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Elementary, Mr. Watson: Design Data Packages—Circle of Concern or Circle of Influence?
Here’s Looking at You, Kid
February 13, 2025 | IPC Community Editorial TeamEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Our industry is facing a two-fold challenge: finding the next generation of PCB designers and training these young technologists. Most high school career counselors don't know anything about this career, and electrical engineering grads leave college with little or no PCB design knowledge. Where do we start?
We asked two PCB design instructors, IPC’s Kris Moyer and Palomar College’s John Watson, to weigh in on the best methods for finding and training the designers of tomorrow.
Andy Shaughnessy: Gentlemen, as PCB design instructors, you have front-row seats to what’s going on, so, how can we find and train the next generation of PCB designers?
John Watson: We have a weeklong program at Palomar College that takes place in the high schools where the kids get to work on an actual PCB design. Next week we are visiting two high schools in the San Diego area. It definitely is something I hope to expand on, depending on who wants to pick up that sort of program. The first step is to get them to notice when they are young. There are a lot of intelligent kids in high school who are very intuitive, and they pick this up very quickly.
Kris Moyer: Yes, I agree. We also need them to see that PCB design is an actual engineering discipline. When I was in high school, I was looking for my path to engineering, but part of our problem today is we have not defined board designers as “board engineers.” We have to show that this is a desirable, cutting-edge job. We have to introduce the narrative earlier and change that narrative to engineering.
To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the February 2025 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.
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