Hi everyone, my name is Stuart Goodenough. I'm 19 years old from Grand Rapids Michigan. First off i am not new to forums, just wasn't sure where to post this thread. Since i was a kid, i have loved electronics, but just recently i realized there is no reason i shouldn't take something i love and make a career out of it. I'm to the point where it is time to take a real out look on life and move forward. I want to go to school for electrical engineering but i honestly know nothing about circuits. I made this thread for any advice that you guys, "professionals", could give me. My brain is literally a clean slate and i want to learn how to do everything the right way, not the fast but okay way. Please feel free to make any opinion/fact you would like to post to try and help me slowly understand what it is going to take to create my life around EE.

 

Did u try reading the Ebooks in this forum.
They are very good to start with.

 

Hello,

You could take a look at the Neets Series:
http://www.phy.davidson.edu/instrumentation/NEETS.htm

Bertus

 

Hello StuGood. Welcome to AAC

Many EE schools assume the student knows next to nothing when they start class. They usually start with the basics and work their way up. You probably don't need to worry too much about not knowing much when you start, but I can see why you may want to learn something before you do. The ebooks here are great--they're well-written and have good detail. I'm sure they'll help you get a good start

Regards

 

I'm a firm believer of jumping in there and getting started. While they may seem a bit young, the X in 1 sets are quite good, and do allow for experimentation. The larger the X, the better.

 

I suggest spending a significant portion of your learning time or spare time getting good with PICs AVRs etc. ASAP.

You will be able to create solutions with one chip and an evenings coding that others need 5 chips and a solid week of hardware engineering to make. And then you can add new features anytime in minutes, while they need to redesign the whole PCB and go to 6 chips.

Seriously, more electronics is done in code now than in hardware. And it only gets more so as time goes on and microchips get smaller, cheaper and faster. It will pay you big time to be ahead of the curve.

 

I suggest spending a significant portion of your learning time or spare time getting good with PICs AVRs etc. ASAP.

You will be able to create solutions with one chip and an evenings coding that others need 5 chips and a solid week of hardware engineering to make. And then you can add new features anytime in minutes, while they need to redesign the whole PCB and go to 6 chips.

Seriously, more electronics is done in code now than in hardware. And it only gets more so as time goes on and microchips get smaller, cheaper and faster. It will pay you big time to be ahead of the curve.

I would agree, but many schools nowadays do start with the basics, like KV/CL, Ohm's Law, sinusoidal mathematics (trigonometry, especially) and other things that would not be helped by learning programming. Sure, programming microcontrollers would be a great side-hobby, but I wouldn't learn it without learning basic electronics math first.

 

Thank you everyone, you are all motivation to me. What about EE makes you guys love it so much? there has to be a reason you guys not only work all day doing this, but come home and get online on your past time and help others and learn more about it.

 

Thank you everyone, you are all motivation to me. What about EE makes you guys love it so much? there has to be a reason you guys not only work all day doing this, but come home and get online on your past time and help others and learn more about it.

People are always asking me that. They wonder what got me started in electronics, and why I like it so much. Honestly, I don't really know. My parents have told me stories of when I was 5 years old, one of my sister's electronic toys broke, and I opened it up to fix it. I don't even remember that, but apparently that was one of my earlier experiences. After that, as I grew up, I guess I just worked more and more with electronics and got to where I am now. As for why I'm here, I have always gotten a kick out of helping people. I like the feeling when I am able to help someone solve a problem they're having. I have also gotten a lot of assistance on forums such as AAC, so overall it's just a great environment to be a part of.

 

For me it is the closest thing to magic that can exist. There are so many things that can be done with electronics.

The advice about µC is good. The fact is it can replace circuitry, and really is cheaper in the long term. The only problem I have seen is many people, having mastered PICs or any of the other brand names out there, think they know electronics, when in fact they have barely scratched the surface.

They then go in with their ears closed and mouths open, not good if your trying to learn new things. The fact is, µC will get many very nice projects done quickly and professionally, but unless you spend the time studying you still won't have a clue how it does what it does. You won't be able to wire an equivalent circuit with gates, for example, or understand how to light an LED (This one is common, believe it or not).

 

I figured I would shed some light in here as I am still currently an EE student. I know I had to start all the way down at college algebra and work my way up through the math courses physics etc. Make sure you learn what you are doing and why something does something, and not just how to solve something. It may not make much sense now, but it will later. Someone asked me why I am doing it and my response was "because I don't understand it, and do not think I will ever understand everything about it due to how much is involved with it, therefore I will never be bored with it."

While still being in my classes, I took a keen interest in actually doing things on my own outside. For example, I was a 12V audio installer for years, ended up running a 3 axis CNC machine amongst many other things. During my "down" times at school, I make my own projects, some have been small some have been larger. Although I dont post much on here, I do read a ton in the book as many have mentioned in previous posts.

Just always be willing to learn, and don't be afraid to jump in and try something, if it doesn't work out just make sure you learn from the mistake for next time. And above all, enjoy what your learning and have fun!

 

I think IronMod has offered some excellent advice. I also agree with all who recommended to read the e-book (you can see the different volumes at the top of this page), it is excellent for beginners.

But please do not read it page by page like a novel - if there is anything you don't understand, stop reading and ask your questions in the General Electronics Chat forum:

http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

You will find that most forum members are very friendly, especially when it comes to answering questions from a beginner. So don't be shy to ask, even if you think it's a "stupid" question.

 

I would agree, but many schools nowadays do start with the basics, like KV/CL, Ohm's Law, sinusoidal mathematics (trigonometry, especially) and other things that would not be helped by learning programming. Sure, programming microcontrollers would be a great side-hobby, but I wouldn't learn it without learning basic electronics math first.

Yes I agree completely with your point, and Bill's, re that learning micros should not replace time spent learning the basics which are very important.

However the OP made it clear he wanted to go to EE school soon but also learn stuff now, so my point was to focus significantly on microcontrollers, as that will pay off big time as all the general EE stuff will be handled by the school.

Someone 80% good at micros and 80% good at EE will be significantly more powerful than somebody 95% good at EE alone. And for that matter throw in some time on coding PC apps and some skills with mechanical engineering. Both of those will factor into your future abilities too.

 

While still being in my classes, I took a keen interest in actually doing things on my own outside. For example, I was a 12V audio installer for years, ended up running a 3 axis CNC machine amongst many other things. During my "down" times at school, I make my own projects, some have been small some have been larger. Although I dont post much on here, I do read a ton in the book as many have mentioned in previous posts.

Actually, car audio is what has gotten me here. I want to be able to build an amp from just raw parts. or to fix and repair amps on the side for fun.

 

By the way, thank you everyone for all the help and advice. this post blew up and i am grateful for it. if you guys could, please dont use abbreviations. I have NO IDEA what you are talking about.

 

Actually, car audio is what has gotten me here. I want to be able to build an amp from just raw parts. or to fix and repair amps on the side for fun.

You will soon be able to build little amplifiers like this one

http://afrotechmods.com/tutorials/2011/11/28/amplifier-tutorial-super-spy-microphone-circuit/

and then you can progress step by step to more sophisticated ones.

And the abbreviations, well you will get used to them over time. KVL and KCL have been mentioned , they stand for Kirchhoff's Voltage Law and Kirchhoff's Current Law, here are the explanations from the e-book:

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_6/2.html

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_6/4.html

Next to Ohm's Law they are the most important fundamentals of electronics. If you start with the e-book from the beginning they will soon make sense to you.