HN user
I have worked with automation robots for over 15 years in manufacturing. Robust robots have only one degree of freedom, robust robots aren't very useful. Useful robots have two or three degrees of freedom, useful robots breakdown all the time from use and need a pit crew to repair them. I'm sure the use of robotic automation is about to explode, but robotics are limited.
I still think how many golf balls fit in a 747 is a good interview question. No one needs to give me a number but someone could really wow me but outlining a real plan to estimate this, tell me how you would subcontract estimating the size of the golf ball and the plane. It's not about a right or wrong answer but explaining to me how you think. I do software and hardware interviews and always did them in person so we can focus on how a candidate thinks. You can answer every question wrong in my interview but still be above the bar because of how they show me they can think.
Smith charts look really cool, and they can be really useful for modeling, but for me I can't see the phasors when I use a Smith chart. Myself and all the EEs I work with use bode plots to see mag and phase response across frequency. I know some sick f EEs that just want raw IQ pairs. But Smith charts look sci fi so they're good too.
Interest rates impact the cost of everything you buy.
Almost all large businesses are financing their operations on credit, not by spending down a war chest replenished with revenue. Large public companies borrow money against their remaining held stock to finance their operation. It is true that inflation impacts the base cost of the raw materials and labor but those costs are also more expensive because of the higher business loan interest rate to finance an operation. The extra financing cost is passed to the consumer.
The higher cost of financing drives layoffs too, companies will layoff when financing costs rise so they can stay cost neutral.