There are way too many service providers in every industry. While this saturation may work in favor of buyers in a way, it also causes a lot more trouble. Too many services in a small market may get you better rates, but it also makes it difficult to find the right service provider. You want the best service, but the seller wants to earn maximum with minimum effort. This ideology is somewhat unprofessional, but that’s what most professional follow.
You will come across many unskilled or unprofessional PCB designers when you start looking for one. Unless you have the resources and time to waste on testing multiple service providers, you will have to find the right guy the first time. It’s not an easy thing, but you can use the experience of others to help you guide in the right direction. Here we share how you can find the right PCB design services.
Make Sure they Have Past Experience.
One becomes an expert with experience. If a PCB design service provider claims it is an expert, there must be a record to prove it. Look for people who don’t just have the experience, but they can also prove it. Many people ignore the work samples they are provided. They just assume that this work belongs to the person that sent it.
You have to ensure that their past projects were, in fact, their projects. They might show you someone else’s impressive work to get your project. You should also know that the project they show as a sample is the best they can offer. Don’t expect a better service than what they showed.
You Should Know Exactly What You Want.
We hire others to do the job for us because we expect them to be more expert at it than us. If we were experts at it, we would be doing it ourselves. So, it is the duty of a PCB designer to deliver the best of service even if his client doesn’t know much about it. Unfortunately, that’s not how most people think. If they see you don’t know what you are doing, they will take advantage of it. That’s why it becomes your duty to protect yourself, which is only possible if you become an expert in the services you are acquiring.
You don’t have to learn it from a designer’s perspective. Consider yourself a quality assurance expert who can identify when someone’s not doing his job right. Furthermore, be very clear about what you want and how you want it. You should know how and where the PCB design will be used and give accurate and clear instructions to avoid any confusion later. Make sure that you also understand the pros and cons of flex circuits boards to ensure you are not expecting too much.
Prefer Service with a Specialization.
There are many submodules of hardware. The person or service you are hiring can’t be an expert at everything. If they are a jack of all trades, don’t expect any mastery from them. You should prioritize the relevant design scope over experience. For example, if you need someone to build a general-purpose controller from scratch, hiring a design engineer with experience in building audio amplifier circuits would be a mistake.
They can get the job done, but their work won’t be efficient. You make mistakes when doing something for the first time. On the other hand, a professional experienced in the same scope has already made those mistakes and learnt from them.
