# An Interview with John Day

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2020-03-22
- Length: 1h 33m
- Episode: 485
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-03-22-an-interview-with-john-day
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/485-an-interview-with-john-day/

## Summary

John Day, a technical fellow and Field Applications Engineer at Microchip Technology, discusses his 27-year career and the evolution of microcontroller development. He details the history of Microchip's spin-off from General Instruments, the shift from ROM to EEPROM and Flash, and the invention of in-circuit debugging with the PIC16F877. Day also shares insights into silicon errata processes, the role of FAEs, and his personal passion for restoring vintage pinball machines using modern embedded systems.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-03-22-an-interview-with-john-day#t=0) Introduction and Microchip History
- [3:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-03-22-an-interview-with-john-day#t=213) The Rise of PIC and EEPROM
- [11:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-03-22-an-interview-with-john-day#t=708) Invention of In-Circuit Debugging
- [21:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-03-22-an-interview-with-john-day#t=1295) Silicon Errata and Failure Analysis
- [29:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-03-22-an-interview-with-john-day#t=1741) FAE Roles and Product Portfolio
- [47:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-03-22-an-interview-with-john-day#t=2833) App Notes and Personal Projects
- [58:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-03-22-an-interview-with-john-day#t=3526) Restoring Pinball Machines with Microcontrollers
- [1:19:04](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-03-22-an-interview-with-john-day#t=4744) Safety Stories and High Voltage Debugging

## Topics

- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [Maker community & events](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/maker-community)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Microchip (company)
- PIC (product)
- General Instruments (company)
- Atmel (company)
- PIC16F877 (product)
- MPLAB (tool)
- Digilent (company)
- OpenScope (product)
- Saleae (tool)
- AT28C64 (product)
- Harmony (product)
- MAME (tool)
- Raspberry Pi (product)
- Mission Pinball Framework (tool)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [376: Left Half of My Brain Is Digital](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2021-06-10-376-left-half-of-my-brain-is-digital) (Embedded.fm)
- [Ep. 26 | Microchip's Steve Sanghi on How to Bring a Company from Debt to Billions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-06-08-ep-26-microchips-steve-sanghi-on-how-to-bring-a-company-from-debt-to-billions) (Moore's Lobby)
- [Creating Next-Gen Microcontroller Developer Tools and Equipping the People Who Use Them](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2025-04-22-creating-next-gen-microcontroller-developer-tools-and-equipping-the-people-who-u) (Moore's Lobby)
- [200: Oops](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-05-17-200-oops) (Embedded.fm)
- [191: What, Yogurt!?!](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-03-15-191-what-yogurt) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-03-22-an-interview-with-john-day. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Amp Hour.