Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1400005
12 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2021 Feature Interview by the I-Connect007 Editorial Team PCB design and design engineering are evolving constantly, and design education and training must also evolve to meet the needs of tomorrow's young designers—yes, there are young designers again. e I-Connect007 Editorial Team recently spoke about this issue with design instruc- tor Susy Webb, CID. Susy meets many of the new designers through her various PCB design classes at PCB West and other PCB design conferences. We asked Susy to discuss how design and training have changed in the last few decades, where design education is headed, and how today's crop of new designers differs from the "graybeards" who are planning their retire- ments. She also recommends design education resources from a variety of media formats. Andy Shaughnessy: Nice to talk to you again, Susy. Would you share your training back- ground? Design Education and Training for Today and Tomorrow Susy Webb: I was brought into this field by a friend of mine. I didn't have any engineering background at that time, but you really didn't need it then. What you needed was the man- ual dexterity, a lot of patience, and the ability to basically lay down parts and connect the dots; that's pretty much what we did 35–40 years ago. But things have changed so dramatically over the years to where currently you need to know a lot of physics, signal integrity, power integrity, EMI and DFM, organizational skills, and good communication, you name it. And now, since we who design boards are like the cog in the wheel, we need to know basically everything. Not only do we need to know it, but we need to know why it is important, so that we can choose what priority or what focus we are giving the particular board that we're designing. Because sometimes things compete, like power integrity and signal integrity, or the SI and the EMI, you need to know which one to give the highest priority to as you're designing each board, because each one is different.