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Oral History – Carl David Todd (Continued)
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How did you begin your
transistor work at General Electric?
During my junior year at
Auburn, I wrote General Electric and RCA, asking them if they had displays
regarding transistors that we could set up for our Engineer's Week exhibits
– I wanted to share my excitement with others concerning the coming things
that would change their lives. Both companies complied, but the amount of
information from GE was quite impressive.
In my thank you letter, I asked if it would be possible to get a job
at GE for the summer. That request
was granted, and hands-on experience in the world of semiconductors was
stepped up a notch.
I got to know the people in
the research labs both at Syracuse and at Schenectady, and I learned about
the problems of production and getting the yield up. At that time, GE was still producing the
G11 and the G11A point contact transistors. They were also producing the 2N43, 44, and 45 family of PNP
junction transistors. Those three months went by so fast, but I was soaking
up as much knowledge as I could. I
got to proof part of Dick Shea. et. al's new book on transistor applications. For a going away present, I was given a
box of transistors.
As the senior year was drawing
to a close, it was necessary to choose the company I would join. Remember, my primary goal was to be a
Consulting Engineer in private practice, so I was looking for a company
that I could join and learn from for the 12 years I had planned to work in
industry.
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Oral History – Carl David Todd (Continued)
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I interviewed and received
solid offers from 52 companies. I
traveled to some 20 of them and evaluated my opportunities to learn from
them. IBM was high on my list, as
they were designing and building computers and were just starting to
incorporate transistors. While
their offer was much higher than any other company, and looking over the
704-T (transistorized version of the IBM 704 computer) was most exciting,
they informed me that, "Only our senior engineers will be working on
the development of transistorized computers. You will be assigned to a drafting board for the first 5 to 7
years." I was stunned! Here they were so interested in my
experience that they would make me a very good offer, yet they would
restrain me for half the time I expected to work in industry! Their financial salary offer was very
generous, but the offer of opportunity, or lack thereof, was far from
acceptable. I turned them down. Bell Labs was also restrictive in what I would be doing, as
were many other companies.
As I look back, I believe my
choice to work for GE was a wise one.
I doubt I would have been granted as much freedom or met as many
helpful people (with another company). From process people and mechanization gurus, to research
scientists in the labs, almost all were willing to take time to answer my
endless questions and to listen to my suggestions. I had learned so much in
just three months, imagine what I could learn in 12 years!
Go
To Todd Oral History, Page 5
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