Intel letter highlights design skills shortage

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Aug 3, 2004

Derek Carpenter of Datasound Laboratories comments on skills shortages in the electronics industry.

The news that Craig Barrett, Chief Executive of Intel, has written to employees urging them to focus on "actions and attitudes" to put to an end a string of recent product delays and design and manufacturing problems comes as no surprise.

The industry is currently afflicted by many problems, not least of which is the lack of good designers.

If this is having an effect on Intel, the effect it is having on OEMs is even greater.

The advent of the Internet robbed the electronics industry of a whole generation of engineers, who chose the perceived "coolness" of a career in web design as opposed to the less glamorous but far more demanding life as an electronics design engineer.

This blinkered, short-term approach to career selection has led to two things.

A plethora of web designers unable to find enough work, and a serious shortage of properly trained and experienced engineers.

The industry desperately needs design engineers who can not only can understand and apply basic principles of electronics design but also have a practical, common sense approach to good quality board design.

Far too often "milk run" recruited graduates are hastily inserted into this gap, but this is not a real solution.

Although new graduates may well have some deign talent, because of their lack of real world experience the engineering foundations are not there, so the end product suffers and OEMs suffer as a result with products not delivered on time or to standard.

Outsourcing custom design is one way of filling this gap.

Using experienced, skilled professionals who understand design principles, how to apply them and also have the relationships with chip manufacturers to ensure projects are delivered on time can only be a positive for the industry.

Until such a time when measures can be put into place to meet the long-term skills shortage, OEMs must address the design issue and outsourcing custom design is the obvious solution.