Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1517130
24 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2024 Feature Interview by Andy Shaughnessy I-CONNECT007 During DesignCon 2024, I met with Bill Har- gin, founder and CEO (Chief Everything Offi- cer) of the stackup design soware company Z-zero. In this interview, Bill discusses his stackup curriculum, what it takes to become a great design engineer, and why the best design- ers keep reading and challenging themselves constantly so they can stay on top of their game. Andy Shaughnessy: Bill, you did a presenta- tion here at DesignCon. Tell me about it. Hargin: Yes, it was great—it's a popular topic, and the class was standing room only. e topic was the same as the title of the book I wrote, T e Printed Circuit Designer's Guide to... Being the Best Design Engineer Stackups: The Desig n Within the Desig n. It's kind of like a red pill vs. blue pill situation. You can have the blue pill and have your fabricators design your stackups, or the red pill, and you can learn to do the nitty gritty work yourself as a CAD designer or an engineer. Generally, you want the freedom of the red pill, so that you know what's going on, I imagine. Of course. ere's a lot to learn, and there aren't college curriculums teaching stackup design. ere isn't that much stackup train- ing out there. So, I've really been leaning into researching it. If I wrote that book again today,