training courses

[hsn93]

hello,

i've been learning to design electronics pcb using atmel SAM. (did play with arduinos before)..

i need to design for manufacturing and need industrial experience i will put what i need and require for my application "railway application"

PCB product packaging
with care of industerial standards "fire complience, IP protection, pcb design" , "for small quantity boxes in 100's, etc..", "buttons and user interface, mounting PCB, LCD, buttons connectors"
Schematic and PCB design:
with care of EMC/EMI compliance,  DFM, cost reduction,
micro controllers ARM-M:
peripherals, programming, watchdog, framework..
communication:
CAN, RS485, RS232, Ethernet, ...
HMI:
screens, LCD, TFT, protection , etc...

the product that im talking about doesnt need "special HMI, or complicated programming and signal processing,..." mostly its some sequence of signals with sensor readings and communication, ... "

with all of that i would say that internet can teach me a lot by this would take time specially i dont have and experience and no expertise in my company so i want to suggest some training courses
i did little search i find Texas Instrument, microchip, ST offer training courses but these would be to specific for some specific products and subjects?

what you guys suggest where i should get training for electronics design engineer? i did search internet but get a lot of website that i don't know to trust or not i'm not looking for "advertisement education"

would it be the best to get a special course for me because im having to many requirements?

[Wilksey]

Sounds like you have a fair bit of learning to do!

I will say, I don't know what your country is like for rail standards, but in the UK, there are a lot of hoops to jump through to get compliance and product acceptance, on massive ache in the balls is something called DfR, or design for reliability, and there are several BS EN rail specific standards for hardware, software and comms that you have to comply with.

And, EMC, trains are noisy!

[hsn93]

so there are some places that provide training for me , these would be special course if i want to learn about them ? 

so you mean standard compliance labs give training usually? or they just to get certification of the product.

[Doctorandus_P]

I'm not sure what kind of courses you are looking for.
Commercial traning can easily cost EUR 500 per day or more.
(A place you can go to, meet real Human beaings / teachers).

For a more general search, look into "mooc" (= Massive Open Online Course):
https://duckduckgo.com/html?q=mooc

"Contextual Electronics" might be what you are looking for.
I have not used this, but it seems to be a more personalized approach, but you also pay for that.
https://contextualelectronics.com/

[Wilksey]

They can give you pointers and such, depends on your relationship with the test house.

[hsn93]

thanks, so u think i should self learn then when i apply for certificates .. i ll learn because they can tell me where are my mistakes?

how about the packaging i dont see great resource on the internet,, although dave post few videos of usijg the pcb it self as cover for boxes such as the "uCurrent" ..

[Wilksey]

No,
It'll cost you a small fortune to learn that way, when I take a prototype for initial testing I have pads / holes that I can quickly solder resistors for grounding or inductors or capacitors for noise filtering etc, sometimes they can advise you on ferrites for the cables if you have any and in some cases have some to hand for you to test with, and screening on cables / grounding on busses such as RS485 to reduce common mode noise, it all depends on what your application is and what you have already got in place and what you can achieve with what you have to hand.

I would seriously look into using a consultant to help you out, it's a massive learning curve, and it can be an expensive one.

With regards to enclosures, again, application dependant, I know Dave and Mike from Mikeselectricstuff both use PCB's as "front panels" and they have both done a good job at making them look the part, it doesn't work in every situation though, and they've spent a lot of time and effort learning what they know and are very good at what they do and knowledgeable, not something you can learn over a weekend with a book or YT video.

[rstofer]

The more I look over this thread and review the shopping list, the more convinced I am that learning all this stuff will take just as long as learning all this stuff in college plus some years of experience.  The only thing not mentioned is 4 years of math and that might be implicit before the list is completed.  The scope is breathtaking.

Everybody should stop and think for a moment.  How many years have you been at this game and how competent are you at all of the items on the shopping list?

[dmills]

Well, been in the game in one way or another for 30 odd years now, and I have done most of that stuff, but still usually use a contractor for the mechanical bits (They are better at Solidworks then my 'use it once every month or so' arse will ever be.

Cost reduction is pretty much not worth going too deeply into if you are doing hundred unit runs, 10k+ and it might be worth spending the time.

As for the other stuff, 3 years for a bachelor degree in the EE bits, then add product design skills (not the same thing at all), or spend about as much on books, tools and mistakes. The maths in inherent in the schematic bit and some of the other stuff.

[b_force]

My suggestion?

See how others are doing things.
Backward engineer their designs and read papers about the subjects that matter.
Don't need to waste money for courses.
Most of the time these are nothing more than sales pitches anyway.

[invzim]

If you're on a budget, you should check out https://www.fedevel.com/academy/course-comparison/

He knows his stuff, although delivery is not world class - but for the price you really can't complain.

He did a series of 100 tips on youtube, which I learnt a lot from:


These guys have a lot of relevant courses, but unfortunately out of reach unless you have a proper company backing you or you happen to have a millionaires hobby budge:
https://www.doulos.com/content/training/training_courses.php#

[dmills]

Doulos are excellent, I did their VHDL course, good stuff, but as you say, expensive if you are paying for it.

Regards, Dan.

[westfw]

Commercial traning can easily cost EUR 500 per day or more.

Heh.  University can cost $500/day too  (less hours, more facilities...)

[b_force]

Commercial traning can easily cost EUR 500 per day or more.

Heh.  University can cost $500/day too  (less hours, more facilities...)

Only in USA basically.
University here is around 1700 a year.