What do you like about working for Newgrange Design Services?

 

I chose to work for Newgrange because I enjoy the opportunity to work on many different types of projects.  Before coming to Newgrange Design, I had worked for a medical device startup and for a more established company that designed and manufactured instruments for aircraft.  I enjoyed both jobs, but I found that I didn’t want to specialize in just one type of electrical engineering. Working at Newgrange Design has allowed me to participate in many different types of EE.  As an added bonus, it has helped me to learn much more about the intricacies of PCB design – something that gets very little attention in engineering school! I love working with the team at Newgrange Design.  We have a great group of engineers and designers, and we get to support a wide variety of customers all with their own design constraints and engineering experience.

 

 

What differences do you notice between different industries?

 

It’s fascinating to work across so many different industries. 

Our customers who are putting boards on satellites are so focused on reliability that they spare no expense when it comes to components, PCB fabrication, simulation, and testing.  At the other end of the spectrum, we have consumer device customers who are so cost-conscious that they try to get away with 1-layer boards whenever possible and choose not to pay for silkscreen on their boards! One customer who designs high-cost laboratory equipment preferred 1206 package sizes for discretes to allow for easier testing.  Another customer asked us to design boards that were barely as big as a single 1206 capacitor. Customers who are working with really high-speed signals need fab houses that can handle tight tolerances for controlled impedance and advanced via technologies.  Other customers who are delivering lots of power through their boards are looking for fab houses that can handle 10 oz. copper.  It’s all electronic design, but there is so much specialization!

 

 

After doing this for several years, what advice do you have for newer engineers?

 

There are 3 things that come to mind:

 

Never assume that the engineers and designers who came before you were idiots.  This was advice that was given to me by a mentor early in my career, and it has served me well.  There may be times that the design you inherit from someone else leaves you scratching your head.  It’s tempting to assume that they didn’t know what they were doing when you come across design choices that don’t seem to make sense.  Resist that instinct and pause before you just make changes!  Often times, there were design constraints that you just aren’t aware of.  If they made a “weird” choice, there was probably some reason for that.

 

Build a little, test a lot.  This was advice from another mentor.  It’s the equivalent of the carpenter’s “measure twice, cut once.”  Whether you are designing a circuit, building a physical prototype, or starting a simulation, it’s always a good idea to start with a small chunk and verify that as much as possible before you add to it.

 

Take the time to do a back of the envelope estimate.  Before you do any full-blown calculations or detailed simulations, determine the rough order of magnitude of the expected answer.  These sanity checks can save time (and keep you from making a fool of yourself by announcing an answer that is non-sensical.)

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Myev Bodenhofer is Newgrange's Engineering Manager and Quality & Compliance Manager. She manages our engineering services group, leads product development teams, performs signal integrity analysis, and consults on complex PCB designs. Myev holds both a Masters in Electrical Engineering and an undergraduate degree in physics from MIT.

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Contact Myev today for any of your Electrical Engineering requirements: solutions@newgrangedesign.com