Geoff Page, Electronics Technologist

See Both Sides

See Both Sides

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"I think that being a printed circuit board designer is actually a really good profession because we get to see both sides of Vansco. We get to see the engineering side and we get to see the manufacturing side.

"So we deal a lot with our mechanical and electrical engineers and then we deal a lot with our manufacturing engineers in production."

Work Process

Work Process

Once we've got a schematic and a mechanical drawing, then the ball's in our court. We'll take both those drawings and start working on the PCB (printed circuit board) layout.

That can take anywhere from a week to three months depending on how complex the board is.

Computers

Computers

I would say that 90 percent of the work is done at the computer and the other 10 percent is attending meetings or just going to talk to someone if you have any questions.

A lot of it's done on the phone or through e-mail but at times it just works better if you go and see them.

Terminology

Terminology

Footprint
- the area on the circuit board covered by the basic soldering pads for a component

SMT: Surface Mount Technology
- the automated soldering of parts to the board, usually by robotics

THT: Through Hole Technology
- slender wire leads of electrical components are inserted through the holes of the printed circuit board (Takes up more "real estate" but it's a lot more robust.)

Routing
- connecting the components together with copper traces

EMC: Electromagnetic Compatibility
- measures the susceptibility of the board to unintended or "spurious" signals from outside which can trigger the wrong actions at the wrong time!

EMI: Electromagnetic Interference
- checks the sensitivity to interference or 'noise' in your PCB design that can set off or interfere with the proper operation of other components

Noise
- random and undesirable voltages and power fluctuations

Work Space

Work Space

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"It's an open area and all the PCB designers are together.

"So if you ever have any questions you can just turn around and flag someone down or just yell out, "Hey I've got a problem here, does anybody know how to fix this?"

Where I Work

Where I Work

Vansco makes customized electronic components that fit into other products.

Their products are designed to be innovative and technically advanced, yet simple to use and able to operate in rugged or hostile environments on vehicles for construction, mining, forestry and farming.

It's a challenging place to work for engineers.

Sports

Sports

In winter I curl with my wife and a couple of friends in a non-competitive league. I enjoy the game and it helps make the winter a little more enjoyable.

In the summer and try to get out golfing about once a week. I had my handicap down to 4 a couple of years ago. With getting married and working, golfing has taken a second priority lately, but I hope to get back to it next year.

Overtime

Overtime

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"I've been doing this circuit board layout for 5 years now so I'm getting pretty good at my time estimates so I usually don't have to work too much overtime.

"But it can get very stressful if you're not on schedule to meet your deadline and you have to pull a few long hours.

"But it's not too bad. Most of the time everything keeps to a schedule that we've planned out."

Got Advice

Got Advice

My Dad
I got into electronics when it was an option in Grade 11. My Dad suggested it for me when we were talking about my future career path. I thought I'd give it a try and it turned out that I liked it.

My Uncle
My uncle is a telecommunications engineer and he thought it was a good idea because everything was going electronic.

Career Symposium
I went to the career symposium when I was in Grade 12. I looked at the options and thought that Red River would be the best choice for me.

Manitoba

Manitoba

I've been to Vancouver and driving across town can take you hours if you hit a bad traffic jam. Winnipeg is still small enough that you can make it across town in less than 45 minutes and the housing is affordable.

And I like Manitoba just because it's an open province. It's not crammed. There are lots of provincial parks, great beaches and camp sites. I try to get out to go camping twice a year.

Stress and Deadlines

Stress and Deadlines

You can't let stress get to you or it makes things worse. When I get stressed out, I just focus a little harder, think further down the road and maybe put in a bit of overtime to catch up.

If your boards are late, it delays production scheduling. So i you can't meet your deadline, you must let people know as soon as you can so they can let the customer know. The important thing is to keep everybody informed.

Our Meetings

Our Meetings

Design review meetings are our job to call. Manufacturing, electrical, and mechanical engineering all get together with us to discuss circuit board layouts before we start.

Meeting with these three groups is important at the beginning of a circuit board design.

I'll propose a layout plan. Then each of these groups can offer suggestions to the plan to make sure the circuit board layout works and is easily manufacturable.

Think Ahead

Think Ahead

If we have a noisy circuit we have to plan where it's going to go to avoid problems. There are guidelines, like keeping the power supply close to the connector, close to the edge of the board. The power supply is usually a noisy circuit, especially if there's switching.

I always follow the guidelines from beginning to end and continually think in advance: how will what I'm doing now affect what I'll be doing later?

Problem Reports

Problem Reports

You try to plan for problems as you're working on your board design because you can control them at that stage. If there is a problem with the product, it will be documented in a Problem Report Notice or PRN, usually by someone from engineering or manufacturing.

Overall the problems are not big ones. Often the "problem" is really more of a suggestion for improvement. We use the PRNs as planning tools for product revisions.

Self Scheduling

Self Scheduling

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"I can usually tell where I'm at and the stage, and if I need to speed up. I'm always trying to keep to my schedule, because I plan it out that way.

"And it's good because that's what our quoting team has scheduled out for us. So if you meet that it's good, if you exceed it it's good too, but you don't want to be late."

Keeping Competitive

Keeping Competitive

We have to make boards easy to manufacture. The faster they can build them the cheaper the product will be. If we can get a board from 6 layers down to 4 then we can save production a lot of cost.

Getting the board to pass all the testing for EMC and EMI is a challenge and so is making it manufacturable. If you can get those down then you'll have a good saleable working product.

Personality Fit

Personality Fit

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"You have to be calm at this job. You can't get excited because it can get very stressful and if you can't handle that very well then it will make it really tough.

"You have to be pretty personable because you do deal with a lot of people, even though most of the time your work is at the desk. You might call an engineer to ask him a question or talk to somebody in production, so you have to have good communication skills."

Electrical Issues

Electrical Issues

Another board had high current drivers. There were some thick traces that need to handle 10 amps.

On the other side of the board we had a micro controller, which takes small current and is higher speed. Routing this board was difficult because you had half the board with high current and half with a micro-controller very susceptible to EMC and EMI.

It was tough and took me 10 weeks. There wasn't much real estate to place parts and get the routing done.

Mechanical Issues

Mechanical Issues

I'm working on a revision of a pretty dense board with a lot of components. It goes into a very rough environment and there are a lot of mounting holes because of a vibration problem.

On our first version, we found that components were breaking off the board due to vibration. The designer had to add more mounting holes to help reduce vibration, which took away space for parts. So I have to deal with that now.

Job Skills

Job Skills

Technical Skills
- understand schematics
- thorough knowledge of electronics and PCB Design issues
- use of electronic and mechanical CAD software

People Skills
- gd communication and listening skills
- work effectively in a team

Other Essential Skills
- be self-motivated
- be organized, analytical and good at problem solving

Being able to communicate and work well with others is key. You have to get information from people to build your designs correctly.

Avoiding EMC and EMI

Avoiding EMC and EMI

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"That's a big part of our design, is having boards that pass EMC and EMI testing. Because if they don't, then you have to redo the layout and that can get expensive.

"You have to have some knowledge of components and there are some guidelines you follow: where to put the power supply, where to put the micro(processor), or drivers. You kind of know the noisy circuits.

"We didn't learn that in school, that's something you learn on the job."

(See definitions for EMC/EMI: "My Job-Terminology")

College vs. University

College vs. University

I thought I'd try Red River College and if I did well I could always go back to school once I was established working.

I did some research and found out that pretty much everybody coming out of Red River's program got a job within 6 months. I found a job 3 months after graduating, so it worked out really well.

Software

Software

For designing we work with Orcad. I've also worked with CADSTAR and EEDesigner but I prefer Orcad. I've worked with it so long that I know all the tricks.

For autorouting we use SPECCTRA. It takes time to learn because you have to write a program to operate it. Autorouters in the past weren't very good but now the designer has complete control over routing the board. It's very effective and can save a lot of PCB design time.

Training At Vansco

Training At Vansco

I've taken several courses offered by the company including 'OrCAD software-Schematic Capture to Layout', 'Intro to Pro/Engineer software', 'Designing High Speed PCBs' and 'IPC-A-610B Work Standards' which is an international quality standard in electronics assembly.

I've also taken a course on Pro/E software that our mechanical engineers use. It helps us preview how the circuit board is going to fit in the housing and we can quickly check for any possible problems before the circuit boards are ordered.

Keep Learning

Keep Learning

It's not just, 'Okay, I've got my diploma, I'm done'. You have to be able to research more and learn as you go. A lot of this job was not taught at school. We never learned about EMC and EMI and that's a big part of our job.

Our manager encourages us to research 15 minutes a day. We have favourite websites and magazines that give all kinds of tips on every aspect of the job.

New Tech Training

New Tech Training

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"High speed design means the frequency that your components are running at. If you design it incorrectly, it can just quit and fail. You get these little reflections come back and can mix up the signals.

"With this course, we learned how to properly lay out circuit boards for high speed design."

Future Engineer?

Future Engineer?

A year down the road I'd like to go back to school in continuing education at college or university for electronics or program management courses to learn more technically and manage projects better.

Five years from now I could still see myself doing circuit board design because I really enjoy it. You can make a career out of it but 5 years down the road it might be time for a change and, who knows, maybe become an engineer.

Job Future

Job Future

There aren't a lot of us out there because you don't learn it all at school. You're trained on the job. As long as there are circuit boards there'll be PCB designers.

Vansco will grow even bigger. There's always lots work and something lined up next. There's never a dull moment around here. It's an exciting and great place to work.

Job Market Info

Job Market Info

The links below take you to federal and regional government information on employment, education, salary ranges and long range prospects for this career.

The official title for Geoff's occupation is 'Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technologists & Technicians' and its NOC* code is 2241.

Manitoba Job Futures

Manitoba Labour Market Information

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

*Each occupation has an official name and unique number called the 'National Occupation Classification' code or 'NOC'.

Education

Education

Useful High School Subjects*

- Math
- Sciences
- Industrial Arts (Electronics)
- English

*Source: Job Futures.ca

Red River College
Full Time Programs
- then choose from
'Electrical Engineering Technology'
'Electronic Engineering Technology

Winnipeg Technical College
Industrial Electronics

University College of the North - The Pas/Thompson
Electrical and Electronic Technologies
- page 36 of the pdf

University of Manitoba
Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Industry Association

Industry Association

Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) - Manitoba Division is Canada's leading business network and senior business association. CME members account for 75 percent of Canada's industrial output and 90 percent of its exports. Over the past seven years, they have been responsible for over 45 percent of the new jobs created in the Canadian economy.

CME has established alliances with universities, colleges and training organizations throughout Canada. This ensures the availability of adequately skilled labour and enable Canadian companies to compete in today's global economy.

Related Careers

Related Careers

Related careers from the Human Resources Development Canada web site:

Aircraft Instrument, Electrical and Avionics Mechanics, Technicians and Inspectors (2244)

Electronic Service Technicians (Household and Business Equipment) (2242)

Industrial Instrument Technicians and Mechanics (2243)

Technical Sales Specialists - Wholesale Trade (6221)

Professional Associations

Professional Associations

World Electronic Circuit Council (WECC)
(formerly Institute for Printed Circuits - IPC)

Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC)