Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1040234
OCTOBER 2018 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 69 continued education and profes- sional development. We'll share schedules and locations where the IPC designers certifications are taking place. We'll also share up-and-coming industry events, seminars, conferences, and work- shops. As Mike mentioned, he and I both are CID and CID+ instruc- tors, so we teach regularly. We fly around the country—and in some instances, around the world—to teach these classes. A lot of stu- dents we meet simply don't know what they don't know. They don't have a good resource or professional network to tap into, or they don't know where to look to find specific industry information, or when the next pro- fessional development class is going to held. Since you can't go to a major university and find a curriculum specifically dedicated for PCB design, we are creating this committee to become a main hub of up-to-date informa- tion and resource content from the DC globally regarding professional development and local chapter activities. The biggest point we want to make is to start communicating between chapters and designers so we can function as one big community rather than isolated islands. As the saying goes, "There is strength in numbers." Creeden: That's right. We really want to com- municate with the readers. We encourage you to participate as a listener, and potentially as a writer. I encourage Designers Council mem- bers to write to Steph, and he'll show you exactly how to participate in the column. I also encourage you to share this information with your peers and friends in the industry, and let's collectively make this our success. Shaughnessy: Will this column have a rotating list of contributors? Creeden: Correct. We've asked members from different local chapters to contribute articles and events. For example, there's a very strong Designers Council in the Research Triangle area in North Carolina. They will hold a show called PCB Carolina on November eighth of this year so we can give them time slots in the column around that show. The same thing can be true with the Silicon Valley group around PCB West or the San Diego chapter around IPC APEX EXPO. Additionally, the Orange County DC chapter boasts a membership of over 100 in attendance. We'd like to acknowledge their long- standing success. They are valuable to their local electronics community. Another one of our goals is to encourage people to form their own DC chapter. It truly takes a champion to lead that effort locally, but we have some infrastructure that we can lend in the formation of a new chapter. We'll sup- port you as you grow. Chavez: There is a lot of great industry content and professional networking opportunities that come from local chapter meetings. With this column, readers can gain industry knowledge, get local area chapter updates, and be a part of a chapter, even if they don't have a local one in their area. Another great opportunity from this column is to get on the email list of each iden- tified respective local DC chapter so that you can gain access to all available professional development content that is being shared with chapter members. Shaughnessy: I'm looking forward to working with you guys on your column. We're always happy to support the Designers Council. Thanks for speaking with me. Creeden: Thank you very much for your time, Andy. Chavez: Thanks for this opportunity. DESIGN007 Steph Chavez