How I Started in Electronics (& how you shouldn't)

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How do you start in electronics? Well, here’s a quick video talking about how I got into electronics and the things to look out for as beginners! If you’re a beginner in electronics, here’s some tips and tricks I’ve learned that I think could give you a leg up! Some of the topics have been requested for a long time and they sorta all got mashed up with some other things I wanted to say. Especially if you're trying to get into electronics, I hope you found the video useful! Let me know if you have any questions as always and I'll answer them the best I can.

If you have any questions about the kits or really anything youtube related:
Twitter: @AMTech_Circuits

[TheAMTech_Official]

Preorders Live! The updated version of the AM Tech Beginner Electronics Kit is officially available for preorder on our site www.theamtech.com. More details coming soon!

[jamesclark]

From a retired electrical engineer and former electronic circuit designer: Excellent video!! Especially about using breadboards, learning to read schematics, and using data sheets! Those are the key first steps. I started out using 555 timers, too. They are very handy for experimenting with logic circuits. Excellent introduction!

[pibbles-a-plenty]

If you start, as a youth, teaching yourself electronics you will be miles ahead of the competition for the rest of your life. It's never to early to learn! I too started learning electronics by tearing into radios people had thrown out before I was a teenager. I made a secure and interesting career in electronics and now at age 81 I keep my tools and test equipment to do practically anything, but mostly I repair antique radio and hi-fi equipment for fun.

[migueltroche]

I’m a 62 year old retired carpenter who studied electronics around 1982. Chose carpentry to make living but now I want to pick up where I left off in electronics. Saw your video and I am in.

[Borishal]

Just getting into electronics after messing about with Arduino for years. Bit of a top down approach, but much easier than starting from scratch. Had projects that worked, now finding out the lower level nuts and bolts.
Bit like studying grammar after you learn the language.
Thanks for really helpful video.

[SeeKay]

You have tapped into a viable niche. Your intro at the beginning of the video about not needing college courses is encouraging to the growing population of self teaching enthusiasts. I wish you success in expanding your YouTube reach. I am subscribed and hope that you will stay true to the objective you laid out.

[picklerix]

I have an Associates degree and a BSEET in Electronics. I regret that I never used most of my Electronics knowledge and pursued a career in firmware and software. Now, I design microcontroller circuit boards and I write firmware and software to bring my creations to life. I am much happier designing and building prototype circuits in a lab.

[FridayHouseXYZ]

I've been working with electronics for about 30 years, and I started with these kits as well. This is one of the most honest videos on getting started. Thank you!

[wanderider]

Yes, I think you would find many people do not know what they are looking for because they don't know what to ask. Therefore, developing something that would help a beginner (like me) would be incredibly useful and favored over time.

[ryanvuong]

i started electronics in mr. pettibone’s ap physics class. he taught me everything i know

[AI_Image_Master]

Started the same way in the mid 70's. Something like a 75 in 1 electronics kit. Looking back on that kit now it was very good at the projects that it had.
I also took a lot of things apart, like model trains, radios etc. Good a taking them apart and testing how they worked, not so good at putting them back together, as my father would attest to, but he had no problem doing everything that he could do to send me to Engineering School.

[themanwhoknewtoomuch]

As someone who has been obsessed with accelerated learning all my life, I think mentor-student relationship is one of the fastest. Personally I read through dozens of books on birds, fishes, trees, insects... but after using an app that lets you identify these species (acting as virtual mentor) my learning exploded. Of course electronics is different. But I can only imagine the immersive knowledge one has shadowing an electrician and what not. There are of course various routes to learning.

[mind]

I honnestly dont do electronics, nor im interested in it, just not my field.
but seeing you being so cheered up about teaching it and explaining your past mistakes makes me happy :)

[birdy]

that radioshack kit really looks incredible and massively educational! i would DEFINITELY buy an electronics kit from you especially with that impressive thing as your inspiration! getting into electronics still as a noob, the whole "every kit includes arduino" thing had me really confused for awhile actually... i didnt understand why i needed that. thanks for going over these few things, they were more helpful to me than you might think

[freddyfriesen]

As a high school electronics instructor I had my students use the Chaney 33-In-1 Deluxe Electronic Kit. Experiments 1 - 11 in Grade Ten. Activities 12 - 22 in Grade 11. Activities 23 - 33 in Grade 12. As a forty year shop teacher, instructional materials do not get better than this. Thank goodness I kept one set for myself. Breadboarding fun where you actually build some neat electronic circuits. Really good stuff. Yes, my students would build and engineer some pretty serious stuff as well. We took seventeen medals at the Skills Canada electronics competitions in twelve years. This Chaney stuff is excellent teaching/learning material. Was I connected to the factory ? Only in the way I would regularly purchase stuff for the shop.

[schrodingerscat]

Putting together a basic kit is a very good idea, back in the day when I was first getting into electronics these kits were really common but as you point out now the only kits are microcontroller based which is way too complex for a beginner to learn any basics as it all needs to be highly modularised. The kit you showed was by far the best type. A bread board surrounded by input/output components. This is what your kit needs to be, just some way for beginners to simply test their basic circuits without any other test kit so it's nice and self contained. Those types of kits got me hooked and I ended up doing electronics at college and finally getting a degree and a career in electronic engineering.

[PeterLawton]

Well done! When I got started, I asked a lot of questions of my Dad. He answered what he could, but I soon discovered that Dad didn't know everything. ;-)

Right after I got to that point, he came home with a book or two, authored by Forrest Mims III, the same guy who wrote the book you just flipped through. He is good at explaining so much for beginners -- if I remember correctly, he was self-taught, too, so that's the best perspective to have when starting.

You've done a great job, and I hope your videos inspire many more people to learn basic electronics.

[classyjohn]

i've been loosely starting electronics back in ~2018 and its only now that I've been starting to take it more seriously (due to having more time). Being in my late 20s makes it a bit tougher to learn this stuff but its great, nonetheless.

[DefaultFlame]

4:56 The "SunFounder Electronic Fun Kit with LCD 1602 Module, Basic Electronic Starter Kit with Detailed Tutorial, Breadboard..." for $22.49 on the right actually looks decent.

I see an IC, a 14-pin DIP at a guess, resistors, what are either diodes or inductors, capacitors, what I think are transistors, LEDs, cables, switches, buttons, what looks like 2x20 characer LCD, maybe 2x16, a single digit 7-segment display, and a few other bits and bobs I can't quite identify from the picture. The breadboard looks to be a 400-pin one, so a bit weeny for anything beyond a simple clock or a few logic gates built with transistors, but it is just a $22.49 kit after all.

Of course, if you are completely unfamiliar with electronics then you have no way to tell what's a decent started kit.

[jjqformerlyjailbreak]

Back in 89, My brother got a kit. This thing had Everything in it. Fighting all the time over it.
That kit offered a lot more than now. We got books in the mail through the subscription that came with it. I too want to develop a kit, or even a store like RadioShack. Everyone in small town America, forced to ordering from amazon or driving a couple hours for common components. It makes me sick.
Anyhow, keep the good spirits. God gives us everything we need, when we need it. It IS up to Me to use what He Provides. There is no better feeling, taking two things that don’t match, and make something “outside the box” and it works. No Higher Feeling of Success. Keep up Friend.
God Bless.