This video from Steppe School tackles one of the most common bad habits among beginner PCB designers: skipping the datasheet. It's part of a KiCad beginner series, and this second installment focuses on how to actually read and apply component datasheets while working through a real KiCad project.

The distinction matters because many KiCad tutorials treat schematic capture and layout as purely software exercises — drag symbols, connect nets, run DRC, done. In practice, a design that ignores the datasheet's recommended footprint dimensions, decoupling capacitor placement, thermal pad requirements, or absolute maximum ratings is a design headed for a respin. This video bridges the gap between knowing how to use KiCad and knowing how to design a board that actually works.

Steppe School also provides downloadable KiCad project files and libraries alongside the video, so viewers can follow along hands-on rather than just watching passively. That's a meaningful differentiator from tutorial channels that only show a screencast without shareable assets.

If you're moving past blinking-LED dev boards and starting to design your own PCBs around specific ICs — voltage regulators, microcontrollers, sensor front-ends — this is exactly the kind of foundational practice that separates boards that work on the first revision from boards that don't.