element14 community takes five engineers on “the Path to Programmable” in new reality series

element14.com, the community for engineers, is launching a new reality series called “Path to Programmable” sponsored by Xilinx.  The series will take five community members new to FPGA\SoCs and train them to better understand the technology, development tools and design flow process over the course of the twelve week programme.  FPGA\SoCs are key to delivering smart, connected systems suitable for a wide variety of applications from Machine Learning and 5G Wireless to Cloud Computing and Industrial IoT and the programme aims to show how simple it can be to use FPGAs within a project.

The trainees will receive a mix of training and mentoring provided by experts from the element14 community and Newark element14, and the engineering team at Xilinx and Avnet, including element14 essentials courses on FPGAs and other proprietary training.   The five trainees will also be given a Minized development board — a single-core Zynq 7Z007S development board designed for entry-level Zynq developers and be required to build a project of their choice using the skills they have acquired from the training. 

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 community said: “The element14 community provides a platform to execute unique educational programs and we are committed to supporting its members as they build projects, develop their skills and stay up to date with the latest technologies. This new program will provide our members with a great opportunity for professional development and help address some of the misconceptions around the complexity of programming with FPGAs\SoCs.”

The element14 community was the first community specifically built for engineers and now has over half a million engineer, manufacturer, inventor, and innovator members.  This programme, developed following feedback from the members themselves, aims to help engineers get up to speed on new FPGA technology and to address any misconceptions they have about the learning curve and difficulty of working with them.  Other community members will be able to follow along and learn at the same time as members blog weekly about their progress.