Nurturing engineering talent

With regards to a shortage of young talent, YC is confident about areas such as AI and the IoT, but says there is a shortage in specific key areas. “For example, PC board design and manufacturing are critical to the electronics industry. However, at least in the western hemisphere, students are not necessarily mastering board design skills in college, resulting in diminishing numbers of engineers who understand the process for building PC boards,” he says.

It is a similar situation in the semiconductor manufacturing field, he continues, with a lot of electrical engineers entering big data and software careers. “Semiconductor manufacturing has traditionally been seen as a more esoteric field in electrical engineering, requiring a lot of in-depth engineering and device physics knowledge. With the CHIPS and Science Act, we may see a surge of interest in that area,” he predicts.

Skills shortfall

When asked if there is a shortage in a particular discipline within the broad electronics industry, YC concedes that there are shortages in disciplines such as analogue design. “There’s a level of abstraction that the discipline of digital design layers on top of what would be an analogue backdrop, allowing the average engineering student to pick up skills and knowledge within that area quickly.

“Students who can master the art of analogue design are going to be worth a lot of money because they have built up broad knowledge and experience that will allow them to straddle the space between digital board design, RF engineering, and anything that engineers in other areas may not touch because of the rigorous math and science requirements,” he says.

The lack of careers advice manifests in fewer graduates in the workplace and a change in the supply chain.

Students often go directionless into an engineering major, explains YC, with a general idea to be electrical engineers or computer engineers, but without knowing in which areas to specialise. “When students start exploring engineering careers through sources like social media and trade publications, the focus tends to be on buzzwords like AI, IoT and big data,” he adds.

Another reason students might bypass studying electronics is that it is difficult to see the immediate outcome of their work and what they’re building. “Companies like Machinechat have vastly simplified the discipline of IoT design so that any student can pick up a board and start producing meaningful IoT-based designs,” says YC.

YC thinks that changes in perception of the industry will have an effect on different areas and will affect the industrial base in countries or regions. “Since students are less interested in PC board design, we could see a massive shift in where PC boards are made. The industry needs to maintain a steady stream of engineering students in every one of these different areas to maintain competitiveness,” he urges.

Encouraging STEM

The issue of encouraging an interest in STEM subjects continues to dog the industry. For YC, there may be limits due to economic or geographical situations that limit access to hardware. This could dissuade young students from studying engineering, although there are companies working to break this barrier by providing access to remote engineering labs and actual hardware, he says. “Opportunities like remote engineering labs can potentially guide students into successful electronics engineering career paths.”

Perhaps young minds could be engaged even younger? I wonder what the obstacles might be to engaging young primary/early years students in STEM subjects. YC believes that some children have the odds stacked against them, but that remote hardware could be one solution.

“Many families are stretched for resources and time, so even if schools provide extracurricular opportunities for engagement, it’s not always accessible or a top priority. With remote hardware, schools can gain access to hardware and labs earlier on, teaching kids and their caretakers about engineering careers and helping them develop an interest and understanding of the engineering industry at a young age,” he says.

Access and exposure to STEM-related material and more hands-on activities at a younger age can increase engagement with younger students, says YC. “Recently, a California state university… held a successful STEM day for young families, and they invited local companies to showcase what they’re designing in areas like electronics, physics, biology, geography and chemistry.

“Sometimes, friction comes from the traditional way of presenting STEM-based topics. Engineering concepts can get wrapped around a thick layer of in-depth knowledge that can only be accessed if you drill deeply into the area or topic.

“An inverted pyramid type of curriculum could help young students by introducing them to a broad range of engineering concepts through hands-on activities. As students progress through hands-on learning, the curriculum can open to include more specific topics, such as machine learning.”

The inverted pyramid model is currently used at many universities in California. For example, the University of California San Diego has a course that introduces engineering to students early in their college years by allowing them to focus on project work and gradually revealing the concepts to them along the way. “Programmes like this allow students to grasp course and career options at a much earlier stage. This model could easily be brought into primary and secondary schools,” says YC.

University courses

There is a lack of visibility into what electrical engineers do, which is unique to this field, says YC. “If you are in mechanical engineering, you can see the bridge you are constructing, along with learning core concepts. If you misplace a beam, the bridge will collapse and that’s made very obvious to the student. In electrical engineering, everything is operating on a molecular or signal level and happening in the invisible realm, making it hard for students to visualise. It is easy for students to get dissuaded,” he believes.

Another problem is the size and scope of courses. “The sheer number of classes that students need to complete before they can enter their first engineering course is also a problem of the traditional engineering curriculum. With the number of general elective courses that are required by traditional programmes, students may not get the chance to drive their first electric motor or design their first radio until four years into their college career,” he points out. “By that point in time, students who have problems visualising what the future holds may have dropped out, leading to a shortage of engineering graduates that affects the entire industry.”

YC believes that universities and colleges should get students involved “much earlier” and suggests hands-on engineering projects and instilling a maker ethos into the student population at a very early stage. “Students need to understand what they’re working on not only through abstract mathematical equations and models, but through designing and building in real life.”

Student support

In North America, DigiKey participates in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association, which is comprised of heads or chairs of university departments in the US and Canada. The company has participated in engineering panel discussions about the need for a more hands-on approach earlier in a student’s academic programme.

It is also involved with companies that serve young engineers and inspire them to build meaningful electronic projects. In North America, that’s through the FIRST Robotics program, explains YC, and it supports similar schemes in Europe, such as Micromouse.

“I’m especially proud of our work on the Experiential Robotics Platform,” he says. “Delving into robotics used to be a challenging endeavour for young engineers, requiring intricate technical knowledge and complex assembly processes. SparkFun Electronics, in collaboration with WPI, DEKA, Raspberry Pi, ST, DAGU and DigiKey, stepped up to bridge this gap by introducing a platform that makes robotics accessible to anyone seeking to take their first steps into engineering, robotics and software development.

“The goal of this partnership is to provide robotics education to everyone and bridge the gap in the robot-building journey.”

There is a third way, suggests YC. The maker movement involves people working on projects by themselves, and becoming familiar with soldering, learning about IoT, AI, edge-based processing and robotics on their own.

Other support for makers and hobbyists that allow self-education are learning platforms, YouTube videos and blog posts.

“I am very optimistic about the future of the electronics industry,” says YC. “I believe that AI will play a huge role in assisting human engineers. The collaboration between engineers and AI will produce higher-quality products in a more cost-effective manner, and in a shorter amount of time than humanly possible. We will witness incredible processes that allow products to come to fruition with unprecedented speed.”