I've been in this business about 30 years. You will be on a constant learning curve - in the past you did here about a few engineers that made it rich - it looks like that might belong to china now. So if you are getting into this field you better love it. The work and lack of appreciation for your brilliance is lacking.
There will always be a new CAD package to learn. It's important that you understand the concepts and have a fast learning curve. Eagle has a learning curve (at least for me). It's a German product written on a linux platform - translation and porting have taken it's toll.
The biggest problem with CAD systems it the libraries are all wrong. You can't just put a part on the board and go. Normally you spend 90% of your time designing parts for your application. The parts basically have to be designed for the house that is going to manufacture the board. You will not make any money doing this. But as a hands on guy I think it is mandatory that an engineer know HOW TO design a board from concept through production. There will be cheap CAD designers for some time to come.
I don't know if there is a group to review and post parts for Eagle but it sure would be a good idea.
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "phildimond" <my-yahoo-groups@...> wrote:
>
> Not that this has anything to actually do with Homebrew PCBs, but this
> is the problem with outsourcing. Simple economics and risk management
> are lost in this process.
>
> The NREs (Non-Recurring Engineering charges) are divided across the
> manufacturing volume as a cost. Now, if we make 20 of the product,
> then the design NRE will be very large per unit. If we make 20,000 of
> them, it will be small. The difference per unit between a high and a
> low cost designer is tiny.
>
> However, by having the design done in-house or by a separate design
> contractor locally, you have a much greater level of control over the
> design copyrights, and consequently a lower risk profile.
>
> I've had clients discover this the hard way .. outsource the design to
> India, and then discover that the designer suddenly becomes their
> competitor by making some small improvements or changes to the product
> and selling it himself. And what can we do about it? Nothing, because
> there is no design protection in those countries worth speaking of.
>
> And I've seen it more than once.
>
> Manufacturing outsourcing is an absolute must, simply because it is
> the only way to compete at the manufacturing level with anyone else
> making product in those countries. But keep the real value of the
> product - the intellectual property embodied in it - at home.
>
> And I'm not an American .. I'm Australian. Outsource to us at 65 cents
> on the dollar for design work if you really want to save some money -
> at least we do have decent intellectual property protection laws here.
>
> But when your clients say they're going to get the design (or
> programming) done in India or whatever .. tell them they're probably
> giving away the very core asset of their company while they're doing it.
>
> Even more off topic .. what really frightens me is outsourced data
> management. The thought of my bank outsourcing all of my personal
> details to a database running in India scares the heck out of me. If
> there was one thing I could change, it would be to amend the data
> privacy laws in my country to state that not only can the data not be
> revealed to a third party, it must be fully managed in the country in
> which it was originally provided. The second that data crosses a
> national boundary it may as well be posted on the internet for all the
> security on it is worth. Ask your bank where their data is managed and
> take your money out if it is in a country other than the one you live
> in .. or think about the possibility of trying to sue a Cambodian data
> operations company for revealing your financial details to your
> ex-spouse (and I'm married and have no ex! :^)
>
> Phil
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "boons007" <boons007@> wrote:
> >
> > I had decided not to buy Altuim Designer and go forward in the
> > market bcause the pcb design market is being heavily outsourced to
> > china, indonesia, malaysia etc..
> >
> > After "Slaving" in the business for too many years.. I have
> > decided it's a loosing proposition to compete against $15~25 per
> > hour including overhead for oversease Design services.
> > Part of the reason for the low cost is PCB designer making $8 ~ 25
> > a "DAY" depending on country...
>