With all of the new advancements in communications, computing, and IoT, the need for electronics design continues to grow. Simultaneously, the number of available PCB designers is becoming less as many are approaching retirement. As a result, the PCB design industry faces a shortage of new designers genuinely committed to the science and art of creating functional printed circuit board hardware. Therefore, this is the right time to pursue a career in PCB design.

In this passage, we are going to learn more information about the PCB design engineer career. If you are searching for the professional knowledge of PCB design engineer career, please check and read the content in this article.

Wanna know PCB knowledge? Check and read for more. 

1.     How to Become a PCB Design Engineer?

Employers looking for PCB design engineers generally accept candidates with several years of relevant job experience and career training instead of formal education. However, a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or a similar field of study can help your resumé stand out for other candidates. Other qualifications include the ability to understand electronic engineering blueprints, verbal and written communication skills, and outstanding analytical skills. This position also requires specific knowledge of the various software and design tools the company uses. The ability to work as part of a team is also a must, and leadership skills can come in handy when communicating with your team.

2.     What are the main types of PCB Design Engineer?

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

·  Hardware Design Engineer

·  Integrated Circuit (IC) Design Engineer

·  Hardware Test Engineer

·  Computer Circuit Design Engineer

·  Hardware Engineer

·  Electronic Design Engineer

·  Firmware Engineer

·  Embedded Software Engineer

·  Power Electronics Engineer

3.     What are the skills of PCB Design Engineer?

It’s a design of an electrical or electronic circuit. Almost all electronic circuits in engineering and in the industry are manufactured by making use of PCBs. The boards which will be used to make PCB design are made with a special type of materials like, conducting materials, glass, and fiber, which do not conduct electricity, until unless the board is dipped into the solvent. The circuits will be designed on the boards with copper tracks instead of using wires, to pass electricity between electronic components.

You should be strong in fabrication skills, soldering on desoldering SMT parts. Also, you must be strong in photocopying skills. You must have good electrical evaluation testing and PCB troubleshooting skills. You should have the capacity to demonstrate, just by applying state-of-the-art PCB layout and packaging. You have to be an expert in electrical drawing and schematic interpretation, multimeter, oscilloscopes, data logging.

Other general skills that you need are good oral and written communication with the ability to read and develop and understand documentation.

4.     How to become a PCB Design Engineer?

There are a number of different roles that are involved with the design of PCBs, from dedicated hardware engineers to various technicians and support staff:

·  Hardware Engineers: These engineers are responsible for circuit design. They will usually do this by drawing a circuit schematic on a CAD system designated for schematic capture and they often will do the physical layout of the PCB as well.

·  Layout Engineers: These engineers are dedicated layout specialists who will arrange the physical layout of the electrical components on the board and connect all of their electrical signals together with metal traces. This is also done on a CAD system dedicated to physical layout which will then create specific files to be sent to a PCB manufacturer.

·  Mechanical Engineers: These engineers are responsible for designing the mechanical aspects of the board such as size and shape, so that it will fit together with other PCBs and into the device enclosure that it is designed for.

·  Software Engineers: These engineers are the creators of any software needed for the board to function as it was designed to.

·  Test and Rework Technicians: These specialists work with the boards that have been manufactured in order to debug and validate that they work correctly, and make any modifications or repairs as needed.

In addition to these specific roles, there are also the fabrication and assembly personnel who will manufacture the board as well as many others along the way.

5.     What are the job contents of PCB designer?

A PCB designer is responsible for taking a 2D schematic and creating the 3D CAD files used to manufacture the PCB.  The first step is to create the component footprints, which show the size, shape, and orientation of each component.  Second, the PCB designer creates a board outline with the dimensions and shape of the board as well as any keepout areas.  Then the components with critical placement requirements are locked down, such as connectors that have to match up with another board.

Once this is complete, the rest of the parts are placed onto the board.  Routing is the process of running traces between components to connect them together.  Critical routing happens first, where traces that must be the exact same length or traces that must be a specific distance away from another trace are routed first.  Then the rest of the board is routed, with traces going up and down through multiple layers of the board.  The final task a PCB designer does is to generate all of the manufacturing files.

Wanna know PCB knowledge? Check and read for more.