Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1153097
98 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2019 Flex007 Feature Interview by Andy Shaughnessy I-CONNECT007 We all like free things. Well, if you're new to flex design, you might want to check out an online course offered by All Flex, a flex fabri- cator. The course, Designing Flexible Circuits, was created by John Michael Pierobon. John Michael is an engineer who has pre- sented a wide variety of high-tech classes around the world on topics that include C pro- gramming, Red Hat Linux, and Z shell script- ing. He even has a course titled How to Succeed in International Business. He can teach in Eng- lish, Spanish, and Portuguese, and he's not too shabby at Italian and French either. I asked John Michael to discuss his flexible circuit design course, and whether online cur- riculum can ever replace good old-fashioned live instruction. Andy Shaughnessy: Give us a little background about yourself and your company. John Michael Pierobon: I was born in Minneso- ta. I grew up in Latin America, having lived five years in Brazil, four years in Mexico, and eight years in Peru. As an undergraduate, I worked as a computer operator to pay for tuition. As a graduate student, I taught Fortran. After I grad - uated, I worked as an engineer. I got my PE li- cense. I wrote computer programs for engineer- ing applications and then went to work for sci- entific computer companies. I ran the training department for one of them. Then, the internet exploded. I ran an internet service provider and started teaching courses on building and run - ning the World Wide Web. Now that it is built up, I concentrate on writing and teaching tech- nical courses for companies. I live in Fort Lau- derdale, only 148 steps from the beach. Shaughnessy: How did you start teaching flex- ible circuit design? Pierobon: One day, one of my favorite custom- ers asked me to write a course on designing flexible circuits. I had the time to do it, so I did. Shaughnessy: Can you walk us through the on- line flex design class that All Flex sponsors? It's a fairly comprehensive class and free to the users, which is really nice. John Michael Pierobon Discusses His Flex Design Class John Michael Pierobon