Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1004549
16 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2018 Shaughnessy: If you put on your wizard hat, who are the designers of tomorrow? Webb: I think there's an opportunity for people who don't have an engineering degree to con- tinue in the business if they are a proponent of their own career, but if not, it will probably have to be more engineers, just because that part of business is more complicated as well. Sometimes I'm concerned there will be a dip in board expertise when designers leave the field through retirement, and engineers pick it up, because if they're not using the expertise that's available now for all the various facets of design, then they will have to learn the hard way. Plus, when I got into really studying all of this and reading the books and whatnot, I thought it was black and white. But it's not really that way. There are differences of opin- ion even among the experts in the field. So designers and engineers have to keep up with the business, and ask questions of the people that have done their research and that they can trust. Patty Goldman: There is concern about so many designers retiring in the next five years. Are other countries having the same problem? How about in the East? Are they churning out designers? Webb: I feel like the other countries are seeking information as well, probably on about the same level that the people here are. I've been to sev- eral different countries to teach, and I'm going to Australia in the fall for the third time. So I know that they are hungry to learn down there. I know the peo- ple in Europe are work- ing hard to get good information, and they are talking to IPC about designers council chapters as well. If they get together and talk over a subject, they're learn- ing. And so I would think that it's approxi- mately the same in other countries. Goldman: I guess my concern wouldn't be so much Europe as it would be Asia. Webb: I know that there is a lot of reaching out from people in Asia and India to people in the U.S. asking questions and advice. They may not have the same access to conferences and to mentoring that people do here. So I think sometimes they get on LinkedIn or other design groups and ask questions there because that's the only method they have. At least they have the desire to know more, to understand more, to do their job correctly. Goldman: I guess my concern is that pretty soon, not much is going to get designed in this country and that we're then dependent on other countries for things we need. Webb: I hope that's not the case. It's impossible to know for sure, but I believe the best exper- tise is still currently in this country. But oth- ers are striving to produce quality boards too. I have been a judge for a contest, and many of the designs were from overseas. Many of them were really good designs.