schooling

Keep the fun and games in here for now please :-)
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JareeB
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schooling

Post by JareeB »

i would really enough a career doing this kind of things with electrons, why kind of schooling would i need. at my high school i took a DC fundamentals class but it just wasnt anything new. plus having a degree will help me get the job.

this is a link to a class/classes at my local tech school
http://fvtc.edu/public/academics/degree ... n=10-605-2

would that be the same kinda of stuff?
plans to build a 300whp turbo ford ranger with a 2.3l engine the ford lima!
current rig: 1994 ford ranger 2.3. good platform for my almost complete turbo engine. a237 cam, stock t3 turbo, ported and polished head. just needs some mangement!!
Peter
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Re: schooling

Post by Peter »

If you wanna get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to a library. It's just a shame that the system is setup so that it's really hard to prove to a potential employer that you're educated without paying an institution thousands of dollars for a degree. Really for those thousands of dollars all you get is a piece of paper that says you're capable of learning enough to fit into their mold of what that profession should be. Which really only tells an employer that you might have some background in what they need you to know, but that college has determined that you're capable enough to learn what the employer needs you to learn to do the job.
:-p
JareeB
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Re: schooling

Post by JareeB »

yeah i know what you mean.
plans to build a 300whp turbo ford ranger with a 2.3l engine the ford lima!
current rig: 1994 ford ranger 2.3. good platform for my almost complete turbo engine. a237 cam, stock t3 turbo, ported and polished head. just needs some mangement!!
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Fred
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Re: schooling

Post by Fred »

Well said, Peter! I can tell you first hand, with a degree from one of the worlds best universities, that I learned fuck all except how to learn, from them. However, perhaps that's the point. Who can say? :-) I did learn about booze and girls, though! :-) I was practicing one of those tonight. And Spanish. Though I'm better at both booze and girls than Spanish.
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
JareeB
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Re: schooling

Post by JareeB »

so i wont learn anything about elections? lol
plans to build a 300whp turbo ford ranger with a 2.3l engine the ford lima!
current rig: 1994 ford ranger 2.3. good platform for my almost complete turbo engine. a237 cam, stock t3 turbo, ported and polished head. just needs some mangement!!
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ToxicGumbo
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Re: schooling

Post by ToxicGumbo »

JareeB wrote:so i wont learn anything about elections? lol
One thing I noticed in early circuits classes is that the class labs were well behind what the enthusiasts were up to as far as hardware went. At the same time, you meet some really talented people along the way and can join student chapter clubs and such where you're likely to make good friends with similar interests (no reason to be enrolled to attend any clubs).

I have a few suggestions if you want to get a feel for the local flavor:
  1. See what your local college/university's EE/ECE/CE degree course map requires for a degree. That will give you a framework of what they're focusing on.
  2. Figure out which textbooks are being used and in which classes. If possible, check them out at the local college bookstore, but consider buying them USED online for huge discounts and to avoid the textbook cartels. At the same time, do some research and see if those are even good textbooks and consider getting alternatives based on popular use and review (but don't purchase blindly). I've participated in textbook committees and the reasons textbooks are picked or changed isn't always through sound reasoning.
  3. Sneak into classes. See how they're being taught. The first-day classes are sometimes the most telling. See who's teaching which class, check the teacher's website, and pull down the syllabus. Check the teacher's rating out online. Some teachers will likely even let you sit in on their classes if they're the approachable and helpful sort. Grad students are some of the more accommodating in this area since they're so beaten down and looking to be appreciated that your genuine interest will validate their existence. Often these classes will have lab time associated with them and you can probably find a list of required equipment, supplies, and software to be used.
  4. Some schools have past tests available for free. You might also be able to get some out of grads or professors.
  5. Some schools also have free/cheap "book barns" where you can find all sorts of books that might have been donated or are being retired from the library. These can include electronics theory, semiconductor tables, magazines, etc. that make for good reference and begin a lifelong hoarding habit.
That's for the college/university feel. What you want to do regardless is to get some decent equipment to play with and some really easy-to-read books that aren't designed for engineering degrees. Otherwise you'll burn out fast just trying to keep up with formal teaching. Get on hackaday, element14, etc. Subscribe to podcasts and youtube stuff like EEVBlog, MAKE, the Ben Heck Show, Fat Man and Circuit Girl (anything with Jeri Ellsworth), etc. They make it fun and enjoyable.

If you're just sort of getting your feet wet, go to thrift stores and buy dirt cheap stuff to tear apart, get sensors of dead cars or whatnot, and buy those lab breadboard things and lots of wires. Get a cheap multi-function soldering station or find various junk on Craigslist and work with it until better opportunities come along. Find useful chips and sensors in old electronics devices (like those speech synthesizer chips in answering machines or LCD panels with interface boards in pagers or kiddie toys) and look up the reference PDFs online. Some places, like Harbor Freight, will sell immensely cheap--yet somewhat life threatening--electronics tools that can at least help with basic tasks.

Install free or open source software like people here are using. Pull up schematics, jump into the IRC channels, and keep an eye on why people are doing what. Be willing to occasionally spend some decent money to build and short things out just for the sake of learning. Consider getting into amateur radio. Play with microcontrollers and FPGAs, but don't be seduced by them. Respect and learn about "old school" ways, but don't be held back by them.

If you're absolutely determined to go for the degree, then all of the above might help you really determine that's the path you truly want.

-Jeff

Edit: As someone who has built and maintained online course systems, I strongly encourage meeting people and learning interactively by stepping into an actual classroom over sitting behind a screen. However, check out iTunes U's electrical engineering courses and MIT's OpenCourseware.
Last edited by ToxicGumbo on Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:47 am, edited 2 times in total.
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ToxicGumbo
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Re: schooling

Post by ToxicGumbo »

About jobs, recruiters definitely troll college engineering departments via yearly job fairs. I have a friend who's responsible for part of the optics circuits perpetuated through most modern phones and displays (due to corporate patents and manufacturing sources). Another friend works at FreeScale and does ASIC chip design, though nothing we're using here. Both guys love their jobs, get paid well, and have time for families and other hobbies. But they also worked their asses off in school and through summer intern jobs with major companies, did their best to understand the thick accents of their teachers, and learned to navigate the in-class competitive nature between students (you don't just try to pass a class, you try to do better than the people sitting next to you who might be setting the grading curve). They were certain by the time they got through it that they made the right choice for themselves. The last thing you want to do is burn out, lose your joy for the field, and be stuck in a dead-end job wishing you were running a strawberry farm.

-Jeff
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Fred
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Re: schooling

Post by Fred »

Mmmmmm strawberries! :-)
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
JareeB
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Posts: 42
Joined: Tue Dec 25, 2012 12:14 am
Location: Greenville, Wisconsin

Re: schooling

Post by JareeB »

ToxicGumbo wrote:
JareeB wrote:so i wont learn anything about elections? lol
One thing I noticed in early circuits classes is that the class labs were well behind what the enthusiasts were up to as far as hardware went. At the same time, you meet some really talented people along the way and can join student chapter clubs and such where you're likely to make good friends with similar interests (no reason to be enrolled to attend any clubs).

I have a few suggestions if you want to get a feel for the local flavor:
  1. See what your local college/university's EE/ECE/CE degree course map requires for a degree. That will give you a framework of what they're focusing on.
  2. Figure out which textbooks are being used and in which classes. If possible, check them out at the local college bookstore, but consider buying them USED online for huge discounts and to avoid the textbook cartels. At the same time, do some research and see if those are even good textbooks and consider getting alternatives based on popular use and review (but don't purchase blindly). I've participated in textbook committees and the reasons textbooks are picked or changed isn't always through sound reasoning.
  3. Sneak into classes. See how they're being taught. The first-day classes are sometimes the most telling. See who's teaching which class, check the teacher's website, and pull down the syllabus. Check the teacher's rating out online. Some teachers will likely even let you sit in on their classes if they're the approachable and helpful sort. Grad students are some of the more accommodating in this area since they're so beaten down and looking to be appreciated that your genuine interest will validate their existence. Often these classes will have lab time associated with them and you can probably find a list of required equipment, supplies, and software to be used.
  4. Some schools have past tests available for free. You might also be able to get some out of grads or professors.
  5. Some schools also have free/cheap "book barns" where you can find all sorts of books that might have been donated or are being retired from the library. These can include electronics theory, semiconductor tables, magazines, etc. that make for good reference and begin a lifelong hoarding habit.
That's for the college/university feel. What you want to do regardless is to get some decent equipment to play with and some really easy-to-read books that aren't designed for engineering degrees. Otherwise you'll burn out fast just trying to keep up with formal teaching. Get on hackaday, element14, etc. Subscribe to podcasts and youtube stuff like EEVBlog, MAKE, the Ben Heck Show, Fat Man and Circuit Girl (anything with Jeri Ellsworth), etc. They make it fun and enjoyable.

If you're just sort of getting your feet wet, go to thrift stores and buy dirt cheap stuff to tear apart, get sensors of dead cars or whatnot, and buy those lab breadboard things and lots of wires. Get a cheap multi-function soldering station or find various junk on Craigslist and work with it until better opportunities come along. Find useful chips and sensors in old electronics devices (like those speech synthesizer chips in answering machines or LCD panels with interface boards in pagers or kiddie toys) and look up the reference PDFs online. Some places, like Harbor Freight, will sell immensely cheap--yet somewhat life threatening--electronics tools that can at least help with basic tasks.

Install free or open source software like people here are using. Pull up schematics, jump into the IRC channels, and keep an eye on why people are doing what. Be willing to occasionally spend some decent money to build and short things out just for the sake of learning. Consider getting into amateur radio. Play with microcontrollers and FPGAs, but don't be seduced by them. Respect and learn about "old school" ways, but don't be held back by them.

If you're absolutely determined to go for the degree, then all of the above might help you really determine that's the path you truly want.

-Jeff

Edit: As someone who has built and maintained online course systems, I strongly encourage meeting people and learning interactively by stepping into an actual classroom over sitting behind a screen. However, check out iTunes U's electrical engineering courses and MIT's OpenCourseware.

thanks for the write up man. i did just get a new job at a shop called Tuffy auto, i start Monday. i do have an ardunino that i am playing with but im lacking the ideas for projects, i have done all the projects in the starter boot. i find it pretty easy to pick up the coding. im working on making a circuit for dimming leds that i will be installing into my custom desktop. i have been thing about picking up some books, have any suggestions?
plans to build a 300whp turbo ford ranger with a 2.3l engine the ford lima!
current rig: 1994 ford ranger 2.3. good platform for my almost complete turbo engine. a237 cam, stock t3 turbo, ported and polished head. just needs some mangement!!
johntramp
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Re: schooling

Post by johntramp »

You can't go wrong with a copy of 'The art of electronics'.
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