Nick Barbin: From Designer to EMS Company Owner

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Shaughnessy: In one of our surveys, some senior designers said the job isn’t as fun as it used to be, partly because of shrinking real estate and increasingly shorter design cycles. Is it still fun for you guys?

Barbin: Yes, it’s fun in the sense that we are learning and being challenged every day. Design is infinitely more complex today than it was even 5–10 years ago, and designers that are up to that challenge are going to thrive and feel rewarded. Mixed-signal technology, higher speeds, proper power management, and denser boards are a big part of what’s driving this complexity. At Optimum we may be a bit spoiled in that we are consistently seeing these types of technologies from a very diverse set of customers and quite frankly, we love it.

The shorter design cycles are certainly a challenge, especially in a service bureau environment, so at Optimum we really try to balance that by putting multiple designers on a project and scheduling breaks in between design projects that require an above-and-beyond effort. Most of my designers have been with Optimum for over 10 years and the last thing I would ever want is for any of them to get burned out. I strongly believe in hard work balanced with quality of life.

Shaughnessy: What’s next for Optimum Design Associates?

Barbin: Achieve our medical ISO-13485 certification in Q3 of this year so we can further diversify our range of customers. We are very confident and excited about the future of Optimum as we continue to grow all of our services by continuously looking for ways to add value for our customers.

Shaughnessy: Thanks for talking with us, Nick.

Barbin: Thank you.

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