Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1522071
40 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2024 was watching the Altium Academy channel on YouTube. I found John talking with Zach Peterson about opportunities for designers. I then reached out to John on LinkedIn, and we talked a bit. He told me about his classes, I enrolled, and here I am. Matties: So, you were collaborating before the class. Did you start with an online course? Kacem: Yes. I was enrolling from my home country of Tunisia, so I had to fit it into my schedule. John's course goes from 2 to 5 a.m. in my time zone. Matties: So, you were serious about taking this class? Kacem: Yes. I love PCB design. Matties: What is so appealing about design that makes you love it? Kacem: I like to be creative. Matties: This course really challenges your creativity and skill set. John, tell us more about the course that he started with. John Watson: First, this is probably one of the few courses in the entire nation dedicated solely to PCB design. Part of our focus is trying to fill this gap in our industry. I know that I'm preaching to the choir right now, but we have seen PCB designers leaving our indus- try in droves, and these are the senior people who have so much knowledge and experience. ey're retiring out. What we're doing here is filling a gap in the need for PCB design instruction. Our curriculum is bro- ken down into two courses, both 16 weeks long. e basic PCB design course goes through the entire PCB design process from start to finish. In the advanced class, we go deeper into that process. First, we look at the fabrication and assembly process. In the second quarter of that semester, we look at rigid-flex designs, and then at advanced PCB design. We finish it out by doing system design. e students are required to create a PCB design each quarter. In the last quarter, we took those three, put them together as a proj- ect, and worked on the enclosure side of it. We also looked at multi-board design harnessing and other areas like that. Matties: What's the starting point? What do I need to know to start at the first level of design? Watson: Very little, because our starting point is "What is a PCB?" We take it step by step each week. It's such a linear process to create a PCB. By that 16th week, you'll have a finished design package in front of you. Let me tell you, Mehdi is an inspiration to me. is gentleman got up at 2 a.m. for 16 weeks to come to my class and learn. at's dedication and commitment. John Watson, Mehdi Kacem, and two other students.