Why Register at Digikey.com? – A Student’s Perspective

Just a couple of months ago, I was sitting in one of the engineering labs at my University doing research for my senior thesis, when one of my classmates asked me about difference between enclosure ratings. This led to a heated discussion about IP and NEMA ratings for an enclosure that was needed for our senior design project. In the midst of the disagreement I blurted out “Let’s ask Google!” I entered the information in Google, and “What do the numbers stand for in the IP ratings? Nema ratings?” from DigiKey’s TechForum was one of the first sites that came up. I read off the information and gloated happily. From then on, I’ve always used DigiKey as one of my reference guides when it comes to engineering or electronic component questions.

But one day, when I was considering posting a comment on my findings on the DigiKey TechForum, I realized that I had to register before doing so. Now, usually before registering to any site, I like to look at what the benefits are, besides those pesky emails about deals or new products that don’t always pertain to me.

Interestingly enough, I found some features that were really beneficial to me as a student; such as the online schematic tool “Scheme-It”, the “Favorite” products option, and the ability to generate online returns. I mean, don’t get me wrong, DigiKey has more benefits to registering like:

• Faster checkout with saved payment and address preferences
• Managing active carts and tracking orders in one place
• Creating and managing scheduled shipments
• Building, importing, and saving your projects with the BOM Manager
• Viewing Life Cycle Status (PCN) information on products purchased
• Reordering with your reference numbers
• Access to the document request center
• Uploading parts list direct to your cart

But for me, I loved having Scheme-It at my fingertips. I didn’t have to make that long trek across campus to the engineering lab, nor did I have to worry about those crazy glitches when trying to access the school’s software remotely. Also, I think it’s really cool that you have the ability to add things like the part number and the manufacturer name; or you can use parts that are located under the “DigiKey Catalog” section that has all of the information already included, and just add it in your BOM. This was really helpful to me in my enclosure design because I’m extremely forgetful and I would constantly have to research parts over and over again.

Which leads me to the next life saver: having the ability to have AND save a “favorite” list. There were so many times that I was going through parts, trying to go back and compare, and I either forgot the part number or lost the paper that I wrote the part numbers on. With the favorites list, I was able to download it and send it to my professor and my team before ordering. 

I hope that reading my experiences with registering, encourages you to register for DigiKey’s website too by clicking here.