EDA Tools and the Designer of the Future

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

We’re seeing new, young technologists moving into the PCB design and design engineering segment, and it’s just in time; many veteran designers are headed to retirement. 

At the same time, there have been various recent advances in EDA tools. What will the PCB designer’s job—and the designer’s software tools—look like in the next five years?

Bob Potock, vice president of marketing for Zuken USA, weighs in on the PCB designers of tomorrow, and the EDA tools that will take them into an evermore complex future.

Andy Shaughnessy: I imagine Zuken has a “profile” of its typical user. How do you see this their job and its requirements evolving over the next few years?

Bob Potock: At Zuken, we believe that the PCB design and layout market is evolving. Today’s tools are mature, powerful, and easy to use. However, what's changing in the design process is how the tools are used and by whom. The standard hand-off from the design engineer to the PCB layout designer is becoming a thing of the past. A board with average complexity is more commonly designed, placed, and routed by the same individual: the hardware engineer. The modern hardware engineer will be an electrical engineer who can learn how to do PCB layout on the job. Moderately complex board designs now and in the future will see the traditional PCB layout function moving to the hardware engineer.

The high-complexity PCB market is different. The tools are more powerful, and the designs have more critical requirements. IC packaging may become part of the PCB layout activity at this complexity level. The traditional design engineer hand-off to the PCB layout designer may still exist. However, this modern PCB layout designer is an electrical engineer with training in power integrity, signal integrity, manufacturing, and IC packaging.

To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the January 2025 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.