Electronics > Beginners
How fast is a beginner supposed to grow/learn/make?
tggzzz:
There's another related question that is relevant to both hobbyists and professional engineers. For the former it is merely a case of what gives most pleasure, but for the latter it is a significant career choice.
So, do you want to be
* highly expert in one topic. or
* a jack of all trades and master of noneEither choice is equally valid, but it is worth realising the choice has to be made.
bjdhjy888:
Believe or not, one of the motivations for me to play with electronics(STM32, IMU, PCB) is to master programming. VB, C++, C#, C, Python, Assembly, and Java, along with VS, Keil, (DSP, FPGA), you name it, I learned it!
Programming itself appears more intriguing to me than circuits, though I do value schematics or layouts.
I also followed tutorials to parse sample codes on various projects. So, I guess I won't fool myself by pretending anything, wasting my $ and time.
As my favourite YouTuber Paul McWhorter says, "Never fold like a cheap lawnchair." I won't. I promise ya!
:-*
AngusBeef:
If you're a hobbyist, I don't think asking yourself "how much should you know" is a relevant question. Yeah, sure, some engineers will throw fire at you for failing to recognize some 'basic' concepts they were taught as a freshman in college, but it's really not relevant.
I think a more relevant way to look at the situation is to decide what you want to achieve - whether it's a particular project, an understanding of how something works, or whatever particular matter it is that interests you. The rest of the information will come as you journey along the way. It's the same reason why people can be phenomenal while assembling an Arduino and still fail to understand basic electrical engineering. It's just that the information wasn't relevant in order for them to accomplish their task. Does this lead to mistakes and some magic smoke? Yeah, perhaps. But it's a hobby so nobody's lives are depending on the outcome of your firmware/hardware issues (unlike, for instance, the engineers for Boeing's autopilot).
I started in electronics about 3 months ago. I'm about as ADHD as they come and when I was in University I majored in a foreign language. I ask a lot of dumb questions on these boards (after I've googled of course) and of course struggle with some things that are either implied tasks (aka when you edit hex files for EEPROM you must also update the checksum on each line) or make the assumption of pre-existing knowledge (such as following the instructions on patching the Rigol Oscilloscope). But at the end of the day I'll struggle through and develop enough knowledge to accomplish the projects I desire to accomplish, and that's enough for me.
And @tggzzz, I think there is more gray area than you believe. Most "experts" are hardly an expert in one topic, but in many. As an example, if HF communication is a topic, think of all the supporting topics you must be an expert in just to think about calling yourself a HAM wizard. The HAM wizard has a ton of knowledge that is cross-compatible with other fields. I think "jack of all trades and master of none" is not the opposite of "highly expert in one topic" but instead a separate question concerning one's desire and dedication. But it's just my opinion and you can disagree! :-+
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: AngusBeef on September 21, 2019, 11:45:06 pm ---And @tggzzz, I think there is more gray area than you believe. Most "experts" are hardly an expert in one topic, but in many. As an example, if HF communication is a topic, think of all the supporting topics you must be an expert in just to think about calling yourself a HAM wizard. The HAM wizard has a ton of knowledge that is cross-compatible with other fields. I think "jack of all trades and master of none" is not the opposite of "highly expert in one topic" but instead a separate question concerning one's desire and dedication. But it's just my opinion and you can disagree! :-+
--- End quote ---
Basically I agree; the world is indeed shades of grey rather than black and white. And your point about being expert in one field requiring knowledge of other fields is absolutely correct.
Nonetheless, thinking in terms of world-expert vs jack-of-all-trades is a useful trick because it can cause people to consider what they want and what they are prepared to not have. Examples:
* if you are a world-expert then you will probably be highly rewarded while that expertise is valuable - but what happens when it has ceased to be valuable?
* if you are a jack-of-all-trades then you probably won't be such a "high flyer", but may have more stable employment over time
vk6zgo:
My original reply was tongue in cheek, but there was a real point to it.
The STM32 & MPU 6050 stuff is great, but people can & do develop capability in the use of such devices whilst having only the vaguest knowledge of fundamental Electronics theory.
In a way, it's like being able to use a multimeter, or to solder------- great skills, but not really Electronics knowledge.
It is a real problem.
I've run into people with an "Advanced Diploma in Electronics" from TAFE, to whom Ohm's Law is a new & startling concept.
It seems that IT material has became such an important part of their syllabus that if you "are good with computers", you can skate over all the other stuff.
It has been noted on this thread that the "maths are pretty simple" for things like Ohm's Law, Kirchoff's Laws, Thevenin's Theorem, & so on, but that is only half of it.
Approaching them as solely Mathematics formulas, anyone with a fair ability could solve most problems, but they are a way of describing the operation of Electronic circuits, which otherwise require long, tedious, verbose descriptions, not the "be-all & end-all" of Electronics.
I have been both lucky & unlucky by being able to see many concepts intuitively.
Lucky, in that I didn't need to agonise over them, but unlucky in that, being lazy, I didn't bother with the maths to rigorously prove them.
This came back to bite me when I tried to explain how a test using a stairstep waveform & a simple differentiating network could be used to determine the linearity of a system.
It was obvious to me, but explaining it to someone who had never seen it done before, & was of a different mind set, meant I had to drag out my ancient, & then quite poor, Differental Calculus skills to "get the idea over".
As soon as he saw the mathematical basis of the test, "the light dawned".
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