Last year, PCBWay held the First PCB Design Contest. Kevin Ceresa was one of the contestants. His entry, Audio amplifier 60W has been chosen as the second prize for Best Design. Today, we are very honored to be able to interview this passionate lover of Open Source Hardware and electronics.
PCBWay Team: “ Hello Kevin, congratulations again and also thanks for accepting our interview.”
Kevin: “ Thank you and it is really my honor.”
PCBWay Team: “ Could you please briefly introduce yourself? Many other electronics engineers in PCBWay’s community want to know more about you.”
Kevin: “ Well, I am an electronic engineer student and I started this carrier path when I was 16 years old. I worked on some electronic projects that gave me some experience on the working life, and I am still working in a few start-up projects.“
PCBWay Team: “I have visited your website, Swiss TI Lab which was founded by Daniele Chiappa and you. Can you tell us more about your Lab? And what is the story of the establish of Swiss TI Lab?”
Kevin: “We decided to start a company for our first project that goes on Kickstarter, after the founding period we continued our work by designing other electronic products for companies and privates.”
PCBWay Team: “About 2017 PCBWay PCB Design Contest, how did you know the competition? And what drove you to attend this competition?”
Kevin: “Since I am a customer by PCBWay, I found a post on the Facebook webpage/group with the link of the competition. I attended this competition because I wanted to challenge myself and I thought that one of my design could take part in a competition.”
PCBWay Team: “About your award-winning work, Audio amplifier 60W, why did you choose it as your entry? How did you feel when you found that you were one of the winners?”
Kevin: “First, I built it to increase my experience with the PCB design software I used after following an advanced course about it. Second, I choose it because it is one of my best designs I have made on a 2-layer PCB and the most useful project for community I had. When I saw that I was one of the winners, I felt enthusiastic about it, I didn’t think that I could really win this contest.”
PCBWay Team: “What do you think is the most important quality to be a good designer?”
Kevin: “I think experience is the most important thing when designing electronic projects, it allows you to avoid mistakes during the schematic/layout and drastically reduces the working time.”
PCBWay Team: “How do you look at the future of open source hardware?”
Kevin: “With the evolution of technology and cheaper electronics, more people can use the community knowledge to build everything and this opens a new market in which PCBWay has a great importance in my opinion.”
PCBWay Team: “Thanks. And what do you think of our website or PCBway’s community? Do you have any suggestions for improvement?”
Kevin: “I find that the website is well designed, however the translation in other languages is missing. I ordered “many” PCB from you and I have never had a problem with the website. Unfortunately, I don’t use so much the community forum.”
PCBWay Team: “Thanks for your suggestion. Actually, our Spanish website is available now. Besides, Russian and Japanese websites are under construction. Well, one last question,if we hold PCB Design Contest again, will you join in again? And would you like to suggest your friends to attend as well?”
Kevin: “I’ll surely participate again. I have already suggested my friends to take at the contest and I will remind them if another one will be hold again.”
PCBWay Team: “ That’s all. Thanks again , Kevin. Wish you all the best.”
