The Survey Said: What’s the Difference Between Good and Great Designers?

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With many PCB designers facing retirement, there’s been a lot of discussion about how we’ll replace this “brain drain” and what it means to be great PCB designer. Think about it: What’s the difference between a good designer and a truly great designer? 

We posed that question to our PCB designer readers in a recent survey, and, as usual, the readers did not disappoint. These are a few of the more illustrative answers, edited slightly for clarity.

Special thanks to all of our readers who responded to this survey. We appreciate your input.

• A good designer knows options to solve a layout issue. But great designer knows all of the options that are out there and the implications of each of these options.
• Great designers have a good handle on the life of a PCB, from raw materials through bare board fab, PCB assembly, testing, and final assembly. A great designer is a liaison to the other teams.
• The great designers are always striving to be the best they can be. They never do just enough to get by.
• The great designers, in most cases, are the most experienced. They’re usually very familiar with DFM, but they also know when that can be stretched.
• Great designers have good time management and communication skills. All too often in engineering departments we are surrounded by many smart folks who don't communicate well or work well with others. PCB designers need to be able to work with those folks.