Hey there everyone!
So, I’m presuming if you’re reading this you’re fairly new on the electronics scene, or you’re just wondering how easy it is to get into electronics nowadays? Well I’ll tell you simply — very.
In my opinion, electronics has never been quite so interactive and fun as now! And in all honestly, I feel privileged to be growing up and learning in such a great community and atmosphere. But let’s back up a little?? How to start?
Well if you’re serious, it’s going to require a little bit of investment, but honestly? I think that investment is TOTALLY 100% worth it. There are some amazing companies out there specifically tailoring for people joining the electronics world, companies like Little Bits (An electronics company who make magnetic “Snap Together” modules – Check them out!!!) or Arduino, which is an open-source company who build development boards around the ATMega series of micro-controllers from Atmel. In my experience, once I got my hands on an Arduino board, the possibilities just opened up for me, using the IDE that they provide you can go from a couple of components, a breadboard, and a blue thingimabob, to a fully working prototype in a matter of minutes. Plus there are some AWESOME tutorials for how to get started, how the Arduino works and how you code it out there, my personal favourite being Jeremy Blum’s great Arduino Tutorials. From there you can start to move up, as I have, to more complex designs and more interesting idea’s. That’s how I did it, and I would certainly recommend it.
But….
You are the one who has to put in the work here, and you have to have the drive and interest to see it through. It’s just like learning a new language or a musical instrument, you’re not going to learn it all overnight!! I get a surprising amount of people asking me things like “How did you learn all this?”, and the answer is surprisingly simple, I put in an inordinate amount of hours and I devoted myself to it.
So go out there and surf the net! Find your own favourites and learn in your own way! It doesn’t work if someone forces you into it, you have to do it yourself.
Good Luck!
Tom
My First Arduino running with an AXE133Y 16X2 OLED display!
P.s. If you want to look at some of my tutorials take a look at this page.