No hard feelings and thanks again for the provided link.
Actually I want to learn proper PCB design to be used
as a profession. That , I guess, takes more than just
reading a book or picking up bits and pieces of theroy
here and there. Learning to work with certain software
is one, but becoming a good PCB designer is another.
So, were do I get from here?
Franklin
do not read the following, i'm rambling, and it's hurting my head, it
likely will hurt yours, but if you're a masochist, go ahead. i've rambled
cause i don't know what you're going to do, work for yourself or a company.
for professional level work you'd need a lot of theory, and lots more
practice, books help in two ways, they give theory, and they give
contradiction, when contradiction is resolved you have learned much.
designing pcb's takes more than just learning a pcb package, but it's a
good start. you need to learn electrical theory, radio(as in antennas n
stuff), conductor sizes, there's so much to learn. taking a few college
courses, just for the knowledge, will get things rolling, but practice and
much testing of finished boards is needed.
i say that books are the best way to learn, can be e-books, or pdf's, but
a course can only teach basics for any reasonable amount of money,
practice does the rest. if you're willing to pay 20-30 grand to become a
circuit board artist you can do it through courses, through books it'll
take 10 times as long, but be nearly free.
most circuits, the boards you will design would require only basic
knowledge, like, an AF op-amp buffer, there's almost nothing critical in
it. the only thing you'd need extensive knowledge for is high frequency
circuits, dealing with radio frequencies and coupling between board layers
would take much, but nothing dreadfully serious if you work for yourself.
if you want to work for someone else(specially big companies) you'll have
to take courses, you'll need a portfolio(which you'd get by working and
learning at home for a while. if the place you go to uses a particular
pcb suite you'll need to learn that suite, either with their teachers, or
in a school, and you'd need to buy your own copy, even learning editions
can be dreadfully expensive.
what i say is to forget about expensive courses unless you want to become
a worker drone. you want to work for yourself on local contracts you can
do it from your home, with little more than basic knowledge that comes
from books(even miserably old ones, history helps) and tidbits from asking
questions online. course, if you're online you can consider the world
local, and refuse the contracts you know you can't fill.