Episodes
Wednesday Mar 22, 2023
Promoting the Electronic Industry to Younger Generation
Wednesday Mar 22, 2023
Wednesday Mar 22, 2023
IPC continues to develop resources to bring awareness about the electronics industry to the young generation.
In this episode, we are very fortunate to have Charlene Gunther, the Senior Director of the IPC Education Foundation. We will talk about IPC’s efforts to involve students in engaging activities that will introduce the electronic industry to them as early as high school.
Join us and watch through the end. We added some great resources below so be sure to check them out.
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Episode Highlights:
- Charlene Gunther introduction and a brief overview of her role as the Senior Director of the IPC Foundation
- Charlene talks about the IPC three pillars: awareness, engagement, and connections
- The IPC launched the website www.careersinelectronics.com which aims to attract students and job seekers within the electronics industry
- The IPC student chapter plays a big role to attract and involving students in skill development training and networking
- IPC is hosting annual STEM outreach and partners with Title I schools and private institutions to expose high school students to hands-on activities, connecting them with industry, allowing them to solder, to design, to learn about assembly
- Other departments of the IPC that work towards improving accessible education are the Education Department led by Vice President David Hernandez and Chris Mitchell the VP of Advocacy and Government Relations
- The universities’ response to IPC programs has been very positive and they have become more proactive in integrating electronics and manufacturing-related courses into their curriculum
- Be in the loop with the latest IPC Education Foundation announcements, visit www.careersinelectronics.com , subscribe to their newsletter, and follow their social media pages. Students, parents, and employers are encouraged to visit the website
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Charlene Gunter on LinkedIn
- Visit the IPC website
- Visit the Careers in Electronics website
- Learn more about IPC Education Foundation
- Watch related episodes:
- Learn Printed Circuit Board Design
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Tuesday Dec 27, 2022
OnTrack Podcast 2022 Year in Review
Tuesday Dec 27, 2022
Tuesday Dec 27, 2022
Join us as we reflect on the best moments and the coolest guests we've had on the OnTrack podcast this year. 2012 has been a whirlwind year for the electronics industry–chip shortages, and a supply chain crunch. Altium has passed several milestones, as well as releasing an education program. And there have been some groundbreaking reports from industry groups highlighting the need for workforce training and development, and workforce shortages coming on the horizon.
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Show Highlights:
- One of Altium’s Milestone is the Altium Education Program
- In most of the episodes, the issue of automotive chips shortage comes up coupled with the passing of the PCB Act
- PCB Packaging, and production of integrated circuit substrates
- Most requested repeat guests and new faces
Links and Resources:
- Watch all the OnTrack Podcast Episode
- Register at Altium Education for Free
- Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
- Visit Nexar website
- Visit Octopart website
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Overcoming Technological Challenges in the PCB Industry
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Matt Kelly is the Chief Technologist at IPC. In this episode we will discuss all about the technological challenges the industry is facing. Matt will help us understand the “ecosystem” involving the semiconductor industry, advanced packaging, and IC substrates.
Check the show notes and additional resources below.
Show Highlights:
- Matt Kelly’s role as the Chief Technologist at IPC
- The Moore's Law is continuing, but it is economically becoming difficult to maintain, this has become the driving force behind heterogeneous integration
- What does the CHIPS Act really mean for manufacturers?
- Production of semiconductors is an expensive business–one fabrication infrastructure can cost an average of 20 billion dollars
- Matt stresses the need in the industry to use, and understand the “ecosystem” involving the semiconductor industry, advanced packaging, and IC substrates
- The US has a 20-year market leader, knowhow gap, weak sub-tier supply, skilled workforce shortage, and lack of raw materials
- The industry needs to spend time looking at the big picture, take the bigger messages, and convert them into actual change
- A significant shift in the workforce–PCB designers are a scarce commodity. In the near future, printed circuit board designers may have to double as IC substrate designers
- The global supply chain is alive and well, a change to a regional and global mindset is necessary to overcome most of the industry challenges
- Matt shares the same scenario with produce shoppers in the summertime, you try to buy your fresh fruits and vegetables locally from your local farmers or whatever, but yet you still go to the grocery store
- IPC’s focus is on increasing workforce skills development in the areas of design and assembly
- IPC is sponsoring the Advanced Packaging Symposium, Building the Substrate and Packaging Assembly Ecosystem in Washington, DC, on October 11th and 12th
Links and Resources:
Follow Matt Kelly on LinkedIn
Learn more about the IPC’s Advanced Packaging Symposium, Building the Substrate and Packaging Assembly Ecosystem
Watch related podcast episode:
The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain
IPC CEO John Mitchell on the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act
What is in the PCB Bill?
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
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Sunday Jul 10, 2022
PCB Design Education Through Content Creation
Sunday Jul 10, 2022
Sunday Jul 10, 2022
In this OnTrack episode, Zach and Phil of Phil’s Lab Youtube channel exchange ideas on how they can stay on top of their PCB design game or learn new things. Phil Salmony, a successful youtube creator with 64.6K subscribers, shares with us how he was introduced to PCB design, his early career, and what got him to start his own Youtube channel. This is a fun episode. Watch it through the end and check out the additional resources below.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Show Highlights:
- Whiteboard – an essential piece for PCB design-related content
- PCB design education from the university, theories, and ideologies versus PCB design for the real world
- Phil shares that DSPs (Digital signal processors) are the coolest thing, and he has a dedicated section of them on his channel
- Zach and Phil exchange opinions about their consultation and PCB design jobs
- How do you go about learning new things? Zach and Phil have their share of different ways to acquire information to help them better their skills
- Learn through well-documented samples or PCB design projects and reverse engineer
- Seminars with experts and attending conferences
- Taking online courses like the IPC - CID (Certified Interconnect Designers) and PCEA CPCD course
- Youtube videos and keynote presentations, e,g, How to Achieve Proper Grounding By Rick Hartley
- One of the most asked questions in PCB design is about grounding. Phil and Zach suggested a couple of books supplement for PCB design
- Phil talks about how he got started with PCB design
- Designs and chip shortages and supply forecast, what to expect in the next few years?
- The value of connecting with your (youtube channel) audience for content ideas
- Altium Academy and Phil’s Lab history on Youtube and future projects
Links and Resources:
Subscribe to Phil’s Lab YT Channel
Connect with Phil on LinkedIn
Visit Phil’s Lab Website
How to Achieve Proper Grounding By Rick Hartley
Watch Podcast Episodes with Rick Hartley
Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering by Henry Ott
Grounds for Grounding: A Circuit to System Handbook by Kai-Sang Lock
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Tuesday May 24, 2022
Making Codes Tangible Through Electronic Projects
Tuesday May 24, 2022
Tuesday May 24, 2022
Learn by doing is what Bill Kolicoski, the creator of Taste the Code Youtube Channel advises everyone who wants to jump into the electronic design. Bill is a software developer passionate about making electronics design and engineering fun.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Show Highlights:
- Bill shares how he got started with his Youtube Channel, Taste the Code
- Bill recognizes that designing and building electronics is a perfect way to understand software or coding – making the code more tangible
- Making electronic design accessible for everyone is one of Bill’s missions in creating his channel
- Jumpstart to electronics design through learning by doing
- Software and hardware coexist–a software engineer should have an understanding of how hardware works
- It’s the eureka moments that help students understand how things work
- Understanding what happens in the code and the chip to make things come to life
- Bill emphasizes improving your design skills by exploring all possibilities how you can improve your finished product
- Reference design for hardware developments and reverse engineering is a great way to make electronics and hardware more understandable
- Bill shares what drove him to pursue software vs. hardware
- Software is a lot easier to outsource
- Location/ country can be a determinant of pursuing a specific career in tech
- Having fun doing electronics
- Getting hands dirty and jumping right into the design process; this and more tips from Bill on how to get into the electronics design and how you can improve your skills
- Search for videos with a specific solution
- Invest time in building projects
- Make your work public and get feedback from the community and professionals
- Rubber Duck Debugging is a software jargon meaning explaining a challenging scenario to yourself to develop a solution
Links and Resources:
Subscribe to Bill’s Channel Taste to Code
Making electronic design easy, visit Upverter website
Register at Altium Education for Free
Altium Designer Free Student License
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Wednesday May 18, 2022
Landing a Full-Time Engineering Career at NASA
Wednesday May 18, 2022
Wednesday May 18, 2022
This episode will learn how a childhood dream can turn into reality through hard work, determination, and networking. Andrew Hartnett dreamt of working with NASA at a very young age. He will share with us exactly how he landed his Computer Engineer position in this very sought-after agency.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
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Show Highlights:
- Andrew’s background, from his 3rd-grade drawing and high school robotics team to landing a co-op internship program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC)
- He joined The First Robotics Team in high school
- A lot of networking and determination is what helps him land the co-op internship program
- He started working full-time in January 2010
- Briefly discuss Upverter and the benefits of having high-school level educational programs for aspiring PCB designers
- What is NASA’s co-op internship program? Andrew describes the advantages of the co-op program over a typical internship
- Get exposure to things you don’t get at school
- Experience designing and actual assembly of PCB
- Andrew talks about electronic design standards at NASA and shares details about testing, reliability, and the challenges of sending electronic devices to the space
- Addressing devices’ heat, and vibration in space
- Andrew talks more about First Robotic Competition and stresses the importance of hands-on experience for high school kids or younger
Links and Resources:
Visit NASA’s JSC website
Learn more about JSC’s Internship Program
Making electronic design easy, visit Upverter's website
Register at Altium Education for Free
Altium Designer Free Student License
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexus
Get Your First Month of Altium Designer® for FREE
Tuesday May 10, 2022
The Exciting Path to Mechatronics Engineering
Tuesday May 10, 2022
Tuesday May 10, 2022
Continuing our discussion on PCB design education, in this episode, joining us is Fergus Downey. Fergus is a Ph.D. student and research assistant at Curtin University in Western Australia (WA) and is currently involved in the Binar Space Program. Today, we will tackle the education and opportunities related to Mechatronic Engineering and a little overview of CubeSat.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Show Highlights:
- Fergus's background and how he landed on the Mechatronic Engineering path
- How is the space industry in Australia driving the students to pursue an electronics-related career?
- Exposure to CAD tools and manufacturing processes helps students understand circuit design better
- Some projects the students in Western Australia like to work on
- Camera PCBs, radiation center PCB, CanSat PCB design, and more
- What are the main challenges involved in designing CubeSats, and how do Altium Designer® and Altium 365 make a great design tool for these projects?
- Electronic design and redundancy–redundant systems in limited space like in spacecraft
- Fergus talks about his team winning the second place in the #PCBetheChange design competition in 2021 with their entry Swan River Clean Up
- Fergus talks about the Mechatronics Engineering Computer Science degree being offered at Curtin University
- Checkout the Binar Space Program website and connect with Fergus on LinkedIn
Links and Resources:
Connect with Fergus Downey on LinkedIn
Binar Space Program website
Learn more about the Mechatronics Engineering Computer Science at Curtin University
Check out the #PCBeTheChange Student Design Competition Winners
Register at Altium Education for Free
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Wednesday May 04, 2022
Hands-on Learning for PCB Design Students
Wednesday May 04, 2022
Wednesday May 04, 2022
In this episode, we will talk about the importance of engaging and exposing the PCB Design students to today’s real-world industry demands. Our guest Sid Deliwala is the Director of Lab Programs in the Electrical and Systems Engineering Department at the University of Pennsylvania. Sid will share with us how he makes Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) fun and meaningful for our future innovators.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
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Show Highlights:
- Sid talks about his background and his advocacy for hands-on training
- Tinker and play – learn the fundamentals, try new things and take risks
- Making the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) major meaningful
- Everything in the circuit world, in the hardware world, is also very data-driven
- End to end experience for students, holistic understanding of Software, hardware, and PCB design
- Preparing students to work in a multidisciplinary engineering environment
- If the cloud, the analog world, and all the digital circuitry that's needed to make things work rolled into one, it'll certainly be a very, very exciting time for all the future innovations
- You don't have to be an expert on everything, but you should at least have been exposed to everything in engineering
- Sid talks about the Penn Electric Racing – every year they participate in FSAE annual competition
- The problem with offshore PCB manufacturing – students have to wait for at least 3-weeks to receive their PCB for their project
- Importance of DFM and the difference it will make for students if they get the chance to visit the manufacturing company
- The supply chain and semiconductors shortage is real, the students experience current industry problems first-hand
- Sid expresses his sentiments toward a completely optimized system, it has some disadvantages
Links and Resources:
Sid Deliwala’s Director Profile, University of Pennsylvania
Podcast with Eric Bogatin: Pathological Design Features
Read Altium’s Newsletter: Staying on Top of the Supply Chain with Altium
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexus