Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/623116
58 The PCB Magazine • January 2016 by Happy Holden I have been working in electronics manufac- turing for more than 45 years. I was fortunate to be part of this industry in its golden years, from 1972 to 2000! In this period, all the mod- ern devices that we use today—calculators, mo- bile phones, tablets, medical devices and por- table computers, etc.—were invented and went into production. Since 2000, after the Internet bubble burst, we have been mostly just enhanc- ing those devices. The big boom has been with Internet software applications and the devices that they have inspired. But this article, and the successive columns I will be writing for I-Connect007, is not about these wonderful devices; rather, it is about the engineering skills and capability that all those engineers demonstrated to have come up with these wondrous new devices. Throughout the years, I have concocted a list of 25 essential skills that I think every engineer should strive to master. Most are not taught in college engi- neering courses, but are acquired through com- pany training or individual efforts. These 25 skills have led to many of these new devices or software and to the success of electronics in the last 50 years. 25 Essential Skills The 25 engineering skills are just my opin- ion; they are what I have observed to be the es- sential tools that engineers, including myself, needed to complete a project, develop a prod- uct, meet a schedule, or solve a problem. These were the important skills that got me the pro- motion, or the opportunity for a challenging job. These 25 skills are subjects for my future article 25 Essential Skills for Engineers