Engineering Salaries 2020

 If you wonder if your compensation is competitive, Electronic Design magazine has published its annual 2020 Engineering Salaries report. 

Median compensation for engineers in 2020 was in the range between $100,000 and $125,000 (21%). 

37% was making $125,000 and over. 

2% was making less than $30,000 (I can't imagine an engineer would accept such a position).

36% did not get any raise in 2020, and 26% got just 1-3% raise. At the same time 22% actually got some paycut, likely because of business decline due to covid-19.

Hopefully, next year will better, especially because he vaccine is already in the pipeline.

Single Rail PC Power Supply ATXVO

Back in 2006 Google proposed single rail PC PSU approach in their white paper. It took 14 years for Intel to practically implement this approach in their ATX12VO Single 12V Rail power supply design guide. However, this is not the end of the road for PC efficiency improvement. Thirteen years ago, in this post I wrote how single-rail 12V power supply efficiency can be further boosted on the system level by updating computer hardware to allow 12V bus to drop to 8-9V. Hopefully, Intel will eventually figure it out. Meantime, here is a detailed description and connector pinouts of ATX12VO power supply.

Airbus to Produce Hybrid-Electric Jet

Airbus has just revealed its plans for production of hybrid-electric jet aircraft by 2035. It is supposed to be a low-emission jet, which is good. They also say that such aircraft will be much lighter and safer than traditional aircraft.

Well, lighter, may be, but safer? Hybrid electric means they will have a lot of batteries. Remember, the introduction of Boeing 787 Dreamliner? At least four of these aircrafts suffered from electrical system problems when lithium-ion batteries overheated and started a fire. And what was the solution? The FAA decided in 2013 to allow Dreamliners to return to service after changes were made to their battery systems to better contain battery fires. Not to prevent fires, but to "better contain fires"! Well, I personally will be reluctant to fly on any electric hybrid jet.