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40 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2018 Feature by Andy Shaughnessy I-CONNECT007 The next generation of PCB designers is coming—slowly, but surely. What will this new group of designers mean for EDA ven- dors like Cadence Design Systems? I recently interviewed Dan Fernsebner, product market- ing group director and a veteran EDA guy, and Bryan LaPointe, lead product engineer and representative of the younger generation. They discussed the next generation of PCB design- ers, some of the best ways to draw smart young people into this industry, and why the PCB designers of the future may need to have a college degree just to get an interview. Andy Shaughnessy: Bryan, how did you get involved with Cadence? Bryan LaPointe: Cadence was a bit of a long journey for me. I started in the design world, which I kind of stumbled into. After a few years of leading designs, I started putting together presentations and winning awards at different seminars and conferences, such as CDNLive and PCB West. From those, I started getting a little exposure and saw that a position opened up here for product engineering and I made the jump. Shaughnessy: What was your degree in? LaPointe: I have a bachelor's degree in forensic science. Totally unrelated. Shaughnessy: Everyone has a different path. LaPointe: Right. I worked in the physical sci- ences for a little while in the labs, something more related to my degree. Then, I ended up stumbling into an internship that taught not only PCB tool basics, but terms, technologies, and everything. This eventually led to a full- time designer position and being a bit of a team lead. That all cascaded from there. Shaughnessy: When you were in college, were you aware that there was this field called cir- cuit board design, or was that later? In With the NEW at Cadence