A rich source of expert knowledge

I have received couple of emails where readers of this blog ask me the same question:

How to become a good hardware design engineer?

This is what works for me:

• Work on as many different designs as you can
  With each new design you will get new experience.
• Take challenges
  With each new challenge your knowledge and experience grows rapidly.
• Learn from design guides
  Design guides don’t go into details, but are very practical and – they work!
• Learn from solving problems
  Problems can’t be solved without understanding how things work.
• Minimise potential risks
  Stay as close to reference / existing designs as you can. This not only minimise HW risk, but also speeds up software development.
• Check your work, double check, triple check
  Check it from different views and angles. I do really a lot of checking.
• If you feel you are not learning, find a new job
  With a new job you will be working on completely different designs – getting new experience and skills for your CV.