
In our 22nd Super Seven Series we profile our Graduate Electronics Engineer, James Garvey. James joined us at the start of the year bringing enthusiasm and a passion for electronics that isn’t just contained to his work.
1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am a recently graduated Electronics Engineer and I’ve just started work here at KETS. I’m particularly interested in the design and implementation of analogue and digital electronics in the real world, and getting the most out of current electronics technologies and manufacturing techniques.
2. What do you do in KETS?
My official job role is ‘Graduate Electronics Engineer’ and so I am getting involved with the testing of the current designs of electronics systems that will be going into the ‘Stage 3′ device revision of KETS’ QKD system. At some stage the electronics hardware and the system as a whole will be completely redesigned to meet the integration requirement of later stages, and so I will be involved with designing the circuits, laying out PCBs, and the testing of that redesigned system.
3. What’s the most enjoyable part of your job?
Learning new things and new skills is probably the most rewarding and enjoyable part of my job. I very much enjoy talking to others in the team as it is a great way of seeing something from a different perspective or having something expressed in a slightly different way to better your understanding.
4. What inspires you?
Good coffee and good people!
5. What advice would you give someone wanting to get into electronic engineering?
My advice would be to get stuck in with whatever interests you, but to remember to start simple and leave the complicated things until later. The reason for this is that ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’, and so it can be very easy, especially in the days of the internet, to expect everything to be easier than it is. However, don’t be afraid to make mistakes (you’ll make loads of them!), and remember to be patient with what you’re doing and with yourself.
6. What do you do when you’re not in work?
Electronics! In my spare time I design guitar pedals and love the whole process of electronic circuit design through to product design and manufacture. When not designing circuits or playing around with fabrication I’m learning about history, politics, philosophy, listening to podcasts and keeping up with current affairs.
7. What’s the last book you read?
The last book I read (admittedly it was an audiobook, boo hiss) was ‘Nietzsche and the Nazis‘ by Stephen Hicks, which was a brilliant account of the influence of Friedrich Nietzsche on the collectivist ideas of the Nazis. It was truly eye-opening, especially in how Hicks links Nietzsche, Hegel, Heidegger, Kant, and other German philosophers and intellectuals of the 19th and 20th centuries to the Nazis and their ideals, and how the Nazis had far more in common with their communist and socialist adversaries than has traditionally been understood.
To get in touch with James, drop us an email at enquiry@kets-quantum.com