What are the necessary knowledge needed for a PCB design job ?

[vidhya101]

Hi ,
I am a graduate in Electricals engineer with intermediate knowledge in PCB Design (altium), and future interest in hardware deisgning.
1. What kind of jobs I can apply for?
for instance, some of the job offers require :
i. FPGA programming with PCB design.
ii. Understanding of EMI/EMC , thermal considerations in PCB design.
iii. RF-compliant PCB design.
iv. Some jobs ask for good expertise in electronics and in the technical mechatronics tools (eg CATIA V5)
v. soldering skills of standard / SMD components in electronic circuits.

2. I wish to know, which of these knowledge would be more desirable
3. How can I learn them? Are the any specific courses or online projects to help me improve myself?

thanks
Vidhya

[robertferanec]

What I can recommend you is to work on open source projects or work on your own projects, so you can tell - This is what I have been working on, this is what I have created / done. That will demonstrate your interest in electronics, willing to learn and ability to work independently (e.g. solve problems, organize your work, etc). That is often more important, than knowing a specific tool or having specific skills.

Most senior jobs require experience with designing boards. For junior positions, just knowing how to use a CAD tools (e.g. Orcad/Allegro or Altium) will help.

As a graduate, you can learn CAD and you can learn FPGA programming. In March we will have online courses for Altium, OrCAD Allegro, FPGA programming - so maybe that could help you:
- Altium: https://www.fedevel.com/academy/onli...arduino-board/
- OrCAD and Allegro: https://www.fedevel.com/academy/onli...ro-essentials/
- FPGA and VHDL: https://www.fedevel.com/academy/lear...amming-online/

EMI / EMC - this is usually gained when you are working on real projects

RF is specialty - again you may need to work on some real projects to get experience in this area

Not knowing how to solder should not be a big issue. It is not difficult to learn after you are hired (possibly you can try some soldering also at home). Of course, there are some tricky parts (e.g. soldering BGA or more complicated chips), but it only needs a little bit of practice and advice from more experienced engineer. It is nothing as complicated as EMC/EMI or RF.

[hunghoang]

To get a job in pcb you should focus on these areas:

Knowledge of fundamentals in basic PCB electronics,

Basic understanding of electronic components and their package information,

Understanding of PCB Design Softwares,

Good aptitude,

Understanding of, Signal integrity, EMI/EMC concepts, antennas, Power dissipation, IC Packages etc.

If you want to know more on PCBs or looking for its courses then reach out this website BEST Inc, for all certified courses for PCB by IPC (Repair, Rework and inspection).