PCB design courses to gain exsperience as a harware engineer.

• PCB design courses to gain exsperience as a harware engineer.
  Posted by Ario on 04 Jan, 2022 13:37
• Hi there
  
  I am a new engineering graduate(BEng) working for a small company in South Africa. I have about 1 year experience. I do some embedded c programming and PCB layout work for my company. I Realize that I still have very little experience, but I would like to gain some more experience and or certification that would make me more relevant in the industry.
  Any suggestions on some paid(reputable) online courses that I can enroll in and gain experience as a PCB design engineer? I have done some basic 2 layer layouts, with moderate success. So I know the basics, but would like to move a step up. There seem to be a great amount of PCB design courses for beginners, but not to much for more intermediate to advanced users. I would like to be more employable for job opportunities outside South Africa. The company I work for will never truly do more advanced hardware development, and this type of work is quite scarce in South Africa.
  
  I would appreciate any comments and or advice.
• #1 Reply
  Posted by Kean on 04 Jan, 2022 13:41
• One option is FEDEVEL Academy, but it is primarily targetted at Altium users
  https://www.fedevel.com/
  
• #2 Reply
  Posted by Ario on 04 Jan, 2022 15:02
• Hi Kean
  
  I am considering FEDEVEL academy, I regularly follow his videos on you-tube.  I can not afford Altuim. I am more interested in the theory and calculations than the CAD software, but I suppose you will have to follow along. Some sort of certification is also important to me.
  Thanks so much for your input!
   If I can not find anything else I am definitely considering FEDEVEL.
  
  
• #3 Reply
  Posted by Kean on 06 Jan, 2022 02:00
• If you can't afford Altium and don't have access through your employer, then look at CircuitMaker which is a free cut down version and possibly sufficient to follow along with the FEDEVEL courses.
  https://circuitmaker.com/
  
  I'd actually suggest learning KiCAD may be quite a good option now that V6 is released, and there are some good resources for it.
  https://www.kicad.org/help/learning-resources/
  
  Another option is the Contextual Electronics course although it may be too basic for you.
  https://contextualelectronics.com/
  
• #4 Reply
  Posted by Ario on 06 Jan, 2022 05:52
• Hi Kean
  
  I am currently using Kicad at my employer. I am excited about Kicad 6. I will have a look at circuitmaker in the meantime.
  Thank you.
• #5 Reply
  Posted by horse_battery_staple_guy on 08 Mar, 2022 14:25
• I don't know if my comment is worth jack as I'm also a newbie at these topics. But I've found that swimming through applications notes, videos and forums to be a great way to find out more about placement rules, general design, etc.
  
  Where I'm from in Latin America, those kinds of jobs are also rare/scarce and I have no mentors, so I kind of get you. I would also think on maybe picking a project on your own that's complex / hard to do without proper understanding of layout. Maybe much higher speed circuits? Long communication stuff, radio, etc. You could then build your portfolio with that(?)
  
  I've been going through a book on electromagnetic compatibility which is kind of cool but really hard. The one I'm using also talks about PCB layout. You could try that route if you're a self-learner.
  
  
  That said, to answer your question. I would also like to know if affordable / good certs exist for that kind of thing. This one http://www.sigcon.com/Pubs/HSDDsem.html is a course from a Dr. who wrote a book on high speed digital design.
  
  But it costs $10,000 for the whole thing. And I also have no idea if it would be worth it. Probably not..? Chances are you and I can't afford that. I don't know if maybe they'd give discounts?
  
• #6 Reply
  Posted by free_electron on 08 Mar, 2022 15:18
• Quote from: Ario on 04 Jan, 2022 15:02

  calculations
  

  what calculations ? yes they exist , no they are never done (at least not by hand. far too complex )
  Fedevel is good.
  
  And learn Altium or Cadence or Mentor if you want a job in the field. The rest is slim pickings..
• #7 Reply
  Posted by josuah on 28 Apr, 2022 23:47
• I am often tempted by learning through culture of people in the field.
  
  What about having a look at Eric Bogatin's conferences?
  And a classic of this blog, I suppose: https://odysee.com/@eevblog:7/eevblog-1323-pcb-layout-review-analysis:3
  
  Not sure it is efficient, I am new to electronics as well, these are my 2 cents...
  Enjoy!