Great question! I wast just asking myself that question about a week ago. I use them whenever I can, but I don't really find lots of opportunities to use them. I personally think that the idea of Design Patterns is great. Mechanical engineers and Electronics engineers don't design from scratch, but applying well-understood patterns that among other things allow newbies to stand on the shoulders of the knowledge laid by their predecessors. Design Patterns are a step on the right direction, but much more steps are needed.
