I am working on my first small PCB and I have a good idea of the types of components I need to use. However when I get over to Mouser Electronics and start punching in search criteria, I am often still left with 20-50 results. I understand that there are a number of competing companies with nearly identical product lines, but if all are available to ship, have the same IC package size, and close enough characteristics, How to engineers choose one component over another?