All jobs I've had management delegated all the component placement off to an in-house drafter of some sort. My most recent project, I was in charge off every step; from design to manufacturing. I wasn't formally trained in component placement, so I embarked on a crash course in the subject. I learned quite a bit about the importance of trace widths, component proximity, and emi considerations.
Now in retrospect, I feel that the drafters of my earlier jobs had no idea what they were doing, and that is why I had so much difficulty with prototypes. In particular, I remember a VLSI audio codec chip I worked with had so much trouble working. Now, after learning a bit about PCB layouts, I realize that the drafter did not place several support components close to the processor.
So, I am wondering: did anyone learn about component placement in college, or was it more of a afterthought, on the training familiarizing? Do you take component placement into consideration? Or, do you trust that "weird drafter guy, in the off to the side cubical," to lay out your design properly?
C
