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48 The PCB Design Magazine • April 2015 common. Thank you for teaching us. The com- mentary stems from the fact that I come from a lot of different environments, both here and abroad, which give me a take on many of the issues that we were learning about. Dack: what was the purpose of obtaining your cid certification? was it based on credibility, or the challenge, or what? Davidson: I think having that certificate is a sign of credibility, especially with IPC being the industry standard. Dack: here's the way it might be explained for some: we just walked through your plant, and i noticed that, at every step of the way in the PcB assembly process, things are checked and mea- sured and verified. isn't the cid program a way of measuring the capability or the learning and the knowledge of the designer? Davidson: Yes, absolutely. Our designs have got to be able to go through all those steps and they must pass all their measurements and verifica- tions, so it's nice to make sure that we're doing it correctly, so that the people down the line can do it correctly. Dack: there is also an advanced cid+ class. do you both plan to take the advanced certification? Davidson: Absolutely, I do. Gross: Yes, I do as well. We want to get more familiar and in-depth with our field and termi- nology, which are more standardized than what we typically do. It's nice to have it on paper. There are many benefits for us as designers. Dack: in the cid+ program, many more concepts are built on from the basic course. You'll be going into the high-speed areas and much more, so look forward to that. Along with the class, it was part of the prerequisite to sign up and check out the iPc designer council, which seems to be revving up across the country. have you done that? Gross: Yes, we both have signed up with the Silicon Valley chapter. We're looking forward to seeing both of our names on the CID Certified section. Dack: And attending your first meeting, hopefully soon. Gross: Yes, definitely. Dack: well, i'd like to again congratulate you both and thank you so much for having me to your plant. Your design area is top notch. in fact, i made a promise that i wouldn't keep you too long because you've got a customer waiting back there and he is fully ex- pecting high-quality cid design right now, isn't he? Davidson: Exactly Thank you, Kelly. Gross: Thanks, Kelly. PCBDESIGN Figure 2: Kelly Dack speaking with zev Gross. HUNTER'S TWo NEWEST CID RECIPIENTS DISCUSS CERTIFICATIoN continues article