The harder you work, the luckier you are. This is true for life and for learning about power supplies!

Latest update time：2021-01-26

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Ten years ago, because the school was too ordinary, only two people in the whole major found jobs, and Li was one of them. At that time, he could not have imagined that one day he would be engaged in power supply design in a Fortune 500 company, and the people who discussed problems with him were either masters or doctors, and there were also many overseas returnees.

Today, when he drinks coffee in his spacious office in Wangjing, Beijing, and reads the argument in the public account that "ability and diligence are the only ladder for ordinary people", he knows that it is not chicken soup, but the path he has actually walked.

Even now, he still does not miss any opportunity to improve his technical level. As a senior engineer, he participated in the Power Engineer Training and Certification Program (ee-training.com) guided by the China Institute of Electronics (CIE) and sponsored by Texas Instruments. He became one of the engineers who emerged in the nearly one year since the program was officially launched and hoped to change themselves through learning.

What is the starting point

The memory of graduation is so clear that it still pops up from time to time to hit Li Gong several years later. As one of the two lucky students in the major, he naturally became the target of support from the school teachers at that time: one teacher helped him to explain the power supply theory, and the other teacher took him to practice. In this way, after half a year of free one-on-one intensive tutoring, he reported to the company with full confidence, but he was poured cold water at the beginning.

The new employees were all working with the workers on the production line, waiting for assignment. A manager invited him to do testing work, but he refused. At that time, he felt that the teacher had trained him so much, how could he do testing? If he wanted to do something, he should do design. I don’t know if it was a deliberate punishment or there was really no suitable position. When the three or four hundred people who joined at the same time entered various departments one after another, he was left alone to insert parts on the board for another month until a design position became vacant. During the interview, the boss asked him what he could do, and he said that he only knew analog electronics. Then he wrote out the directory of the analog electronics textbook, including the contents of each chapter, and was able to leave the production line.

Although he had the results of the "special training" taught by his school teachers, after entering the design department, Engineer Li realized how far he was from his original ambition. After all, power supply design is a very practical subject. The gap between campus and real practice is too large. His foundation is indeed weak, and he can't understand many things. In fact, he can't do anything in the company. So everything started from scratch, welding, understanding components, helping old employees, modifying modules, and rotating between different departments. At that time, he had only one idea, to work hard and absorb as much knowledge as possible. At this time, he really started to learn about power supplies, working during the day and studying at night, and 2 a.m. became Engineer Li's standard rest time every day.

He suddenly realized that the reason why his boss wanted him was not because he cared about his poor textbook knowledge, but because he was betting that he could continue to learn. Two years after joining the company, he was finally able to independently carry out power supply design projects, but he never stopped exploring power supply learning. In this way, after five years of hard work in the power supply industry, Mr. Li, who had acquired technical skills, came to Beijing from Guangdong and joined his current foreign company.

When the 2019 Power Engineer Training and Certification Program was being tested, his company happened to be there. Because the project at that time used TI chips, the TINA-TI simulation tool would be used, and the course happened to specifically explain this, so he focused on this part at the time. Because the project was too rushed, he quickly continued the project after completing the simulation, and put the course aside for the time being. But although he only had a quick contact, the quality of the course left a deep impression on him.

In May and June 2020, when he had more time, he thought of the power supply training courses again. Although he is already a senior engineer with ten years of experience, the power supply knowledge he learned in practice and through various channels before is very practical, but it is too scattered and lacks an overall sorting process . He feels that if he can consciously organize it, he will improve greatly. The courses of the power supply engineer training and certification program happen to have both knowledge sorting and practical skills explanation.

According to Mr. Li's previous self-study experience, few people can persist in reading a textbook thoroughly. It is already very good to persist in two or three chapters. Often, they feel that they can deal with the problems that need to be solved urgently and then put it down. But when you encounter the problem again later, you will find that many things may have been involved in the textbook. Moreover, the conditions for self-study are limited after all. There are many materials that you may not be able to find if you want to find them. It is not easy to find good materials. Mr. Li has stepped on many pits before. Someone once recommended a video course on the principle of switching power supply maintenance. Although it was paid, he did not hesitate. However, after reading it, he felt that it was still far from his needs. He has spent a lot of money on buying books in recent years. When he sees power supply-related books introduced on the Internet, he will buy them as soon as possible. Some textbooks do have certain guiding significance, but quite a few textbooks are like show-offs. There is a lot of content but it is not very practical. Because of this, facing this power engineer training and certification project endorsed by the China Electronics Society and TI, although the course has ended internal testing and is open to the public, he did not hesitate to sign up for it at his own expense.

After actually learning, he found that his decision was right. Compared with reading books by himself before, this course is relatively easy and convenient. On the one hand, the content is more detailed than many textbooks he has read before. Many practical terms are not mentioned or only mentioned briefly in the textbooks, but it is easy to grasp the core after learning this video course. On the other hand, the course summary is more practical and it is easier to get started. Because of this, Mr. Li, who is already a senior power engineer, watched the primary course of this power engineer technical training twice.

Even after working for so many years, he is familiar with 70% of the knowledge points. He still took a lot of notes. He felt that even for a boost circuit, different people have different starting points and analysis methods, so if you encounter a good idea, even if it is just for a simple knowledge point, it is worth recording, so that it is convenient to look it up later. Therefore, in the process of watching the course, Li Gong will take careful notes, draw circuit diagrams, deduce calculations, etc. Sometimes he may spend more than an hour on a 15-minute course. Among all the courses, Li Gong likes Teacher Chen Wei's "Basic Knowledge of Power Supply" the most. Teacher Chen not only meticulously combed the power supply system structure, but also laid the foundation for the in-depth discussion of the subsequent practice. Of course, such learning cannot completely solve the problems in practice. Many problems that arise in reality cannot be simulated by simulation. But without theoretical guidance, you will be at a loss in reality.

Teacher Chen's passionate lectures reminded Li Gong of the time when he went to Fujian to attend Teacher Chen's face-to-face training. In the past ten years of self-study at work, he has never systematically sorted out the knowledge points like this course. It's like practicing martial arts. Even if you know a lot of miscellaneous martial arts, even the superior internal strength of Quanzhen Sect and the moves of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, if you don't sort them out together, you will never become a master. And if you follow the course to sort them out uniformly and understand them thoroughly, you will be different from before. Li Gong is looking forward to the arrival of the intermediate course, when he can practice "power martial arts" more deeply.

accidental opportunity

Tony's connection with the power engineer training and certification program was accidental. In May 2020, he had just transferred to a new company as a FAE in the power field. During his first communication visit to a client, he happened to see the client doing a post-class test for the power training program. Because he had never heard of systematic training for power engineers in China before, out of curiosity, he sat down with the client to answer questions, which he found very interesting. The questions involved content that he would normally come into contact with.

Tony is not a professional when it comes to power supplies. When he was studying at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, his major was electronic communication engineering, but his first job was to work in a state-owned enterprise to develop server motherboard power supplies. Tony has not received much professional training, either before or now, and mainly relies on the project itself to slowly accumulate experience. In actual work, he will also encounter some problems, such as how to place capacitors and how many capacitors to put during debugging, and he relies on experience to solve them, with basically no theoretical support. Tony, who has a good educational background, knows very well that he needs to further solidify his theory, so in his spare time, he likes to read books and must read books, or look for information from various manufacturers to supplement his knowledge.

When doing R&D, I have strong hands-on skills and keep up with market technology, but all my time and energy are consumed in work. I find it difficult to make up for the theoretical knowledge. This is one of the important reasons why Tony has transformed into a FAE in his current company. He hopes to have more time to study so that he can go higher and further in the workplace.

At this time, he encountered a power engineer training and certification program at a customer's place, which touched his heart. A few days later, he happened to see the registration information for the training, and after a few trial classes, he gained some knowledge points that he had not noticed before. Since it was a paid training, Tony was more cautious and studied the course system carefully. He felt that the content coverage was relatively comprehensive, covering everything from design to testing to simulation. His trust in the China Electronics Society and TI made him finally sign up after considering for 3 days.

Tony's investment was proven to be correct. Due to the limitations of his previous work, he was mainly exposed to step-down circuits and was not familiar with AC/DC and isolation technologies. The knowledge points of the power engineer training and certification program are very broad, from the basics of power supply to components, topology, and finally simulation and design. Through the training, he has a global understanding of the power supply system, especially the previously blank areas such as isolation and transformers. Another benefit is that he has established a good simulation habit, which will help speed up circuit deduction in the future. This methodology is not often used in the engineering-oriented projects he has experienced in the past. For the overall course, including Teacher Chen Wei's "Basic Knowledge of Power Supply", Qin Xiaohu's "Simulation of Power Supply Design" and Zhu Huapeng's "Switching Power Supply Measurement Technology", all brought new knowledge points to Tony. Although in the learning process, the isolation and transformer design were a little difficult because they had never been exposed to before, but because of this, the improvement was really felt.

After finishing the course, there are in-class tests after each class, and comprehensive exams and hands-on practice exams after the overall course. Before the exam, it is still necessary to review the knowledge systematically, and he will still feel nervous, just like returning to school. The comprehensive exam lasts for one hour, and the question types include single-choice, multiple-choice, question-and-answer, and calculation. If you are not particularly familiar with the knowledge points, it is still difficult to answer so many questions. The final hands-on practice evaluation session made Tony feel very good, because the design was very clever, including the selection of various discrete devices, the selection of controllers, and simulation, testing and other links, which can be said to be comprehensive. In addition, the materials provided by the organizer also saved his preparation time, and this small detail made him feel very considerate. From learning to exams, and then to hands-on, this systematic nature is also the difference between Tony's learning of this course and his previous independent learning, which is very rewarding. This makes him look forward to the early release of the intermediate course, and he can continue to sign up with his year-end bonus.

Unable to stop

When I was in school, teachers mentioned lifelong learning, and students thought it was motivational. After studying hard for more than ten years, it seemed natural to give yourself a break. But after leaving school, I found that I couldn't stop or rest. On the one hand, I had to ensure work efficiency, and on the other hand, I had to recharge myself at any time. Occasionally taking a break and looking back on the past, I yearned for the opportunity to study without distraction on campus.

This is what happened to Mr. Song. After working in the field of automation and embedded systems for six years and becoming a key technical force in the company, he returned to campus again. Currently studying in his third year of graduate school, majoring in mechanical automation, he accidentally saw the introduction of the power engineer training and certification program in his circle of friends. Seeing that the content was quite comprehensive, he signed up without hesitation.

In fact, he had already realized the importance of power supply before he started his postgraduate studies, although at that time he basically bought ready-made power supplies for use in his work. At that time, when he encountered something he was not satisfied with, or felt that there was room for further improvement and could be modified a second time, he always felt unsure and did not dare to make too many modifications. It was precisely because of this confusion that Song Gong had always wanted to improve his accumulation in the field of power supply. He also tried to learn some knowledge by himself, search for information on specific problems, or slowly explore through the manufacturer's datasheet when encountering problems, but he never had the opportunity to learn systematically.

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Song hopes that this training will help him improve in the field of power supply. However, due to his previous background, he needs to make more efforts to learn the basic course of power supply engineer training. He knows that this is the way to learn. If he encounters unclear concepts, he needs to supplement his basic knowledge and cannot learn in a muddled way. Although Song has not completed all the courses, he can already feel his progress. At present, he can make a circuit through the power supply design reference manual, which basically meets the requirements of use. Moreover, he can know which parts of the design need attention and which problems may occur.

Indeed, like Mr. Song, learning is not an easy thing for everyone, especially after adulthood. No one will give you a lot of time to study, but the cruel reality is that if you don't study, you will be eliminated and stagnant. So you can only squeeze out time to study in the trivialities of life, such as Mr. Li, Tony, and Mr. Song.

With his consistent persistence in learning over the years, Li has become the backbone of the company's product design. He has been walking on this path that he has chosen, and it was both accidental and inevitable that he encountered the power engineer training and certification program. The same is true for Tony, who is determined to improve himself. Even if he didn't meet the customer at the beginning, he would have met it sooner or later because he has been constantly looking for it.

" If you don't learn, you will fall behind ," has been a string in Li's mind for many years. Not only in the power supply, but also in other fields. People around him are making progress, and the academic background of colleagues in the new company is either a master's or a doctoral student. For an undergraduate who graduated from an ordinary college, there is bound to be pressure. But on the other hand, being able to work with these excellent colleagues proves the correctness of Li's learning path and self-positioning. If you think your strength is just like this and are satisfied with the status quo, then a person's growth in technology will stop here.

The bigger your heart is, the bigger the stage is, and of course your steps have to keep up.