Tamara Jovanovic Checks in After First Year as a Designer

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

The I-Connect007 Editorial Team caught up with Tamara Jovanovic, a PCB designer they met last year at AltiumLive in San Diego as a newly minted engineering graduate. She discusses her first year in the industry and explains how education and training events can help shape the careers of new designers.

Andy Shaughnessy: When we spoke one year ago, you were a newly graduated PCB designer and engineer. As an update to last year’s interview, how has your first year been going?

Tamara Jovanovic: It has been great, and Happiest Baby is an awesome company. We make a smart baby bed that moves and plays sounds to soothe babies. The baby is placed in a special sleep sack, which clips into the bed; it’s a safety feature so that they can’t roll over. And the effect has been incredible. It has helped so many babies, parents, and families, and it has been great being part of that.

Shaughnessy: Is there a typical day for you?

Jovanovic: Not really; there’s always something new that happens. We’re currently working on a lot of projects and tests. Every day brings new challenges that I can try to solve, which I enjoy.

Shaughnessy: Are you designing boards that are going into some of the controllers and things that will make the crib start rocking or signal the parents that the baby is in trouble?

Jovanovic: Yes. The high-tech bassinet has a lot of electronics that make it work the way it does. For example, the current version of the bed has microphones inside, which will sense when there’s a cry inside the bassinet. If the baby starts crying, the bed will automatically increase the level of motion and white noise to soothe the baby so that the parents don’t have to get out of their beds in the middle of the night. It also works with an app. It’s compatible with Android and iOS. You can change levels of movement, set different sensitivity levels, etc. We want to be able to let you tailor it to your baby’s needs.

Shaughnessy: You’re an electrical engineer, correct?

Jovanovic: Yes.

Shaughnessy: But you didn’t have a lot of PCB design experience last year.

Jovanovic: Right, I didn’t have any.

To read this interview, which appeared in the November 2019 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.