[Editor's Note] The e4ds Electrical and Electronic Lifelong Education Institute recently held an offline course, the "2025 Advanced Engineer Practical Master Class." This course, aimed at current developers and engineers with circuit design experience who have completed the intermediate course, covers advanced topics in electronic circuit design and practical problems in precision measurement environments. We interviewed Professor Cho Seong-jae of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Shinhan University, who teaches the course, to learn more about the course's direction and the training of engineers. This interview will be a six-part series.


“The development environment is at room temperature, but the actual product operates at 80℃, 90℃, and 100℃. “If you don’t understand this difference, you’ll have problems.”

Professor Seongjae Cho, who worked at Samsung Electronics for 10 years and Shinhan University for 32 years and is currently an emeritus professor, pointed out the limitations of electronic engineering education and explained the reason for opening intermediate and advanced courses based on field experience.

Any engineer who majors in electronic engineering learns circuit theory and the operating principles of transistors.

On the other hand, Professor Cho Seong-jae emphasized, “What we learn in school is based on the assumption that the product operates at room temperature,” and “When a product is actually installed in an environment, unexpected problems can arise due to temperature changes.”

For example, the base-emitter voltage of TR is described as 0.6 to 0.7 V in textbooks, but in actual field, it varies depending on the temperature.

Failure to take these differences into account may result in breakage after prolonged use.

"Designs that don't understand ratings are the cause of failure. While there may be no problems early in development, this is precisely why failures occur over time."

In this lecture, Professor Cho Seong-jae provides problem-solving methods that can only be learned in the field.

"It doesn't matter how many years you have. Even if it's five, ten, or twenty years, if you haven't experienced it, you won't know anything."

A typical example is the blackdown (breakdown) voltage of TR.

Many engineers pay attention to the collector-emitter breakdown voltage, but overlook the base-emitter breakdown voltage. This can lead to transistor failure. The course covers these practical considerations in detail.

Another key topic is OP AMP interpretation.

In school, we teach mathematical and simple interpretation methods, but in actual design, intuitive interpretation is required.

Professor Cho Seong-jae explained, “Many engineers waste time when performing A/D conversion to read the micro voltage output from the sensor by the CPU,” and “if you apply an intuitive method, you can solve the problem quickly.”

This course provides practical know-how along with hands-on training.

Professor Cho Seong-jae not only shows practical data in his lectures, but also has students measure the waveforms themselves.

"Measure it yourself and you'll remember it much better. We've combined theory and practice to ensure tangible results."

The course is beneficial for everyone, from beginners to experienced developers.

Professor Cho Seong-jae said, "For beginners, it's incredibly helpful to gain insight into 30 to 40 years of experience. Even for experienced professionals, learning even one aspect they don't know is incredibly valuable."

Professor Cho Seong-jae aims to help young engineers reduce the trial and error they experience in the field and create more efficient and safe designs through this course.

Professor Cho Sung-jae said, "The basic theories learned in school are not wrong. However, the real world is different. Understanding this difference is the beginning of becoming a true engineer."