Is EEVBlog worth it

[EEVblog]

Started watching the youtube channel when I was 15-16,after just a few videos I binge watched all the videos,that Dave had uploaded,and anxiously waited for new ones.I HAVE a very clear memory how I learned how an opamp "works" from Dave's Video Op-amp Basics(or whatever it is called) and because I got really interested in electronics design,bought and read alot of books and watched a lot of other videos ofcourse,while reading the forum everyday without actually searching for something,just reading and learning from the old farts.

Long story short 8years later I still read the forum everyday,sadly I rarely watch the videos anymore(sorry Dave  )
The result:Finished university as an EE,it is my hobby and profession(almost 4years of experience),and I already have a lot of projects behind my back,and I can confidently say that the difference in technical knowledge between me and almost every collegue,who hasn't/doesn't spend that much time and energy in reading and watching videos on electronic's topics is obvious.

Is EEVBlog(the videos part,not the forum) worth it for me now?Probably not really,as I barely watch 1-2 videos per year.
Was it worth it for my personal development-immensely.
The forum is still the best electronics "pub",I have found on the 'net,so nothing to discuss here.

Pretty sob and cliche story,just wanted to share,so people here can see that while they are just chatting,there might be doing what formal education isn't.

That is a great story:  from EEVblog to EE.  Not sure what could be a better endorsement, and Congrats on all the excellent progress. 

You'd be surprised how many times I've heard this same story. It's the thing that makes me the happiest 

[eti]

Dave, we love you mate. It brings joy to my heart to know that you’ve been able to help so many people with your passion, and you certainly have a natural gifting and passion for electronics in spades and spades.

I’ve now been watching you for so many years that I’m able to feel sentimental about the passage of time since I watched the first video I saw of yours, where you took apart a Kindle keyboard. Fantastic. You’re a one off and we wouldn’t have you any other way.

Feel encouraged by those of us who love your funny jokes and catchphrases, your lighthearted spirit and your signature voice (don’t let people insult you because of that - it means you’re memorable and a one off, a gift to humanity, and exceptionally memorable - and a kind funny man). I see how you are with your children - a kind, patient Daddy to them and clearly very patient and encouraging in your helping them to discover the same passion you’ve had since a child, yourself - and now I’m sure you are astute enough to see that this same passion you share with your own flesh and blood, blesses all the children who get equally excited in learning from your videos.

😃 God bless you Dave old pal. 

[MrMobodies]

First post:

Wonderful blog.

Just noticed he changed his tune.

At first with the alternative video platforms tht Dave was encouraging us to explore I didn't think much about it but explored them a little and then forgot about them. Now they coming in very handy with what has happened with Youtube. Thank you very much for introducing us to something that I find is looking so much better.

[EEVblog]

First post:

Wonderful blog.

Just noticed he changed his tune.

 

[MrMobodies]

A couple of weeks go I saw a video with Curiousmarc and his friend trying to trace a fault with an IBM PS/2 motherboard and that they ended up swapping a controller of a faulty donor sent from some generous collector IBMMuseum as well as a working one.

I think it was in part 4 of this repair that his friend altered the bios to play a tune depending on where it got stuck.

JOKE: Apparently when he put the "magic finger" on the culprit it changed it's tune and started to work.

In his last video a couple of days ago now it turned out to be a cracked veer under it.

I vaguely remember Dave Jones explaining all sorts of things about veers (holes in pcb) and the different types in a video demonstrated with some cad software, how they can run out of space, cost of including more layers and what can go wrong with them and at the factory when they may keep the production waiting if there isn't enough of a certain colour where it could cost them more.

[Simon]

Those who feel underpaid as engineers are free to change careers.  I agree that managers and good salespeople generally make quite a bit more than engineers.  But after trying a bit of both I decided that my own happiness had much greater value than the pay differential.  Which is also why I didn't go the entrepreneur route where you get to perform all three jobs and several others besides.  Once you have enough to eat and stay warm and dry money becomes much less important.

I value being happy in my job more than the pay once I have a roof over my head and a decent standard of living which I think I have now but that was after changing job. Just upping and moving is not as easy as that. My last job was awful and I seriously looked and everything including warehouse work just to get out of that hell hole. Luckily my present job came along just after a crisis at my last job, similar role but totally different attitude. I did not even end up with more money after the extra travelling was paid for but that's fine, I traded not getting a real rise for being able to sleep at night.

And yes being your own boss is not all it's cracked up to be either......

[brabus]

First post:

Wonderful blog.

Just noticed he changed his tune.

(...)

That leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, actually.

Growing up made me realize that there are no "adults", just grown up kids.
This is one of the major disappointments one can meet: expecting to deal with serious, intelligent individuals, and ending up playing peek-a-boo instead of having a constructive discussion.

Well, at least this topic provided some interesting personal stories and life experiences worth reading.

[EEVblog]

And yes being your own boss is not all it's cracked up to be either......

Having been there, yes.
Although of course I'm still there, but this Youtube gig is kinda different...

[CatalinaWOW]

A couple of weeks go I saw a video with Curiousmarc and his friend trying to trace a fault with an IBM PS/2 motherboard and that they ended up swapping a controller of a faulty donor sent from some generous collector IBMMuseum as well as a working one.

I think it was in part 4 of this repair that his friend altered the bios to play a tune depending on where it got stuck.

JOKE: Apparently when he put the "magic finger" on the culprit it changed it's tune and started to work.

In his last video a couple of days ago now it turned out to be a cracked veer under it.

I vaguely remember Dave Jones explaining all sorts of things about veers (holes in pcb) and the different types in a video demonstrated with some cad software, how they can run out of space, cost of including more layers and what can go wrong with them and at the factory when they may keep the production waiting if there isn't enough of a certain colour where it could cost them more.

Yeah, learning from videos.  Things like vias can be heard in auch a way that written information is hard to track down.  Inverse of the problem of learning words from books and mispronouncing them.

[dtmouton]

Worth what? Your time? Your money? Your pride?

Your arguments in this thread lack specificity and, taken together, suggest to me that you are simply pissed off more than anything else. That is, you are angry...about something specific that has happened (even if it is was the "last straw"), but you are not going to go into that, at least not at first, but clearly you want to litigate your issues online.

I did take the time to go through your posting history to some extent and it seems that you did not act like you felt this way initially (you no longer recommend those videos to your students - so you did recommend those videos at some earlier time), but have now reached a conclusion and it is a global conclusion full of ad hominum attacks.

In fact, while I did not see much in the way of you asking for help, you have dispensed help - that you now condemn ("The "advice" dispensed by the members of this blog is useless."), yet, you have not just said your peace and left. Instead, you very much want to engage on the issues as evidenced by your additional posting in the thread.

It is, in some ways, unfortunate as your posting demonstrates that you teach. It also demonstrates, to me, a level of bureaucratic experience that may be taking its toll (you are still pissed enough to mention that your employer "forced you to do that") so many years ago. Taking its toll because your behavior suggests that you no longer appreciate the concept of near-peer mentorship (it is not just age-based) at any level through any media.

Even in your short posting history you are seeking acknowledgement for both your stature and your "solutions" - see the beginners thread in which you were, oh so critical, about what 'level' of answer should be given to a high school student vs a university student and so on - but nothing in the way of "agree to disagree" after making a point (and you most definitely did make a point, but it is not what I will remember about you and that memory will fade in a few days, if not a few hours). You don't seem capable of "agree to disagree" after making a point. You seem too pig-headed to see that such an issue is up for debate, that such an issue is not new and that educators in all fields deal with that kind of issue. In this regard, you have demonstrated a starkly disappointing insufficiency for self-evaluation.

I don't need to defend anyone here, but hear this well, this Dave guy has pissed me off a couple of times (never about EE matters) and I spoke my peace...and I did not back down...and then I continued...hopefully to make some helpful contributions to others seeking help and also to seek help myself.

Plenty of what is written will piss me off, especially when it is my area and is so terribly misinformed. That is how you feel now. When it is too much, I simply block those people so I don't see their rabble and don't ever respond to their rabble.

One piece of "food for thought" (and I suspect this will piss you off further) that I will give you is to ask yourself whether you should seek therapy on a public internet forum. Just as you yearn for everybody to go to the standard educational sources exclusively for EE information, and medical doctors for brain surgery, why not apply that to your anger?

So, I ask rhetorically (in this case. that means that I don't care much about your response and we both know that you desperately want to respond) - what is it you are after? I believe that what you seek is validation and you are likely not going to get what you seek here and now. Don't you get that?

And yes being your own boss is not all it's cracked up to be either......

Fortunately the problem is not as serious as you describe. It was just a simple case of intoxication. The next day, while having an enormous hangover, I saw what I did and changed my post to what I really think.

Moderator edit: incorrect quotation cleaned up.

[tggzzz]

First post:

Wonderful blog.

Just noticed he changed his tune.

 

One of the bad things about usenet groups (e.g. comp.electronics.design) is that amongst the high quality threads you get idiots that are trolls or worse.

One of the good things about usenet readers is that they include an "ignore author and sub-thread replies to the author". That neatly eliminates idiotic discussions while leaving the good sub-threads intact.

Shame that kind of thing is impossible in a web forum. There are half a dozen people that I'd apply that to here.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Worth what? Your time? Your money? Your pride?

Your arguments in this thread lack specificity and, taken together, suggest to me that you are simply pissed off more than anything else. That is, you are angry...about something specific that has happened (even if it is was the "last straw"), but you are not going to go into that, at least not at first, but clearly you want to litigate your issues online.

I did take the time to go through your posting history to some extent and it seems that you did not act like you felt this way initially (you no longer recommend those videos to your students - so you did recommend those videos at some earlier time), but have now reached a conclusion and it is a global conclusion full of ad hominum attacks.

In fact, while I did not see much in the way of you asking for help, you have dispensed help - that you now condemn ("The "advice" dispensed by the members of this blog is useless."), yet, you have not just said your peace and left. Instead, you very much want to engage on the issues as evidenced by your additional posting in the thread.

It is, in some ways, unfortunate as your posting demonstrates that you teach. It also demonstrates, to me, a level of bureaucratic experience that may be taking its toll (you are still pissed enough to mention that your employer "forced you to do that") so many years ago. Taking its toll because your behavior suggests that you no longer appreciate the concept of near-peer mentorship (it is not just age-based) at any level through any media.

Even in your short posting history you are seeking acknowledgement for both your stature and your "solutions" - see the beginners thread in which you were, oh so critical, about what 'level' of answer should be given to a high school student vs a university student and so on - but nothing in the way of "agree to disagree" after making a point (and you most definitely did make a point, but it is not what I will remember about you and that memory will fade in a few days, if not a few hours). You don't seem capable of "agree to disagree" after making a point. You seem too pig-headed to see that such an issue is up for debate, that such an issue is not new and that educators in all fields deal with that kind of issue. In this regard, you have demonstrated a starkly disappointing insufficiency for self-evaluation.

I don't need to defend anyone here, but hear this well, this Dave guy has pissed me off a couple of times (never about EE matters) and I spoke my peace...and I did not back down...and then I continued...hopefully to make some helpful contributions to others seeking help and also to seek help myself.

Plenty of what is written will piss me off, especially when it is my area and is so terribly misinformed. That is how you feel now. When it is too much, I simply block those people so I don't see their rabble and don't ever respond to their rabble.

One piece of "food for thought" (and I suspect this will piss you off further) that I will give you is to ask yourself whether you should seek therapy on a public internet forum. Just as you yearn for everybody to go to the standard educational sources exclusively for EE information, and medical doctors for brain surgery, why not apply that to your anger?

So, I ask rhetorically (in this case. that means that I don't care much about your response and we both know that you desperately want to respond) - what is it you are after? I believe that what you seek is validation and you are likely not going to get what you seek here and now. Don't you get that?

And yes being your own boss is not all it's cracked up to be either......

Fortunately the problem is not as serious as you describe. It was just a simple case of intoxication. The next day, while having an enormous hangover, I saw what I did and changed my post to what I really think.

?

[daqq]

dtmouton: Dude, chill.

[xrunner]

Worth what? Your time? Your money? Your pride?

Your arguments in this thread lack specificity and, taken together, suggest to me that you are simply pissed off more than anything else. That is, you are angry...about something specific that has happened (even if it is was the "last straw"), but you are not going to go into that, at least not at first, but clearly you want to litigate your issues online.

I did take the time to go through your posting history to some extent and it seems ...

 

?

How can anyone post a mess like that and be taken seriously?

[Nusa]

It's just multiple fails at quoting. The huge block that looks like his actually came from a previous poster in this thread. The only bit he did write was the line that said he was drunk at the time, which got hidden in someone else's quote.

[ptluis]

This topic is just another troll post

Nobody here is going to do all the work for you, people decide to help when they decide they want to do it. They don't have that obligation.

Regarding learning, there is always something new to learn from other users posts, no one knows everything. Searching and reading top words!

and I hate Dave Jones videos for being so long    so I fast forward like 2x the speed when I'm looking for something more specific a 30min video become a 15 min one  and it's nice watching Dave teaching/reviewing/teardown stuff at high speed rate  teach us to be more dynamic   

[rsjsouza]

From this:

My answer is no.

I've been looking at this blog for a few weeks now. Dave's video's are entertaining but as soon as it gets complicated he either fudges the details or gets in wrong. My opinion is that he is not a real engineer. He never answers questions regarding his formal training, though he often claims in interviews that he has formal training. In my opinion,  often dispenses fake information.

The "advice" dispensed by the members of this blog is useless. Rather read credible books on engineering or study at an accredited university than reading the junk "advice" on this blog.

Will you allow a "doctor" without the proper credentials to operate on your brain? If you would, then happily continue reading this blog and watch Dave's videos.

To this: (modifying his/hers own post)

Wonderful blog.

To quoting the entire DrG's post.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/is-eevblog-worth-it/msg3818753/#msg3818753

And ending with this pearl:

Fortunately the problem is not as serious as you describe. It was just a simple case of intoxication. The next day, while having an enormous hangover, I saw what I did and changed my post to what I really think.

Well, I suppose this is an epic Rick Roll into a troll's world. Or a bad trip. 

[MrMobodies]

Copied the wrong "quote from" below (rsjsouza) by mistake but amended.

 
Yeah, learning from videos.  Things like vias can be heard in auch a way that written information is hard to track down.  Inverse of the problem of learning words from books and mispronouncing them.

Oops think I remember it and spelt it wrong

Fortunately the problem is not as serious as you describe. It was just a simple case of intoxication. The next day, while having an enormous hangover, I saw what I did and changed my post to what I really think.

Well, I suppose this is an epic Rick Roll into a troll's world. Or a bad trip. 

Joke: Well next time alcohol causes him to malfunction just get out the magic finger and ask how many am I holding up.

[Cerebus]

Growing up made me realize that there are no "adults", just grown up kids.
This is one of the major disappointments one can meet: expecting to deal with serious, intelligent individuals, and ending up playing peek-a-boo instead of having a constructive discussion.

Although I am not a fan of psychological theories in general (psychoanalysts and psychologists as a whole [I exclude the type of psychologists who do hard science] are about as well acquainted with proper scientific method as a wet rag sitting in a puddle) you might get some insight and/or entertainment looking at Eric Berne's work on Transactional Analysis which often analyses interactions between people as ostensibly adult, but actually childish or child-like (e.g. "Would you like to see my etchings/come in for a cup of coffee?" <-> "Let's play!").

[Cerebus]

Your arguments in this thread lack specificity and, taken together, suggest to me that you are simply pissed off more than anything else. That is, you are angry...about something specific that has happened (even if it is was the "last straw"), but you are not going to go into that, at least not at first, but clearly you want to litigate your issues online.

It's really odd for me to post something about psychology at all, let alone two posts in a row, but have you heard of the psychological concept of "projection"? Because this sounds a hell of a lot like you're taking about yourself, not whoever it is you're directing your remarks to.

(We can't actually tell who you're directing your remarks at because you don't seem to have quite grasped how to use an online forum like this one. That you expect us to magically decode who out of the many people in this discussion you're addressing at any particular moment implies an unhealthy dollop of solecism.)

[SiliconWizard]

I wasn't expecting this thread to even get beyond 1 page. The fact the OP may or may not have a few valid points here and there is irrelevant since they make a complete generalization, immediately making their rant typical trolling. Just quickly looking at the few posts they have written shows that a good number of them were about confronting Dave on this stupid diode circuit exercise. And the OP waving their alleged engineering degree while questioning Dave's and pretty much anyone else's on here just makes them look like an angry kid with zero humility.

[rsjsouza]

Yeah, learning from videos.  Things like vias can be heard in auch a way that written information is hard to track down.  Inverse of the problem of learning words from books and mispronouncing them.

Oops think I remember it and spelt it wrong

That is not my quote, but CatalinaWOW's:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/is-eevblog-worth-it/msg3822518/#msg3822518

Your arguments in this thread lack specificity and, taken together, suggest to me that you are simply pissed off more than anything else. That is, you are angry...about something specific that has happened (even if it is was the "last straw"), but you are not going to go into that, at least not at first, but clearly you want to litigate your issues online.

It's really odd for me to post something about psychology at all, let alone two posts in a row, but have you heard of the psychological concept of "projection"? Because this sounds a hell of a lot like you're taking about yourself, not whoever it is you're directing your remarks to.

(We can't actually tell who you're directing your remarks at because you don't seem to have quite grasped how to use an online forum like this one. That you expect us to magically decode who out of the many people in this discussion you're addressing at any particular moment implies an unhealthy dollop of solecism.)

Cerebus, as I mentioned above this is DrG's post, not his. His only contribution is the last paragraph. 

[george.b]

Alcohol is one hell of a drug, I guess...?

[james_s]

Maybe we should have just said "No, it's not worth it, in fact it's a complete rip-off. If you want to be smart you could find somewhere else to socialize." right at the start and be done wit it. 

[ptluis]

Declare $Engineering_degree="GOD of Knowledge";


If $Engineering_degree > "dumb people on forum"
   
    Print "I'm the best in the world, nobody beat me!";
 
elseif
 
   $Engineering_degree < "dumb people on forum"

    Print "" #$"#&$/ %/&(!" #!$ ";
 
else

     Print "You just don't understand the point of foruns like this! Go back to school  "