{"id":1665,"date":"2022-06-17T08:04:12","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T15:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/eagle\/blog\/?p=1665"},"modified":"2022-06-17T08:04:21","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T15:04:21","slug":"10-things-everyone-needs-know-pcb-designers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/10-things-everyone-needs-know-pcb-designers\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things Everyone Needs to Know About PCB Designers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here are ten things you need to know about PCB designers, the electronics design process, and how we design printed circuit boards.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We often learn the hard way that engineering and business mix like oil and water. As engineers, we approach the design process with the best intentions, but business often provides endless roadblocks and challenges to our creative process. Why exactly does this happen? In every company around the world, there\u2019s an issue with perspective. How managers perceive engineers and how engineers understand managers. The two sides sometimes don’t mix. Our goal in this blog is to help expand your perspective with everything you might need to know about a PCB designer. Whether you\u2019re a manager or a fellow engineer, we all need to get on the same page.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Process, Design, and the Human Element<\/h2>\n\n\n

The process affects our ability to design, and it\u2019s the process we take along a design journey that determines our success. <\/span>Engineers are stifled with the bureaucratic process, having to jump through endless hoops to ultimately get nothing done. In startups, engineers roam about in the wild west, where things are so crazy that you spend just as much time getting things into place as you do design. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In both <\/span>environments, a process is a problem, and then you throw in the human element. You bring a bunch of different people together, all with different personalities, ways of communicating, and ways of working, and you expect all of that process just somehow to work out, but it never does. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"human-element\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The biggest problem that businesses face is dealing with the humans within them. We all look at a PCB design in completely different ways. From marketing to engineering, fabrication, and testing, all of the unique personalities that make up a project all look at the PCB design process from different angles. Of course, everyone thinks their way is the \u201cright\u201d way.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this, you<\/span> find businesses with incredible talent and skill<\/span>s. Processes might take ages, respins chip away at budgets, and schedules never get met. At the root of this problem in the process is a need to intimately understand the human element and the personalities on your team. For us, that\u2019s all about understanding the PCB designer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

1. Engineers Are Not Multi-Purpose Administrators<\/h2>\n\n\n

Back in the day, say 15-20 years ago, there was a fine line between an engineer and a technician. An engineer handled the theoretical side of the design process. They designed circuits, calculated, analyzed, simulated, and tested. All this was done on paper, w<\/span>ith SPICE <\/span>and schematic capture tools, and still is today.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other side of the fence, a technician handled the practical, day-to-day implementation. They took care of the PCB layout, the purchasing of components, the soldering, and lab maintenance. Their work was handled in yet another tool, made specifically for PCB layout.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, the line has blurred. PCB designers are now individuals that do the jobs of both the engineer, the technician, and more. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Economic Events<\/h4>\n\n\n

This line of division has slowly eroded over time through three economic periods, including:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n