CONTINUING EDUCATION SURVEY
Recently we took a survey of Electronic Design readers to assess their attitudes about and needs for continuing education. The results are summarized in the table.
Not surprisingly, the responses to survey question number one indicate that most engineers (98% in this survey) think that continuing education is important. The technology changes fast, so if you're not continually learning the latest and greatest, you'll quickly fall behind and could run into trouble.
Those of us here at Electronic Design see the hundreds of changes occurring daily. Even with multiple editors keeping track of the multitude of new technologies, standards, components, methods, and business arrangements, we often feel overwhelmed by the daily tidal wave of material that comes our way. Our job is to boil it down, sum it up, and present it in a concise, compact time/cost-efficient way for you to keep abreast. More than most, we know how difficult it is to keep up to date.
In light of the blizzard of new technological developments, your best hope is still to focus and specialize. Become a guru in your technical specialty. Just don't box yourself in with nowhere to go if your specialty is replaced or superseded, or if it simply becomes obsolete. Try to look ahead and give yourself a second specialty that will allow you to move on if the worst happens.
The answer to question 2 indicates that 71% of your employers still pay for your learning. The more you know, the more valuable you are. Yet during this long downturn, many employers have minimized and even eliminated continuing education due to costs. Almost a third of you actually pay for continuing education.
Answers to question 3 were also pretty much as expected. Books, magazines, and Web sources almost equally account for the bulk of today's learning. That means, as engineers, you're self-learners and take responsibility for keeping current. Just over 50% of you also participate in formal classes and conferences. Most of us really enjoy formal short courses or seminars, if we can actually find one that deals with what we want or need to know. That's becoming more of a problem.
Those with the real up-to-date knowledge are actually the engineers doing the work. They typically don't teach, write books or articles, or create online materials. Too bad. Though they're focused and effective, seminars are usually expensive and require travel, not to mention the two to five days or so away from work. See the online listing for some sources of useful seminars.
Conferences can also be an effective learning tool. Most offer talks, papers, and workshops on a variety of subjects. The exhibits are just as enlightening. Again, the time and cost factor keeps many away, but it's worth going when you can. Keep asking. There's nothing like three or four days at a conference immersed in the subject matter to stimulate your interest and creativity. For me, conferences are often serendipity in action. Even if it stimulates one new solution or idea, it's usually worth more than you paid.
There were many and varied responses to question 4, which asked what topic you'd most like to learn. Those mentioned most often are, in order, DSP, C/C++ programming, communications and RF design, and analog design. That list isn't surprising, considering it's getting more difficult each day to identify an electronic product that doesn't include DSP. For that matter, just try to name a product that doesn't include an embedded processor. No wonder you need to know C/C++ programming. And of course, the hottest electronics topics today are communications, wireless, and networking.
Most engineers who are more than a few years out of school actually never learned these subjects in school because over the years most schools either eliminated or downsized communications, RF, and analog design in favor of more digital. Given the resurgence in the wireless space and the recognized need for good analog design, some schools are bringing back these critical topics.
Finally, question 5 cements the fact that engineers are self-learners. Most of you get in that mode without being aware of it. If you've never planned and executed a formal self-learning project, give it a try (see "How to Teach Yourself Almost Anything," p. 44).
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