[magtux]

PCB design is a complex process with many factors to consider, such as routing and placement for mechanical, EMI, and thermal performance. As a hobbyist, I was initially drawn to the library and auto router features of PCB design software. However, as I gained experience, I came to realize that it is often better to do things manually. This allows for more control and ensures that there are no unwanted changes due to automation. Additionally, manual design is often more efficient in the long run, as it can prevent the need for recomputation.

In my experience, the paradigm of programmatically generating PCBs is not always practical. Even as a hobbyist, I eventually switched to manual design after experiencing issues with automated tooling. If you are serious about PCB design, you need to do things manually. There are other teams depending on the information and it needs to be guaranteed to be correct.

[naikrovek]

> If you are serious about PCB design, you need to do things manually.

this will not always be the case, you know.

I hate that this blog post is effectively an HTML commercial for the product they are selling, but I have to admit that they are headed in the right direction.

Prior to tools like KiCad, "serious" users did tapeout by hand. Prior to the transistor, "serious" electronic engineers used vacuum tubes.

[DHaldane]

Hey, founder here - we really value feedback from HN and I try to cut out all of the commercial aspects and just write something interesting.

Do you have some feedback about what we could change about this article to make it less like a commercial?

[naikrovek]

nothing specific; all "here's how I used this tool my company makes to do a thing" blog posts on the company site itself are just inherently ads.

I find it disingenuous every time I see it, because (while nothing is done to imply this) it reads, at first, like a genuine blog post someone wrote on a personal site.

we all read enough blog posts every day that the site hosting the blog can easily go unnoticed, and I feel like companies hope that "blog fatigue" will make the post look more spontaneous and genuine than it is.

I often forget that YCombinator is a greenhouse for companies to be fed and watered and pruned so they can become standalone entities out in the wild, and that this means that I'll be presented with blog posts about products from the product-makers themselves.