Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1153097
8 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2019 I think it must be a requirement for every commencement speech to include the words, "You may be a graduate now, but your lifetime of learning has only begun." It's an overused line, but it's truer than ever for PCB designers and design engineers today. As longtime instructor Mary Sugden once said, "The designer is the hub of the wagon wheel." You could argue that PCB designers have to know far more about what happens downstream than anyone downstream needs to understand about the design process. Designers need to understand every fabrication and assembly pro - cess while keeping current on materials, components, and up- coming technologies like 5G. You have to keep educating your- self, or you're going to fall behind. It's a career packed with constant change, which is what keeps it exciting, even for some of you who have been doing this since before Apollo 11. Once upon a time, if you couldn't travel to a conference or trade show, you were out of luck. You could take an EDA vendor class, but that basically teaches you how to use that particular tool. There weren't many options for designers who wanted to continue their education. Fortunately, there are more ways than ever to continue your design education. PCB design training and education have come a long way in the past few decades. Now, even designers at companies that have no travel budget can keep their skill set current. Dozens of vendor- neutral PCB design classes are available on- line, many free of charge. YouTube is full of design courses and tutorials, though you'll have to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. The IPC Designers Council is a great source of infor- mation; their chapter meetings always fea- ture an expert guest speaker. Plus, mag- azines like this of- fer a solid source of technical information that you need to stay ahead of the game. But there's still one place you won't typically find much PCB design instruc- tion: at the college level. PCB design is still not available as an accredited four-year degree, and it's rarely available to college students unless it's part of an electrical engineering degree. Bill Brooks of Nordson Asymtek has had more luck than most at getting PCB design curriculum into the college system. In this month's first feature interview, Bill explains how he created and taught a PCB design course at Palomar College in Carlsbad, Califor - The Shaughnessy Report by Andy Shaughnessy, I-CONNECT007 PCB Design Education Never Ends