Who will design tomorrow's PCBs?

摘要

I hate to say it, but PCB design professionals may be slowly becoming extinct. They're at least worthy of being on the endangered list. Not because they're succumbing to a rare layout-related disease, but because they're retiring faster than they can be replaced. You can see evidence of this phenomenon at conferences like the PCB Design Conferences, at trade shows, seminars, workshops and user groups. Everyone is older than me, and I'm 41. Where is all the new blood? Our PCD&M and Printed Circuit Design salary survey data show that a large group of PCB designers and design engineers entered the workforce about 30 years ago. This group - often making up 40% of the surveys' respondents - has been nudging the average age of design professionals up as time goes on and fewer "newbies" enter the field. In the early 1990s, this group was in its 40s. That group is now near-ing its mid-50s, and it's still by far the largest segment of the PCB design community. And it's getting ready to start pricing condos on the Gulf of Mexico.