by Edward B. Sinclair

When I went through Field Engineer Training (Feb-November 1969), the Tektronix Concept Books were used as the textbooks for every segment of my training. For example, Vertical Amplifier Concepts, represented our longest segment, about 3 weeks. I believe these books were primarily the published course materials used by Marketing Training instructors, who taught Field Engineer Candidates about the Tektronix product lines

My most memorable experiences were the monthly Field Engineer lunches with Howard Vollum during Field Engineer Training.

In the Fifties and Sixties Tektronix almost exclusively hired experienced Factory personnel, well trained on Tektronix Oscilloscopes, and the Tektronix way of doing business to staff our Field Engineering offices around the country.

Tektronix was one of the first companies in our industry to replace distributors and representatives with direct employees.

When it became necessary, due to explosive growth, Tektronix began hiring qualified technical people as Field Engineers from outside the company, and saw to it that they got Tektronix specific training in our product lines, and Tek philosophy before being given a territory, for my class that was 10 and V2 months.

As a 1968 FE Candidate hire, I was moved to Beaverton, and spent February to November 1969 in FE Training - visiting every functional area of the company daily as part of my class indoctrination, following seven hours in the classroom.

My most memorable experiences were the monthly lunches with Howard Vollum, in the Building 50 dining room with the 15-20 Field Engineers currently enrolled in FE Training. My Class attended five of these luncheons during 1969.

Howard made himself available to answer any question posed, and gave us a good feel for Tektronix philosophy as it relates to customers, and how he expected us to treat them.

I was absolutely amazed when he explained the "Scope Down" priority that we as Field Engineers could assign to customers having critical needs for parts. This priority had written policies that required factory personnel to ensure that any needed part for a "Scope Down" would have top priority, even over building the next product on the production line.

It became obvious to me that Tek products, their quality, and these policies were what made Tektronix one of the most revered companies in the world.

Our customers response to Tek made our job special. Every Field Engineer I have talked to since, cites the Field Engineer job as "the best job I ever had!"

THANK YOU HOWARD