Designing electronics is one of the more enjoyable things I do. My day job here at Screaming Circuits is marketing but my past and my after-hours hobby time are littered with electronics design. Since it’s a hobby, it tends to be a less stressful endeavor than if it were my full-time occupation.
However, getting PCBs assembled still does bring with it a bit of tension. It’s not out of fear of the process. It’s based on fear that I might do something wrong and waste my coworker’s time. Sometimes I build boards myself, but if one of my designs is going to be used as a trade show handout, I’ll send it through our factory and I’m never quite sure what will happen.
That’s largely because I know what I want built, but I have a bad habit of missing details when I’m writing it all down. I might substitute a part think that “I’ll change it in the BOM later” and never get around to putting the new part into my BOM file. I’ve even compounded that by choosing a different sized sub (0402 for 0603) and forgetting to change the footprint in my PCB layout.
The result is that when I hit the save button for the last time, my stress level about what I may have forgotten or messed up jumps. When I pack up my files into a .ZIP, that anxiety grows. When I go to the Screaming Circuits website to start a quote, it grows. When I submit the order, I am filled with a level of angst that should be very much reserved for people with real problems.
Two items are at the root of my fear. A) that I’ve caused a delay to my project due to whatever mistake I may have made, and B) that I will have to call our customer service folks and my limited competence will be revealed to them. I don’t want to make their day worse and I don’t want to look stupid. That is my anxiety. However, every time I goof something up, they leap in to help me out. I can be a dolt with (apparently) no attention to detail and they make me look like I know what I’m doing.
My guess is that you are all far better at this than I am, but I know that stress and anxiety is fairly common in the design world, especially these days with all of the cost and supply chain problems. I should not worry about calling our customer service people, because I know they will do everything within their power to make my day better, and you should also not worry. They are great folks and are here for you.
With that in mind, jump over to screamingcircuits.com and quote your prototype PCB assembly. And don’t stress too much. We are here to help.
Duane Benson
I am a legend in my own mind
Of course, I am also a goat in my own boat (that doesn’t really make sense, but it rhymes and it’s late, so cut me some slack)