I think many PCB Designers (like myself) came into this profession by this
task being a small part of our daily responsibilities. We had the time &
opportunity to work side-by-side with Senior PCB Designers & learned alot
(in due time) from them. Eventually, we transcended that border & became
full-time PCB Designers....and did nothing else!!
BUT, everyone on this sig can attest to how our industry (& others in
general) has sped up to where companies do not have the resources (less PCB
people at a given company) nor the time (tighter schedules) which put the
above-named avenue of recruiting & training at high risk and on the
decrease, perhaps on the last leg of extinction.
Also, the companies I worked for in past, showed signs of not wanting to
spend the money & the time to keep us trained. We are essentially being
treated like "contract & self-employed" individuals where we must look after
that process by ourselves.
It doesn't take much to predict that our skillset is on the decline.
Like water seeking its own level, people will not expend the growing amount
of effort required to become a fully rounded & experienced PCB Designer and
will simply flow elsewhere......
Regards
TDK
-----Original Message-----
From: Brooks,Bill [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 10:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [DC] "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay...."
Andy Shaughnessy wrote a very nice piece entitled "Who will design
tomorrow's PCB's?" in October's issue of PCD&M. If you haven't read it yet I
highly recommend that you get a copy of the magazine and read it.
How true, Andy, that we are really facing the potential extinction of the
PCB designer in North America if things continue without some real focus and
energy put into training new people to adopt this career as their own. IEEE
and other professional organizations put funds and effort into promoting
their profession to colleges and universities, in conjunction with support
from the companies that wish to hire EE's and technical professionals. Our
schools are being pounded by legislation and funding cuts that keep the
training needed for most vocational pursuits from even being offered and the
managers of the colleges have been more in love with academics and MBA's
rather than 'Engineering' as a career path. We need to lobby and put effort
into the promotion of this career path, and create technical materials that
the colleges can use to base their courses on to enable them to train the
next generation of designers.
PCB design is not nearly as simple as it used to be... there is much more
material the designers need to know in order to compete in this changing
field. I am currently studying for the IPC DC CID+ certification workshop
and test to be held here in San Diego Oct 14-16. Many designers are seeing
the need to get professional certification and broaden their knowledge and
experience to be able to get the type of boards that are being designed
today.
I have proposed that the IPC DC support the creation of a College level
textbook that teachers could use to teach PCB design in the community
colleges and we have a group of designers that are members that are on a
college education committee that work together to help promote the programs
you mention in your article at Collin County College in Texas, and other
sites around the world. There is a page on the DC website that lists the
current colleges we are working with to get PCB Design into the college
students to help promote our profession to young minds that are searching
for a future career.
http://www.ipcdesignerscouncil.org/education/schools.htm
I want to thank you for bringing this topic to the attention of the readers
of PCD&M. We need more focus like this to help others to get inspired to get
involved. We don't want to see this profession loose it's edge or falter due
to the retirement of our exceptional and highly experienced colleagues over
the next ten years. Anyone who wants to get involved or has questions can
e-mail me or any of the members of the IPC DC staff.
Best regards,
Bill Brooks
PCB Design Engineer , C.I.D., C.I.I.
Tel: (760)597-1500 Ext 3772 Fax: (760)597-1510
http://pcbwizards.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV
1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil.
To temporarily stop/(restart) delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET
DesignerCouncil NOMAIL/(MAIL)
Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases >
E-mail Archives
Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16
for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or
847-509-9700 ext.5315
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil.
To temporarily stop/(restart) delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL/(MAIL)
Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives
Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
