I have always wanted to get into it. My dad was an RF engineer, but he never would teach me anything.
I moved to Seattle in 2010 (I was about 25yo) and I learned about maker spaces.
Well a guy at that maker space didn’t mind showing me the basics. So he taught me briefly how solder works and then asked what I wanted to make. I said, “I want things to light up”
So he gave me a breadboard, LEDs, resistors, wire and a battery and said, “Figure it out”. Pretty quick I got them lit up. So I went back to him and said, “I want them to change brightness when its dark or light out.”
So he gave me a photo resistor (when there is no light it slows/stops the current of electricity), and he said, “Figure it out”. So I learned how to use the photo resistor to make the lights brighter when the ambient light was brighter. Then I told him, “I want them to light up when it’s dark out, not light”.
So he gave me a transistor and said, “Figure it out”. This took me 3 months, all alone, to read the schematic of that transistor. But EVENTUALLY I got it working.
Since then I have learned to create my own PCB’s, programmed line followers and have built robots that move around and do image recognition!
I haven’t done much as of late but I want to get back to that! (I have moved a lot in my life so the second to last move I did, I had to donate ALL my robotics so I am starting from scratch)
I would look up maker spaces in your area. You can use them to do more than just robotics. The one I went to also had engravers, 3D printers, and knitting machines (or crochet? can’t remember)
That’s awesome. But the part that your dad was an RF engineer but never took the time to teach you makes me sad. My dad is an elec tech and some of my fondest memories are of him teaching me electronics.
I guess the take away is if you have kids make sure to take the opportunity to teach them things you’re passionate about! (As long as they show interest of course)
Yeah,… my upbringing was not normal. Lots of abuse. So that’s why. If he was healthy and had the support he needed I would have learned! But I think that is why I seeked it out later.
And YES, if you have kids, absolutely teach them what you know. Don’t force them to keep learning but an introduction is a great idea. Like I wish my parents had taught me how to cook!
If you don’t mind a long-ish story:
I have always wanted to get into it. My dad was an RF engineer, but he never would teach me anything.
I moved to Seattle in 2010 (I was about 25yo) and I learned about maker spaces.
Well a guy at that maker space didn’t mind showing me the basics. So he taught me briefly how solder works and then asked what I wanted to make. I said, “I want things to light up”
So he gave me a breadboard, LEDs, resistors, wire and a battery and said, “Figure it out”. Pretty quick I got them lit up. So I went back to him and said, “I want them to change brightness when its dark or light out.”
So he gave me a photo resistor (when there is no light it slows/stops the current of electricity), and he said, “Figure it out”. So I learned how to use the photo resistor to make the lights brighter when the ambient light was brighter. Then I told him, “I want them to light up when it’s dark out, not light”.
So he gave me a transistor and said, “Figure it out”. This took me 3 months, all alone, to read the schematic of that transistor. But EVENTUALLY I got it working.
Since then I have learned to create my own PCB’s, programmed line followers and have built robots that move around and do image recognition!
I haven’t done much as of late but I want to get back to that! (I have moved a lot in my life so the second to last move I did, I had to donate ALL my robotics so I am starting from scratch)
I would look up maker spaces in your area. You can use them to do more than just robotics. The one I went to also had engravers, 3D printers, and knitting machines (or crochet? can’t remember)
That’s awesome. But the part that your dad was an RF engineer but never took the time to teach you makes me sad. My dad is an elec tech and some of my fondest memories are of him teaching me electronics.
I guess the take away is if you have kids make sure to take the opportunity to teach them things you’re passionate about! (As long as they show interest of course)
Yeah,… my upbringing was not normal. Lots of abuse. So that’s why. If he was healthy and had the support he needed I would have learned! But I think that is why I seeked it out later.
And YES, if you have kids, absolutely teach them what you know. Don’t force them to keep learning but an introduction is a great idea. Like I wish my parents had taught me how to cook!