I am a confused student , with a technician diploma.

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MarFene

Joined Feb 27, 2014
39
I have recently been awarded with a level 4 EQF diploma making me a qualified electronics technician.

i have chosen to pursue my studies and have been studying a higher national diploma in the subject , but i am finding myself in difficulties due to the course related stress and due to the complexity of the subject in this level.

i have worked in the industrial sector for 2 years and am aware of the requirements of such jobs. I love it. i have loved the subject since i was about 8-10 years old , and now that i am 21 and obviously more technical i grew fonder of the art.

i love hobby electronics , i love building stuff , i love the trains of thought one gets when thinking about a project, but i am thinking of quitting school and starting my full-time work career.


can anyone who has a greater experience than me in the field give me suggestions or advice on what is best for me to do. i really am sick of all the mathematics i absolutely will never use in my career .

im thinking about starting a new chapter in my life.


i know im a stranger to you , but i would like some 'anonymous' advice since when i ask for advice in person , the conversation gets kind of awkward since i cannot express myself like i am doing here.


any advice appreciated.

: ] Marlon
 

alfacliff

Joined Dec 13, 2013
2,458
the math may be sickening, and I dont use it much anymore, but it is helpfull when getting to understand how things really work. I have been a tech since I graduated in 1968, and a hobbiest berore that. I still have electronics and ham radio as a hobby. I have been in industrial electronics for 28 years here, first at boeing, then when they sold my job, spirit aerosystems. my experience in electronics has given me a headstart on a lot of other industrial electricians here, I am now the only one in the facilities electronic repair shop. working in several small machine shops to pay my way through school helps me even now, understanding the machines and motions involved. keep tryng with the math, it will make sense someday, even if you dont use it very often, it really helps get a handle on how the parts interact with each other.
 

Ian Rogers

Joined Dec 12, 2012
1,136
i really am sick of all the mathematics i absolutely will never use in my career .
You can't say that for sure.... I ended up in a career, designing embedded systems, and I use maths more than I ever have!!

You can't dismiss maths, especially in electronics.
 

MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,618
The anxieties you are experiencing as a young person are not uncommon.

When I was young I had a severe speech disfluency and was petrified when required to speak in public. I have gained confidence and my handicaps have lessened with time.

Going through school one always has difficult subjects and favorites. I sucked at languages and it took me three attempts to pass English in order to make it into university. Physics was my favorite subject because, like you, I enjoyed hobbies, working with my hands and learning about the physical world around me.

Again, with time and lots of writing practice, I can now easily create a thesis if I needed to. You can always learn new tricks at any age when you need to and want to.

Mathematics is a language like any other language. It is a means of communicating and expressing oneself. Solving difficult social problems in one's head requires a language. Solving problems in electronics, computers, physics and science requires a language. That language is mathematics.

Like any other language, you may not enjoy having to learn it or don't see the purpose of having to learn it at this time. As with my early struggles with English, I worked at it and I now have the confidence that I can use it effectively both in writing and speaking.

Not having a strong command of and liking for Mathematics will limit your abilities in electronics and computers. You need to break down the mental barrier one brick at a time. With exercise and time you will be amazed with what you can accomplish.

Good Luck.
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,408
The higher the degree the easier the job search. Something to keep in mind. Having more options is always nice.
 

PackratKing

Joined Jul 13, 2008
847
I agree with Mr. Chips...

I, too still absolutely suck at some of the math, though I have found that as long as you are using a discipline germane to the job you are actually working on, and break equations down to the four basics of add-sub-mult-div... will help...

Algebra, which I wholeheartedly detest, makes more sense when there is a real numeric value attached to x + y = z etc.

Time, and use, make all the difference...
 

sirch2

Joined Jan 21, 2013
1,037
I was rubbish at maths at degree level and still am compared to many of those I work with but I struggled through enough to get the qualification and have never regretted it for a moment. I am a programmer and I had about 15 years when I never did anything more complex than calculating an average or percentage. But over the last 5-10 years I have been using more and more of what I learned. It's funny how things turn out but trust me it is worth doing while you are young, it is much harder when you are older.

See it as a mountain you have to climb to get to somewhere better...
 

ErnieM

Joined Apr 24, 2011
8,377
Engineers design new things and then hands the plans off to technicians to build it.

Technicians follow the directions of others or find a new career path.

When I was a very young boy my mother used to say to me "There are two kinds of people in the world. One stands in the hot sun with a shovel and digs a hole. The other sits in an air conditioned office and says where the hole should be dug."

I ask you what she asked me: which man do you want to be?
 

tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
Albert Einstein and I failed algebra the first time we took the course.
I made a D in the first term of freshman algebra in high school, but Al was a few years ahead of me. He must have transferred out, because I can't find his picture in the yearbook.
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
Engineers design new things and then hands the plans off to technicians to build it.

Technicians follow the directions of others or find a new career path.
I've known technicians who had to "correct" the design so it would work. They did not display the traits you described in the second sentence.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
One of my jobs quickly changed from Quality Control Technician to Original Design Correction.
The engineers would design something, then give it to me to correct them. After I did three of these new design re-designs, and they wouldn't raise my pay, I quit that corporation and got a job as the Design Engineer. Better pay, nobody bothered me, and I didn't have to get somebody else to find my mistakes. I did it all, from Original Design to Quality Control of the finished products. I am still called a technician because I don't have a 4 year college degree.
 
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