Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1457913
14 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2022 Shaughnessy: What would you advise to PCB designers who want to set up their own strate- gic learning plans? Bogatin: If you want to be a PCB designer, rather than a circuit designer and hardware designer, then you probably don't need a BSEE degree. Just getting some electron- ics experience and training in designing and building some boards is good enough to get started. But if you are going to be a hardware engineer and take responsibility for the circuit design and do the board design, then a BSEE and lots of hands-on experience designing and building circuits is important. You cannot get too much experience building working circuits in a solderless breadboard to gain experience in debugging and characterizing circuits. Shaughnessy: When I first started covering PCB design in the late '90s, there were no "critical paths" to becoming a designer. It sounds like a BSEE degree might not be that critical path unless someone is focusing on circuit design or hardware design. Bogatin: at's right. If you are going to be a lay- out designer, I don't think you need a degree. However, the more classes you've taken, the more fundamental principles you understand, the higher your value as a layout designer. Experience working under a master is more important than a degree. However, if you are going to be a hardware engineer, then a BSEE degree is a must. Otherwise, you may not have the math skills needed to do circuit analysis. Shaughnessy: Is there anything else you'd like to add? Bogatin: Yes. Follow the path of Ikigai 1 . I think this is the secret to finding a fulfilling career path. Shaughnessy: anks for your time, Eric. Bogatin: ank you, Andy. DESIGN007 References 1. "The Philosophy of Ikigai: 3 Examples About Finding Purpose," by Jeffrey Gaines, PositivePsy- chology.com, Feb. 7, 2022. NEC has launched an Automation Ecosystem to bolster its 5G xHaul Transformation Services, bring- ing communication service providers (CSPs) simpli- fied operations, cost effectiveness and faster time- to-value for their multi-vendor-based networks. The 5G xHaul Transformation Solutions and Services are part of NEC Open Networks, a suite of solutions for realizing the real-world benefits of truly open 5G networks. Automation technologies will play a pivotal role in enabling efficient and reliable operations over increasingly complex transport networks. How- ever, incorporating automation for a multi-vendor network environment will require new capabilities, such as holistically redesigning the network architecture and its processes by breaking the silos of traditional net- work domains and operationalizing them with soft- ware engineering skillsets. Combining the network and software engineer- ing capabilities built at the NEC 5G Transport Net- work Center of Excellence (CoE) with the expertise of these strategic partners, the ecosystem is aimed at providing robust automation solutions for the full lifecycle of 5G xHaul operations. "Deploying Accedian's cloud-native agents assures the delivery of services and applications across distributed networks with real-time visibility to achieve operational consistency, integrated life- cycle management, and automated assurance for user experience-based closed-loop automation," said Richard Piasentin, Chief Strategy and Market- ing Officer, Accedian. (Source: ACN Network) Affinitiv Launches Electric Vehicle Division, Voltage