PCBgogo

Keyword: PCB designer, PCB design, PCB

Global survey of PCB designer: 83% of respondents consider online peer-to-peer communities PCB design to be 'vital' or 'important' to their work, yet despite this nearly half (41%) remain inactive on such sites.Meanwhile 42% of respondents thought social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook influence their designs as a resource for gathering product news, PCB design hints and ideas in much the same way as forums. Yet almost the same amount - 36% - think social media isn't important at all because there is too much "noise."

25 years ago PCB designers didn't have the luxury PCB design of online forums or social media. It's clear that the vast majority see the benefits nowadays, but a surprising number simply aren't engaging with these channels. As a result of this disconnect, online community sites such as element14 remain very much an untapped PCB design resource to a generation of PCB designers.

"Some of the stigma attached to social media channels like Twitter perhaps stems from a lack of understanding and suggests people don't know how to filter out the irrelevant content and narrow the information streams to really focus PCB design on key influencers and like-minded peers.
Twitter isn't just for teenagers and pop culture."

Other notable findings from the survey include:

* Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) think development boards are reducing the need for custom PCB design

* of respondents (74%) are targeting control system applications with their design and almost half (46%) are involved in Open Source Hardware

* The majority of designers would PCB design put functionality before cost when buying design tools, with 60% of respondents rating functionality as an "extremely important" factor

* element14 voted the most popular online forum for PCB designers

* 87% cited improved library management, PCB design speedier part creation as desirable or extremely desirable features for future versions

* The majority surveyed (30%) work on 1-3 new designs or updates in a year, while 24% are working on 10+ PCB design