Electronic Design Magazine: DIY Electronics Kits Turn Hobbyists Into Engineers

[Robert E. Seastrom]

Quick Chip, what year did you graduate?

-r

Chip Fetrow <tacos at fetrow.org> writes:

> This was not my experience in school.  We had practical labs where we
> had to both design and build things.
>
> We even had a senior project where you designed something, then build
> it.
>
> I was really good at building stuff, and helped out many classmates.
>
> --chip
>
> On Mar 3, 2012, at 8:35 AM, tacos-request at amrad.org wrote:
>
>> Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:42:57 -0700
>> From: Joseph Bento <joseph at kirtland.com>
>> To: andre.kesteloot at ieee.org
>> Cc: tacos at amrad.org
>> Subject: Re: Electronic Design Magazine: DIY Electronics Kits Turn
>> Hobbyists Into Engineers
>>
>> Andre,
>>
>> I am not an engineer. I do have over 30 years experience as an
>> electronics technician, however.
>>
>> What has amazed me is what today's new engineering graduates don't
>> know.  In school, they apparently do not handle any physical
>> components
>> nor do they breadboard any circuits to observe electrical laws in the
>> real world.  They do not handle a soldering iron, and it seems that
>> they
>> can scarcely read a schematic, nor understand the use of common test
>> equipment.  Old-school engineers were completely different.  They
>> could
>> wear both hats as a technician and engineer.
>>
>> I enjoyed a previous job where I got to build the engineering
>> prototypes
>> and helped to troubleshoot when something didn't work as expected.
>> They
>> could design on paper, and I got to prove their concepts with
>> prototypes.
>>
>> Joe, N6DGY
>
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