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Mohammad Fazil , 01-15-2024, 06:51 AM

I am Electronics Engineer with some years of experience (in Circuit designing, schematic and PCB). I also have a YouTube channel where I post videos related to Electronics (although it is not a big channel). I lost my job 6 months ago in a huge lay-off in my previous company in Europe. Now I am struggling with getting a new job and its been so many days. I need some advice in order to prepare well for my interviews.
It would be great if someone could please advice me regarding how to prepare for interviews for PCB designing and similar roles in Electronics domain. What should I prepare in technical terms, what topics require in-depth knowledge to become an expert in PCB designing and most importantly how can I follow the design standards and apply it to my designs. Secondly, how could I impress the interviewer, what comes first and what should be my approach to increase my knowledge. For example, there were some managerial questions as by some interviewers like "How would you manage the situation if your product is under production and you find some problem with your PCB design or components you have selected?" and similar questions. I would also appreciate if you could refer me some study materials or links where I can quickly enhance my knowledge and fill the exact job requirements.
I would really appreciate if someone could spare me some time in giving me their valuable advice so that I could achieve any job during this time of need.
P.S.: I do not require a long course for now (of course that would help me later), but something that could help me with interviews going on right now. If you have any questions I would love to answer that.
Thanks & Regards!

QDrives , 01-15-2024, 07:43 PM

To begin with, just two words: "Learn" and "Do".
The whole electronics industry is very diverse. In this post https://discord.com/channels/1119543365546029098/1185781493977579682 I mention some...

"How would you manage the situation if your product is under production and you find some problem with your PCB design or components you have selected?" is not a managerial question. It is part of every day life of a designer. Every day being less than once a year preferably that is. This question can have many different answers as the situations are different. My first design had an error. In part a new layout would be required to fix it, but the boards were already in production. The power to the op-amp was not pin 8, but pin 7. The solution was relatively simple: just a solder blob between pin 7 and 8 of a SOIC 8. Informed the EMS and they supplied the boards with the 'short'.

Mohammad Fazil , 01-16-2024, 06:36 AM

Thank you @QDrives . I like to do things practically while learning. My experience is with low power digital electronics based on MCU's but I see that the demand for Power Electronics is also on the rise. I have a very little experience with designing power supplies. And I think learning about topics like signal integrity, emc and emi compliance is important for that. However, I don't know what is the best approach to find such study material. Secondly, I like your example of the design error. Of course I could give the example to the interviewer about my similar experiences. But when they ask me to imagine a situation, I could only relate how I solved a similar problem but how would I know if that is the best way to handle the situation? Maybe there are some better ways that saves lot of time and money, than the one I followed. But anyways, as you said the answers could be many and maybe I should only relate the questions with something I did in the past. The only problem will arise when I haven't faced any such situation in my experience before. But thanks a lot for these insights.

QDrives , 01-16-2024, 10:41 PM

"...I could only relate how I solved a similar problem..." -- exactly. One quote (in my own words): "Seniority is not measured by the amount of products one has developed, but the number of errors created and fixed".
"...but how would I know if that is the best way to handle the situation?" -- In part you don't know. Unless you later think of a better one or someone else gives you one, consider your solution the best you can come up with (for now).
"...what is the best approach to find such study material." -- Good question. There is a huge amount of things to learn. Many videos (like Robert also has) on very specific topics. The difficulty is piecing them all together to see the overall picture.

In addition to Learn and Do there is one more "Measure". I left it out as that one is perhaps the most expensive one.
You *learn* some, make the design (*do*) then you *measure* if it works.
With measure I do not only mean multimeter, but also oscilloscope, EMC, etc.

Robert Feranec , 01-17-2024, 11:07 AM

I have been on number of interviews and I had mixed feelings about the companies that asked me to do tests - I am not really sure if I would want to work in that kind of companies. All the interviews for jobs I accepted (or almost accepted) where without any tests or with just very basic tests .... talking about what I have done, if I would fit the team and if I have the right attitude (e.g. I would like to learn, if I like what I do, if I am not a conflict person, etc). There is a difference between applying for a job in a big company and a small one. If you are invited to an interview, I believe, the most important is attitude and if it is a senior position, than also past projects.

Mohammad Fazil , 01-19-2024, 02:58 PM

Thanks for your answers @QDrives and @Robert Feranec . What I will try to do is to start a project myself and try to get deeper knowledge while doing the practicals. And yes, I will try to measure and improve the performance of the device and evaluate changes and effects. I guess this will give me different perspective of various levels of PCB quality and performance. I should make mistakes and do experiments without worrying about failures, that would make me learn new things. Thanks again for your advices. I really appreciate