If the company you are working for will allow you to, do some cross-training in other parts of the PCB supply chain. A few hours of struggling to assemble, test, or trouble shoot one of your designs will point out your errors and make you more apt to listen when a technician questions how something was done in design. For a real education, the Copper Connection in Santa Clara, California runs a number of training seminars, and classes in printed circuit design. Their introductory course was invaluable when I started designing boards several years ago. Also, look for the IPC Designer certification seminar information on the IPC homepage. Whether you take the exam or not (I haven't - but that is another discussion all together), these sessions are packed with good basic design information. *Best of luck*, your going to need it in this industry;-D. Jeffrey A. McGlaughlin Printed Circuit Board Designer Battelle Memorial Institute Columbus Ohio -----Original Message----- From: Thomas Martin [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Friday, August 07, 1998 12:15 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] New Designer!! Jeeze Jason Is it too late for you to become a rock-and-roll musician or an air traffic controller and have a relatively sane and peaceful existence instead? No? Ok. then here are some thoughts. 1) Also sign on to [log in to unmask] 2) If you have (or have access to) a web browser: A) Go to DesignerCouncil email forum archives at IPC "On Line Services", "E-mail Forums Archives" http://www.ipc.org/html/framesetdestypes.html and trace threads that look relevant to your needs. You might want to look for questions with JoAnn Amerson as the author, as she's asked some good questions and received some good answers over the last year or so. B) Go to the "PCB Process" page of http://www.aracnet.com/~gpatrick/ where you get can a good description of the PWB Design process written by someone who cares about what they do and how they do it. C) Lots of other helpful sites out there. Go surfin' the web. 3) Treat every contact with fabricators, assemblers, testers, design engineers, etc. (even the occasionally irate ones) as an opportunity for you to learn something more about the process of turning an idea into a product in the customers' hands. If possible, watch/help as they perform their functions on a board, preferably one you designed. This will usually make most of the design rules make sense, help you violate them consciously when necessary with an understanding of the impact, and give you the insight to negotiate away the outdated & "just because we always have..." rules. 4) Attend relevant workshops if available in your area. Good Luck Tom Martin ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################ ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################