Isn't being an Engineer brilliant?

This afternoon I've been working on the switching for my 5760MHz EME dish feed electronics. Nothing complicated, just a couple of high side MOSFET switches. A 300ms delayed 12 V high current one and a switched, non-delated 28V rail to activate the coax relay. Standard P channel switch circuitry with the 12V  input to the Source of the FET and the output from the Drain. 6.2k resistor from source to gate to keep it off and a NPN transistor from Gate to Ground to turn it on with. CR delay circuit in the base of the driver from the 12V TX out from my DB6NT transverer.  Worked fine, so I used the same circuit for the 28V one but with no delay ahead of it.
Built it, connected it up tried it and BANG! the driver transistor fried. Transistor was taking over an amp and current limiting the 28V supply .FET had also gone phut. Gate Source short circuit dumping the full 28V across the driver transistor. 
Whoah! Why do that with the 28V supply and not the huge 8A 12V supply?
Much head scratching and a couple of changed devices later (good job I have apenty of both)  I thought I'd better check the datasheet of the FET. Yep, maximum drain to source voltage was 60V so that's OK. Ah..... maximum drain to GATE voltage +/-20V Lower than VDSmax.... I didn't know that!
Grounding the Gate in this circuit with a transistor would put 28 - Vcesat = 27.8V   from Source to gate. Yep that would be more than 20V then. Failure would short gate to source connecting the full 28V across the collector to emitter juunction of the driver transistor taking that out as well!

I  do like to understand why things happpen.

Solution? Add an 8.2k between the transistor collector and the FET Gate. Limiting the Vgs of the FET to 28x8.2/14.4 = 15.94 V below 20V now so that's fine.

Reason for the title of the Blog? Every problem is a learning experience, and Engineers are all about solving problems.     Ergo, Engineering is all about learning.... BRILLIANT!! !