Selecting Suitable PCB software for Electronic and Electrical Computer-Aided Design (ECAD)

College professors get excited whenever they see former students excel in various careers. For your students to grasp basic ECAD principles while developing practical experience, they need tried and tested design software. The good news is not all industry recognized ECAD design software are costly. You don’t have to burn holes through your pockets in order to use some of the best Protel PCB software since they offer a free trial version.

How does one make the right choice when bombarded with advertisements from hundreds of ECAD software brands? Let’s find out

1. Compatibility with manufacturers

Students require relevant skills which will enable them to tackle clients' problems using innovative approaches. When students learn ECAD using PCB software popular with national technology firms and also among global tech companies, they develop confidence in their skills. It also saves future employers from wasting time orienting fresh graduates on using unfamiliar design tools.

2. Ease of Use

New users may struggle to access features while attempting their initial projects. Design software with simplistic user interfaces and menus enable learners to practice their projects with ease. The offline content available in Help resources should be easy to understand.

3. Language versions

Colleges and universities contain diverse student population composed of students from various backgrounds. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise to come across an intelligent student who’s quite eager to learn, but, cannot overcome language barriers. For instance, a native Chinese student would prefer learning ECAD in Mandarin to English.

4. Smartphone and Tablet versions

Rapid transformations in Smartphone technology have revolutionized every aspect of human life. Students enjoy studying notes using their favorite portable touch screen gadgets. One way of encouraging your students to develop a habit of frequently honing their design skills is ensuring the PCB software has smartphone and tablet versions. Another advantage is they enable students to easily share and compare PCB designs on various software-based online community forums.

5. Is the premium version within students’ purchasing power?

As students become more proficient with time, they will desire to learn and utilize tools available on premium design software. When a student owns premium PCB software, he or she is able to experiment with complex school projects or provide commercial solutions to newly sourced clients.

6. Availability of learning resources

Students require reading and analyzing information from various sources in order to understand a concept. Different insights are necessary to simplify unfamiliar ECAD principles to novice students. The PCB official website should contain several tutorials that can be downloaded in various formats for offline reading.

Video tutorials are great because they contain step by step procedures that may have been misunderstood in printed sources of information.

Final thoughts

Stability is an important factor to consider carefully. Decent PCB software should automatically backup project data in offline and online storages. They also are immune to bug attacks which cause abrupt freezing and data loss. It is wise to have a live chat with the customer care support team because they will answer all questions you might have before making the decision, to download the design software.