Resources for the Lifelong Learner

A few years ago, in a recap video of AltiumLive, Dr. Eric Bogatin, the Dean of
Signal Integrity Academy, stated the following:

“Everybody recognizes that you have to continually grow. It’s kind of like in Alice in Wonderland. Alice is in the Red Forest, and the line goes something like this: ‘in this forest, you have to run faster and faster, just to stay in the same place!’ And I think that encapsulates where the industry is today. The most important skill you need--yeah the technical skill, and all that--but you need to be able to grow on your own, to learn on your own.”

We’ve heard similar thoughts expressed by many well-respected and accomplished engineers from around the world. The truth is, technology moves fast and you must keep up or risk falling behind. Fortunately, most of us in this line of work are curious and love to learn. For this reason, we wanted to focus this month’s newsletter on education and share some ways Altium continues to provide increasing amounts of technical education for design engineers and provide this quick-reference guide to point you in the right direction.

Altium Academy YouTube Channel: New Video Series by Zach Peterson

If you read any of our technical articles on our Resource Page, Zach Peterson will not be a new name to you. Zach is a practicing engineer/entrepreneur that owns North West Engineering Solutions (NWES) in the Pacific Northwestern United States. Recently, he began publishing technical video content for our Altium Academy YouTube channel that has been very popular and well received by the design community. This video series features design principles that are non-tool-specific and will be beneficial to any design engineer. (Please note, these videos are recorded in English, but closed-captioning in all languages is available)

More from the Altium Academy YouTube Channel

You will quickly notice there are a variety of playlists available on the Altium Academy YouTube Channel. All languages are available through closed captioning, as stated above. The available Playlists are:

Altium Designer 21--What’s New?
On-Demand Webinars
Getting Started with Altium365
OnTrack Whiteboard series
Industry Expert Series
Using Altium Designer

On-Demand Webinars

After a long pandemic run, we are all a bit weary of online conferencing and webinars, but yet they remain a mainstay of continuing education nonetheless! Here is where you can find webinars in multiple regions and languages: Altium Webinar Home Page.

AltiumLive 2022: CONNECT

As was shared in last month’s newsletter, AltiumLive is back in-person and online January 26-28, 2022, and will be co-located with IPC Apex Expo in San Diego, CA. So, if you are tired of webinars and video learning, the in-person option may be just the right fit for you. As usual, we will offer both Altium product training and design principle classes. More details are forthcoming in the next month. Sign up here to get notified when more information is available. We regret that we are unable to return to an in-person event in Europe. However, we will be live-streaming globally from San Diego, and eventually, all sessions will be available on-demand.

Year-round Instructor-Led Training

Though in-person classes have been discontinued during the pandemic, we continue to offer online instructor-led training for your team or group. These are available in multiple regions. Visit our training page for more information. 

Full-Time Focus on PCB Design Education

Last year Rea Callender joined the Altium team as our Executive Director of Education. Callender has been a highly valuable addition to our team and oversaw the development and launch of the Upverter Education Program that has since spread like wildfire into 42 countries. This program, focused on high school STEM education, is available at no cost. (We invite you to join us in inspiring a new generation of engineers by sharing this program with your local high school).

Callender and his team have now pivoted to create a robust and comprehensive body of educational content for university students and professionals alike. This program is due for its initial launch by early next year. Meanwhile, we hope the resources above will provide a steady stream of educational content to keep you out in front of the technology curve and drive your career and skill forward.