Where a printed circuit board designer can go next

Table 1 · Within reach

• electronics drafter 56% covered · difficulty 48
• product development engineering drafter 51% covered · difficulty 49.3
• mechanical engineering drafter 49% covered · difficulty 49.1

Table 2 · A bigger jump

Possible, but expect real retraining rather than a sideways step.

• integrated circuit design engineer 46% covered · difficulty 55.1
• rolling stock engineering drafter 44% covered · difficulty 56.1

Table 3 · What the job itself asks for

A printed circuit board designer needs 14 required skills and areas of knowledge. These 10 are the ones fewest other jobs share, so they say the most about the work.

• design circuit boards communication, collaboration and creativity
• test printed circuit boards constructing
• printed circuit boards information and communication technologies (icts)
• interpret circuit diagrams information skills
• draft design specifications communication, collaboration and creativity
• create technical plans management skills
• design drawings engineering, manufacturing and construction
• execute analytical mathematical calculations information skills
• CAD software information and communication technologies (icts)
• use technical drawing software working with computers

Table 4 · Jobs that lead here

The reverse view: occupations whose skills already cover much of what a printed circuit board designer does. The figure is how much of this job each one brings.

• drafter 77% covered · difficulty 23.8
• electronics drafter 74% covered · difficulty 27.2
• integrated circuit design engineer 56% covered · difficulty 43.3
• electronics engineer 52% covered · difficulty 46.4
• architectural drafter 51% covered · difficulty 47.9
• microelectronics designer 51% covered · difficulty 47.4
• 3D printing technician 49% covered · difficulty 49.1
• power electronics engineer 49% covered · difficulty 49.2
• mechanical engineering drafter 46% covered · difficulty 52.3
• industrial designer 35% covered · difficulty 60.6

Look up another occupation

Printed circuit board designer is filed under Technicians and associate professionals, ISCO major group 3. The full index lists all ten groups.

How these figures were compiled

Overlap is how much of the target role is already part of a printed circuit board designer’s work. It is directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. Every entry above opens the full comparison for that move: what carries over, what is missing, and where to start. The full method.