So I'm already Almost 500 posts in and never got around to doing this! So at this point, it's an introduction and a retrospective on the past year.
I'm a 36 year old American living in Switzerland (7 years now, plus 7 years in my teens, separated by a 10 year return to USA to go to university and whatnot). When I was a little kid, I loved electronics, even though I wasn't really very good at it. Nonetheless, while other kids were outside getting skinned knees playing sports, I'd be immersed in encyclopedias or burning myself with a radio shack firestick while relishing the smell of rosin flux. I still have notebooks from second and third grade of the robots I was gonna build, including layouts of the user interfaces! As I'm sure you all can relate to, I began by taking things apart (but not being able to get them back together, to my parents' chagrin), then taking them apart and getting them back together flawlessly, to being able to take them apart and repair them. I didn't have anyone to mentor me in electronics (my parents and stepparents comprise a language professor, a doctor, a social worker, and an economics journalist), and as a teen, I got into computers so electronics fell by the wayside, also because I spend time on other hobbies (cooking, photography).
Computers became my career, though I always kept a love (and knack) for taking things apart and often fixing them. (I got my bachelor's in business information systems, with a minor in linguistics.) For many years, I was an administrator of what was at the time the largest Mac forum on the Web, and I worked at a number of Apple authorized dealers, independent Mac support providers (knowing how to repair laser printers was a valued skill), as well as two Apple Stores, over the years. When it comes to computing devices, i'm definitely an Apple guy, but my technical knowledge of them goes far, far, far deeper than the typical pro user.
In 2009 I moved back to Switzerland (to get a European passport while I still had the chance), and began working at a software company, first in technical translation and technical writing, then in bilingual customer and tech support and product testing, and ultimately contributing to product design as well, since my deep technical knowledge combined with usability training proved very valuable to the engineering team. I then worked at an agency that specializes in usability and website design (my last title was UX architect).
But In the end, those few years of desk work caught up with me, with repetitive strain injury in my hand and shoulder (and a pinched nerve in my neck) pretty much rendering me incapable of working in my profession. (I could do technical writing with dictation software, but graphic design software is designed for a mouse, and no alternative input device works well enough.) When my last job ended, I decided not to look for work right away, but instead to take time off to focus on the health issues.
With the free time to do it, and the need to find something to keep me busy that isn't at the computer exacerbating the hand problems, stumbling upon eevblog was a happy coincidence. It really rekindled my interest in electronics, and I've learned more in the past year than in all the time before! (And learning both how much I still have yet to learn, plus all the things I have to unlearn because I understood them wrong as a kid.) After investing a fortune in ergonomics gear for my home office, I decided to also invest in my mental well being by spending some money on a basic electronics lab (things I should have gotten as a kid, had I known how much they accelerated my learning), including new meters, a scope, bench PSUs, a real soldering station, breadboards, and basic components. (And yes, Arduino too, though I need to be careful because of the RSI.) I'm working my way through the basics now, with very typical audio and LED control projects at the moment.
And as a funny aside, the mom and pop electronics shop that I used to use as a teenager (for what little electronics I did then) still exists, and I now live a <5 minute walk from it!
I've even given thought to going back to school and studying EE or something, though I have concerns that since all the design is done in CAD these days, I'd be condemning myself to another desk job that makes the RSI flare up.
Not entirely sure what my next career will be, but whatever it is, it won't - no, can't - be a desk job.
Anyway I think I've rambled on far too much! Thanks to everyone here for the support and engaging conversation I've gotten so far! Feel free to drop me a line (in English or German) anytime!
Antonio
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