Electronic Design Magazine: DIY Electronics Kits Turn Hobbyists Into Engineers

[Andre Kesteloot]

Phil,

What motivated my posting was the rather simplistic tone of the tile of 
the article.
Kit building may attract youngsters in the right direction, but does not 
an engineer make .

One may or may not learn to think like an engineer by attending college.
And I also know of many "engineers" who got their diplomas by writing 
code and / or using simulation software, and could not draw a circuit 
diagram.
I used to interview engineers who had attended college here, and had a 
EE  diploma. One of the questions I woud ask them was, " having access 
to any electric or electronic part you may want, please draw now on the 
white-board how you would design  a ground-fault interrupter. Just 
think, then show me how you would go about solving this problem".

The majority of candidates not only did not know how  to go about 
designing one, but also could not come up with a  general solution.
The next day, I would ask them again, and maybe one in ten had bothered 
to go visit the local hardware store, buy of of these devices and open 
it up.
Although they had a diploma, I would not call these people engineers either.
IMO, it takes much more than either kit-building or attending college to 
make an engineer.

73
André



On 3/1/2012 15:20 PM, Phil wrote:
> Come on Andre, deep down you know that you've gotta get the kids away 
> from the TV and computer games first, before you can mould them into 
> engineers. Give them the fun first, and the maths later! And nowadays, 
> you have to get the Dads interested before the kids - remember, we've 
> lost almost an entire engineering generation to 'progressive 
> education' and 'health and safety'.
>
> Phil M1GWZ
>
>
>
> On 1 Mar 2012, at 02:13, Andre Kesteloot wrote:
>
>> http://www.electronicdesign.com/article/components/DIY-Electronics-Kits-Turn-Hobbyists-Into-Engineers.aspx?cid=ed_newsletter&NL=1&YM_RID 
>>
>> _
>> _
>> Tacoistas,
>>
>> Silly me !
>>
>> I had always thought that, for me to become an engineer, it had been necessary to attend college, sweat through integral calculus,
>> divs and curls, Pointing vectors, etc., study through the nights before finals...
>>
>> Had I just known this 55 years ago, I could have simply bought a few DIY electronics kits and/voilà/, Instant Engineer...
>>
>> So much time and money wasted on theory. (While in college I did learn, however, how to drink a fair quantity of beer)
>>
>> 73
>> André N4ICK
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>
>
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