How much electronics training/experience do you have?

[Tibia]

All the n00b questions have me wondering what kind of training and experience everyone here has. I know some people are going to college for electronics, and others have just dived in and learned as they went.

Personally, I wasn't ever formally trained. I worked in my parents' hardware store since I was eight or nine, and I learned a lot just by reading packages and watching other people answer questions. I think I was about ten when I first picked up a soldering iron and started experimenting. I've had my share of small fires and equipment failure, but I've got a good base of knowledge. Not having completed a portable is more an effect of no time and little money than not knowing what to do.

So how about the rest of you?

[themadhacker]

I learned a lot of basic elctronics knowledge from my grandfather and my dad over the years.. The rest I learned here.

[eagle5953]

Complete noob when it comes to the hardware side of things. I initially took classes in software programming and did some game coding for fun (besides knowing HTML like everyone else), but I'd never held a soldering iron before finding this website.

The closest experience I have is in the assembly, repair, and upgrading of PCs.

[bicostp]

A few old electronics books from when my dad was in college, and poking around at old PCBs with a soldering iron. That's about it. Experimentation and the internet are fantastic learning tools.

Really, electronics aren't all that difficult if you don't try to learn it "right" (that is, memorizing millions of laws and going deep into theory).

[Kurt_]

As far as practical knowledge goes, mostly from my older brother and you guys, actually. I've learned a bunch of stuff in school, but hardly any of it is relevant when you're taking apart systems and such.

But as far as formal electronics knowledge goes:

Age 15: Computer Programming Class; A very small portion of Science class devoted to very basic electronics (Charged Point Charges, etc, not actual electronic circuits yet)

Age 16: Cisco Level 1 Class; Physics 11: A quarter of the class devoted to electronics (see note above); Chemistry 11: Gained a deeper understanding of how electrons interact with atoms, etc.

Age 17: Physics 12: A quarter of my physics class on electronics (Charged Point Charges, etc, not actual electronic circuits yet); Chemistry 12: Gained a deeper understanding of how electrons interact with atoms, etc.

Age 18: Physics 12 (erm... again): A quarter of my physics class on electronics (Charged Point Charges, etc, not actual electronic circuits yet)

Age 19: Physics 1E03: Waves and Electromagnetism (First Year University Engineering Course): This course was where it started to get interesting. Learned about capacitor charging/discharging, dielectric materials, adding various components in series and parallel, calculating voltage/current/resistance/charge in a circuit given very little information (Kirchhoff Laws), Inductors/Inductance, and other fun stuff. Lots of integrals that had to be made. Very confusing at first.

Age 20: (Maybe, I'm not 20 yet, and won't be accepted either way for a few months): Mechatronics Engineering. Think two semesters of (two courses each): Engineering Physics, Math (Ordinary differential equations, Laplace transforms, Fourier series, Vector calculus, functions of several variables, integral theorems, with engineering applications), Introductory software engineering, Mechanical engineering, and Electrical Circuits and Power ('bout time! Fundamentals of electromechanical energy conversion. Motors and generators, transformers, single and polyphase power circuits, synchronous and induction machines, power measurements. )

[DJ711]

I just learned from being on this site.

[Metallica Man X]

Been fiddeling with electronic stuff since I was little...the main stuff learned from my dad.

[Valium]

My father taught me the basics when I was around 6, he's an electrician. Been tinkering with electronics and mechanics ever since. First thing I actually built was an automatic dice roller, for Yahtzee, long since taken apart though. I'm proud of it though, not many 8 year olds can say they've actually built something useful.

Next year I'm off to college for electronics engineering. Going to try to learn as much about biology as I can as well, I've always wanted to build prosthetic arms for amputees. I'd like to be remembered as that one guy that built robotic arms for people that are capable of flipping cars.

[Kurt_]

Hah. Yeah, I always had an interest in prosthetics too. However, I never took Biology in high school.

[ShockSlayer]

Always have been interested in electronics, put together my first circuit with my dad when I was very young. Don't remember much of how I learned that stuff, but I understood enough to wire up a portable with little to no help...

SS

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

Just what I've learned from this site, other websites, friends, and experimentation. But I am going to college next year for EE.

[grossaffe]

Well I had basic circuitry knowledge from high school physics class and I learned a bit about practical electronics from my dad. Currently studying to be a computer engineer, but still working on the gen-ed core stuff.

[Triton]

My formal education consisits of the indian hills community college Electronics and computer occupations core program with such classes as

DC circuit analysis
AC circuit analysis
Digital circuits
Introduction to analog circuits
microprocessing
power transfer technology

[ShockSlayer]

Question: What exactly can you do as an EE?

SS

[eurddrue]

Ben's book and electronics for dummies I've read probably 5-10 times each. Other than that, I have a friend who has been doing hobby electronics for 50+ years, and if I have a question, I just call him. And, I guess this site has taught a padawan learner much, but mainly I learn from PM'ing people