
PCB Chat 149: Maggie Frachioni on the Evolution of a PCB Designer
From PCB Chat by PCEA
January 12, 2026 · 15 min · Episode 353
About this episode
Maggie Frachioni discusses her journey as a PCB designer and her experiences at General Motors.
Margaret (Maggie) Frachioni is a semiconductor hardware engineer at General Motors, where, armed with a bachelor’s in computer engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, she started out college as a software engineer in its automotive test lab. While at GM, she started work toward her master’s at Wayne State University in Detroit. Last year, she was part of the first PCEA Certified Printed Circuit Designer course taught as part of a university curriculum. She speaks with Mike Buetow on her evolving role at GM, her college preparation for electronics engineering, and how the CPCD class altered her career arc from semiconductor methodology to designing and building boards.
People in this episode
Host: Mike Buetow
Guest: Margaret Frachioni
Topics covered
- PCB design
- semiconductor engineering
- career development
Keywords
- PCEA Certified Printed Circuit Designer
- Wayne State University
- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Mentioned in this episode
Products: PCEA Certified Printed Circuit Designer course
Places: Detroit
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