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We all like free things. Well, if you’re new to flex design, you might want to check out an online course offered by All Flex, a flex fabricator. The course, Designing Flexible Circuits, was created by John Michael Pierobon.
John Michael is an engineer who has presented a wide variety of high-tech classes around the world on topics that include C programming, Red Hat Linux, and Z shell scripting. He even has a course titled How to Succeed in International Business. He can teach in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and he’s not too shabby at Italian and French either.
I asked John Michael to discuss his flexible circuit design course, and whether online curriculum can ever replace good old-fashioned live instruction.
Andy Shaughnessy: Give us a little background about yourself and your company.
John Michael Pierobon: I was born in Minnesota. I grew up in Latin America, having lived five years in Brazil, four years in Mexico, and eight years in Peru. As an undergraduate, I worked as a computer operator to pay for tuition. As a graduate student, I taught Fortran. After I graduated, I worked as an engineer. I got my PE license. I wrote computer programs for engineering applications and then went to work for scientific computer companies. I ran the training department for one of them. Then, the internet exploded. I ran an internet service provider and started teaching courses on building and running the World Wide Web. Now that it is built up, I concentrate on writing and teaching technical courses for companies. I live in Fort Lauderdale, only 148 steps from the beach.
Shaughnessy: How did you start teaching flexible circuit design?
Pierobon: One day, one of my favorite customers asked me to write a course on designing flexible circuits. I had the time to do it, so I did.
Shaughnessy: Can you walk us through the online flex design class that All Flex sponsors? It’s a fairly comprehensive class and free to the users, which is really nice.
Pierobon: Yes, it is free. I encourage your readers to sign up at designingflexiblecircuits.com. Hundreds of people from all over the world have taken the class. The course is written in an easy-to-understand language, explaining technical concepts, and each chapter ends with interactive review questions. I have been told that people like the course very much because each page offers a bite-size piece of information, which makes it easy to digest and comprehend.
To read this entire interview, which appeared in the Flex007 section of the August 2019 Design007 Magazine, click here.
