State of PCB Design Education

In this episode, Altium’s Technical Consultant, Zach Peterson will share his insights about the availability and accessibility of education related to PCB design for high school and university students.

Zach will also talk about the inspiration behind “Design Secrets,” his new series available on Altium Academy Youtube Channel.

Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics

Watch the video, click here.

Show Highlights:

• Introduction, from academia and Ph.D. in Physics, how did he land in the world of PCB?
• On Altium Academy YouTube channel, Zach offers basic PCB design courses. that are not frequently available, even to professionals.
• Zach’s experience in university: Observations, Knowledge Gaps, what are the main focuses?
• Zach thoughts on why are PCB design courses are not the main focus of education in college and university
  • The challenges in semiconductor industry
  • Focus on digital and analog design
• Zach’s Industry “awakening”—noticed the “graying of PCB design expertise demographic”
• Industry Problems: De-siloing, systems-based thinking—tools, engineering and the rise of digitization
• Need for the industry to “step up” to help equip and prepare for next-gen engineers
• How can companies educate next-gen design engineers in an ecosystem-based context 
• Industry de-siloing leads to educational de-siloing
• Zach and his company’s contribution to these efforts? 
• Checkout Zach’s Blogs in Altium’s Resource hub
• What is Upverter education and watch for the future university content
• Altium full-time education team, free licenses, IPC, PCEA

Links and Resources:

Zachariah Peterson Video series on Altium Academy YouTube Channel
Upverter Education Website
Signal Integrity Journal--Zachariah Peterson Articles 
How to Achieve Proper Grounding
#PCBeTheChange Design Contest | Upverter Education
 

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Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics