Curriculum
The Engineer Accelerator curriculum for hardware engineers consists of Professionalism Seminar, Hardware Development Seminar, and Project Lab. The Professionalism and Hardware Development Seminars introduce the concepts and techniques you will need as a professional hardware engineer. The Project Lab then gives you a chance to apply that information to a hands on project and see how things happen in real time.
Professionalism Seminar
Prerequisites: None
Type: Live Webinar
The Professionalism Seminar is focused on solidifying the skills that are the foundation of your professional career. Topics include:
- Task Duration Estimation and Progress Monitoring
- Working with Teams and Managers
- Communication and Conflict Resolution
- Project Scoping
- Design by Documentation
Students who go through this seminar series are eligible for a Certification of Completion in Professional Practice.
Watch this short video to learn more about The Engineer Accelerator’s Professionalism Seminar
Hardware Development Seminar
Prerequisites: None
Type: Live Webinar
The Hardware Development Seminar is focused on exploring the phases of a development in detail. A selection of some of the topics that will be covered are listed below:
- Product Definition
- Architectural and Physical Design Constraints
- Sourcing and BOM Management
- Managing the Manufacturing Process
- Schematic and Layout Design Guidelines
- Board Bring Up and Debugging
- Black Box and White Box Testing
Student who go through this seminar series are eligible for a Certification of Completion in Professional Practice.
Watch this short video to learn more about The Engineer Accelerator’s Hardware Development Process
Project Lab
Prerequisites: Hardware Development
Type: In person lab
The Project Lab is a hands on hardware project focused on practicing the skills introduced in the Professionalism and Hardware Development Seminars. Projects are drawn from internal projects, open hardware project, and student interest. Students take their project from initial conception, through design and build, to testing. Throughout this process they generate a full set of documentation that is incorporated into their portfolio. A selection of the documentation is listed below:
- Product Flow Diagram
- Hardware Block Diagram
- Major Signals List
- Schematic
- Layout
- Full Bill of Materials
- Manufacturing Package
- Project Presentation
The project builds up to a end of class design review where all deliverables are due. Students present their projects and answer questions from a review panel. If they were able to hit all their deliverables and the submitted work was complete and at a high level of quality then they are eligible for a Certificate of Completion in Project Execution.
Certification
Certificate of Completion in Professional Practice: This certificate indicates that the student participated in the seminar series and submitted work for all deliverables.
Certificate of Completion in Project Execution: This certificate indicates that the student submitted all project deliverables on time and that they were complete.
Accelerator Schedule
The 8 week time frame alternates between seminar and lab and homework weeks. See the syllabus outline below.
Tuition
Included with the program:
- Professionalism Seminars
- Hardware Development Seminars
- Project Lab
- Materials Budget
- Coworking membership at the Port ($250/month value)
- Slack Community