Re: Electronics - how to ruin a good hobby. A story with no morals...


"dave" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:mC2Pe.9247$FA3.7762@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> My discrete designs never performed that well
> and books didn't tell me how to fix them. I started taking
> circuits from magazines instead, or borrowing ideas from
> competitors products, and in the end I gave up and just used
> I.C.'s and the trusty old collection of National and
> Motorola data books.

There is a lot to be learnt from magazines and competitor's products, while
at the same time developing one's own understanding of how the parts
interact - and picking up that specialised knowledge that goes with each
application area. I think part of practicing electronics is knowing how far
one can take it, and working at a depth and in an application area where one
is productive.


> I was mostly honest, but I got screwed. Nobody sent me broke
> but it all wore me down.

I wish there was a book called "Understanding People for Geeks". There are
so many tech people who don't understand the human animal. The human is a
dangerous, crafty, loveable beast, with complex motivations. Honesty and
knowledge-seeking are not the predominant drives of a human who is
successful at making money - or most humans for that matter. It can take
20, 40 years, for a geek to come to terms with humans - or like my own
father, never in a lifetime.

Business types see tech people as tools to be used. You see electronics
people who are sucked dry after years of battling and a few rip-offs.

I must say I prefer a pay packet to running a business. The pay packet
tells me my employer is serious about the business - not like those chancers
who wasted my time on quotations and discussions that never produced a
return. And I don't have the worry of tax payments and book keeping.

Now I am happy to pay the bills and feed the kids. I could have done it all
so much smarter, but it has been a hell of a ride. I try to see the good
things and be kind to people.


Oh to have all this at my
> disposal so I could dream up cool things and just sit down
> and MAKE them without having to wait for my next $12 pay
> packet and queue up at McGrath's for my piddling shopping
> list of resistors and diodes!

Dave, I too spent money at McGrath's. Remember the counter staff - seedy,
cocky and ignorant. In my garage I have some parts and modest test gear
which I could never have dreamed of owning in the 1960s - yet I hardly touch
it - too dark, too cold, solder fumes - kind of leaves a void.


Roger Lascelles


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