I would like to start a career in electronics

[tony8404]

starting a career in electronics

Hello everyone, i just want to say that i am sooo glad that i found this forum. This forum seems to be more of my calibour. I am registered with two other forums but to me since i lack knowledge and am a newbie to electronics i feel avoided or answers to my questions are just to shut me up lol..

Well, i am 30 year old male in chicago. I have grown up with computers know them very well but do not like them enough for a career. My father was a electronic design engineer for at least 30 years and he had gone to devry with a gi bill. Well, one day he was telling me about his retirement and i was pretty impressed. With that said i took a look at myself and had noticed there is no way in heck i will be able to retire with my procurement job not to mention put my two girls through college and have my wife stay home.

Growing up my father worked like it was going out of style I rarely saw him and my mother was too busy with my little sister and the house work. So i was pretty much out on the streets most of my life. Well, i wish my parents would not have relied on the high school counselor to help me with college cause i thought it was a joke, no one ever told me about it and life after highschool/college. i do not blame them entirely just wish i had more guidance and alittle of the, that is how you will end up if you dont go. lol

So now lets put it this way i wish i could go back 10 years and had gone to college. Now that i have the full time job, kids, house, wife is laid off i myself cannot go to full time college like i would like to go to for an engineering degree. I just tried to go to a trade school which sucked. They do everything to get you in and then you wake up and see it is not worth it.

So now here i am with a 5,000 dollar bill for 6 months of crap. Right now i am trying to teach myself by reading the books and soon to start buying little electronic kits to put together and mess with for hands on experience for now. once i feel i have a good grasp of this stuff i will go back and breeze through the other 6 months and get my diploma for electrical construction maintenance.

My question is this.. is it possible to learn on your own? especially since i have a engineer with 30 plus years of experience for free at any time? I was also thinking once i learned alot on my own i was thinking of doing an online engineering degree any thoughts?

Here is a link to the school i was attending and the course if you dont mind checking it out and letting me know is it worth it or just to start out and not to mention what kind of job would i be able to get with this diploma cause i cannot find any of these answers... thanks


Here is a link to the course i am going to go back and finish on
http://www.coyneamerican.edu/progra...s in before i found out it was complete crap http://www.coyneamerican.edu/programs/electronics-systems-technician/


If anyone can give me some advice, help, opinion anything please let me know thanks again.

 

[xulfee]

amy be u can learn but the man wid alot of experience it will be difficult for u if u don't knw much abt electronics,see some book

 

[RSuarez]

I looked at the website of the school you're attending, and it looks like it's nto what you might want. Have a look at the program that CIE offers:

https://www.cie-wc.edu/

What you are taking now is for Electrical construction, which sound way different than electronics applications. It looks like it is a course to become an electrician, not an electronics tech, and to work in that field you need a license from the state you live in (as far as I know). I have worked in electronics for more than 25 years and I can assure you, CIE sounds more like what I have studied and worked on. A course in electricity and a course in electronics are quite different. First, I think you have to define what you really want to become before you spend thousands of $$$. $5000 is a lot of money for that course. If you want to start a career in electronics, why don;t yuou try the community college first. It might be waaaaay cheaper. In CA we have what they call ROP (Regional Occupational Program: **broken link removed**) schools. They have FREE courses in a lto of trades, but I am not sure if there are any of these schools in Chicago area. Search the net or call the offices in CA for more info.
But again, like I said, have a look ant your community colleges aroudn you and if you want to try something online of via mail, try CIE.
Good luck!!