Starting Electrical Engineering

Starting is always the hardest part. Everyone can apply themselves if they know where to do it. It's not always about how to learn but what to learn. All of those statements are completely true. In this society where everyone is looking at code and, for the most part, ignoring electrical engineering, it is hard to find resources and figure out what to learn. It leaves us to find our small community and see what actually matters to learn.

Starting

There are plenty of ways to start. You can always start on the theory side of things, find concepts online, and apply the math equations together to see what happens, a more academic approach. That is not always the most beneficial, especially if you are just trying to make projects and don’t want it to be your career. If that sounds like you, then I encourage you to take a more hands-on approach.

Hands-on

For a hands-on approach, it may seem a little confusing to start; that is why you combine it with a minimal amount of theory to understand the basics. All the theory you need to understand here is Ohm's law and KVL and KCL, not to do math with but on a conceptual level to understand how electricity flows. Then you shift to seeing those concepts with a breadboard and LEDs and other basic components. I highly recommend some sort of LED, as it gives you visible confirmation on how things are really working and not just what you thought would happen.

Theory

Theory is a very useful tool. It is not for everyone to dive into and enjoyable to few. There are many paths to take, as well as whether you want to go into signal and systems-type study or power systems; there gets a point where you have to specialize your study. I do recommend that everyone at some point understand the theory from DC to AC and all the way through basic transistors and common transistor circuits using BJTs and MOSFETs. Theory is nothing to stress about, as it comes with time and is not easy.

What you should do

At this point you need to self-reflect and figure out what your true goals are and how that affects what you spend your time learning. Everything is not for everyone, but there is definitely a spot for you in electrical engineering, and if you need help figuring that out, come stop by our community. Here at We are Creation, we want to help you figure out those goals and how you pursue them. Let us help @WAC.