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Entrepreneurs and Electrical/Electronics

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thefray

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Hello all, I'm new and hope that this board will teach me a lot. I'm in my 20's and have always had a knack for electrical/electronic things, and am thinking that I want to put it to good use. I have been in a similar industry and now have a little spare cash and time to learn what I need to advance onto my next phase.

I'm wanting to start working in electronics, however Mathematics has never been my strong suit, and to be honest I think I have some sort of disability with it. So, knowing myself and how I am, I'm thinking I can do the next best thing (Electronics/electrical technician) and get my "Fix" that way.

I have a few questions about this, though. Are opportunities more limited for technicians vs full blown engineers? Does anyone know of any successful people who made a lot of money and were not engineers but technicians? (Would it severely limit my abilities in being entrepreneurial in the field?) Or is that limited to just engineers?

I'm basically looking for some experiences (technicians esp) of people who are entrepreneurial and have not let higher level qualifiactions stand in their way.

Thanks to anyone who replies. Cheers.
 
Unfortunately, mathematics (particularly applied math) is the language of engineering and electronics. If you are math challenged, it will be difficult to understand even the fundamental concepts of electronics. But certainly there are many people in technical industries that are highly successful without needing high mathematical ability (see Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc.). Of course these people still have a high degree of general technical knowledge and even more business knowledge.

You mention opportunities and being entrepreneurial, but what exactly does that mean to you? If you better define that, then we can perhaps give you better advice.
 
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sorry if this is off topic but I figured it would be best asked in this thread. I'm having to take all these math and physics classes for EE and I'm not really sure why. In my whole 10 years of working with electronics I have never seen an example where I would need really anymore knowledge than basic algebra and a little trig. Can someone give me an idea of why I have to take 3 calculus classes? I just really don't see how it's necessary. Thanks
 
Unfortunately, mathematics (particularly applied math) is the language of engineering and electronics. If you are math challenged, it will be difficult to understand even the fundamental concepts of electronics. But certainly there are many people in technical industries that are highly successful without needing high mathematical ability (see Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc.). Of course these people still have a high degree of general technical knowledge and even more business knowledge.

You mention opportunities and being entrepreneurial, but what exactly does that mean to you? If you better define that, then we can perhaps give you better advice.

Bill Gates came from a pretty wealthy background, without that I doubt anyone would have heard of him.
 
Sorry, I wouldn't recomend anyone become an electronics technician, The jobs are all going away. Also those jobs that are still around don't pay very well. It's about supply and demand.
 
Bill Gates came from a pretty wealthy background, without that I doubt anyone would have heard of him.
Gates' father was a lawyer and his family was considered upper middle-class. Don't know that that classifies as pretty wealthy. But a lot of guys come from a wealthy background and, chances are, you haven't heard about many of them. Gates is a very smart and driven person, and I doubt that the amount of his family's money was that significant in his developing the largest software company in the world.
 
sorry if this is off topic but I figured it would be best asked in this thread. I'm having to take all these math and physics classes for EE and I'm not really sure why. In my whole 10 years of working with electronics I have never seen an example where I would need really anymore knowledge than basic algebra and a little trig. Can someone give me an idea of why I have to take 3 calculus classes? I just really don't see how it's necessary. Thanks
I know I didn't exactly enjoy all the math required in the engineering classes I took. And I also don't use most of it in practice. But I believe learning the math is necessary to understand the basis for the operation of all electrical and electronic circuits. It's true you can use algebra to solve many AC and DC electrical and magnetic circuit problems, but if you don't understand the differential equations describing these circuits and how they are converted into a form that allows them to be solved with simple algebraic functions, then your knowledge is rather superficial, and may fail you if you encounter a problem that can't be solved by standard formulas.

And, of course, the amount of math you need to use depends greatly on the type of electronic work you are doing. For example, if you doing design of microwave circuits, then a good understanding of the differential equations governing the flow of electro-magnetic wave in the wires and waveguides is pretty well a necessity.

Understand that with a good education you often learn more then you will use in practice. But you usually don't know in advance exactly which part of your education you will use. There are dozens of different electronic specialties and each can use a different subset of your educational knowledge.
 
In fact it is generally considered that Bill Gates was a genius at maths and indeed came top of his year at Harvard. He struggled with English and grammar though and apparently his spelling is atrocious. His backround I think was irrelevant. He is driven and determined to win, but also got himself in a growth industry right at the start and drove the direction of it through will power.

Back to the original post, you really need to be fully qualified to get anywhere in electronics. As a technician, your opportunities and pay will be limited
 
From what I gather Bill Gates wasn't the best programmer, he strengths lie more in business, marketing and making money. He probably wasn't the most intelligent person at university but he was probable the most determined. I think that drive, determination and self belief are far more important qualities for doing well in business than brains.
 
From what I gather Bill Gates wasn't the best programmer, he strengths lie more in business, marketing and making money. He probably wasn't the most intelligent person at university but he was probable the most determined. I think that drive, determination and self belief are far more important qualities for doing well in business than brains.

Passion is the most important thing. You set a goal and do all in your power to acheive it.

Maths and lot's of brainpower will get you nowhere without Passion. Passion can drive you nuts...but at least you have given your very best in all you do. With or without Maths.

My take. That's all. You can have the most qualified person and he/she will be of zero use to a Project/Company/Task without commitment. Which is passion to make things happen and work. Properly.
 
From what I gather Bill Gates wasn't the best programmer, he strengths lie more in business, marketing and making money. He probably wasn't the most intelligent person at university but he was probable the most determined. I think that drive, determination and self belief are far more important qualities for doing well in business than brains.

I agree, but I will add you are not outright born with these qualities - look at all the successful people (we have Richard Branson as your Bill gates) and they were all driven hard by their parents without which I doubt they would be where they are today. I would say they certainly have the predisposition to become succesful but I bet there are 100,000 Bill Gates or Branson's in the world for each generation that never amount to anything. It is known many very bright and capable individuals live a desperate poor-mans life.

There are also some very rich idiots that prove you do not need to be a cut above the rest to appear successful in life. We have Alan Sugar, who even admits himself he got very lucky - I am not sure but Donald Trump strikes me as someone who was born in the right womb.

Parenting is a heck of a lot more than driving your kids though, it is about bringing them up in a well adjusted environment amongst many other subtle things and as I am finding now is a balance you are always fighting to get right!

BTW I am not in anyway bitter about people born into money or privileged environments, in fact I have a heck of a lot of respect for people like Bill Gates - more than most people it seems. I just see that people who say you entirely make your own life are normally talking from a pedestal and haven't been (or started) as low as some of the people who never really made much of themselves. They feel they have to attribute the success to themselves in a form of self justification when perhaps they should attribute some of that success to their family or previous mentors.[/rant] :)
 
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No offense to Bill Gates but I read a biography on him at one point in school and was really let down. He doesn't really program or anything technical, his friend did all of that. He didn't actually create DOS, he stumbled into buying it from, if I remember correctly IBM but I'm not 100% on that. I think he just got lucky and got the timing right is mainly how he did it.
 
No offense to Bill Gates but I read a biography on him at one point in school and was really let down. He doesn't really program or anything technical, his friend did all of that. He didn't actually create DOS, he stumbled into buying it from, if I remember correctly IBM but I'm not 100% on that. I think he just got lucky and got the timing right is mainly how he did it.

Exactly he's a businessman, not a computer programmer, like I said. There's nothing wrong with that, they're totally different skills.
 
Hi all,

here's my story about "entrepreneur".

I served as pilot in the GAF (German Air Force) for 23 years when I retired at an age of 43 years - much too young to go to the park and count birds.

I had little experience in electronics, but lots in aerodynamics and electronic warfare.

Opening an electronics shop was almost desastrous in the small town I lived in. So I looked for a job using my knowledge and abilities.

An industrial fan manufacturer from the UK searched for service personal to take their "Varofoil" fans into operation at the customer's site. Those fans had variable pitch propellers making them useful for air movement in large buildings like hospitals, offices and schools, either for constant pressure or constant air volume flow.

I did a few jobs on test base, found installation errors very quickly and solved the problems.

After one month I received a contract with that company, to continue work with them on my own business risk with just customer's addresses provided and information about the setup the customer desired.

I guess I must have performed well since my company's name (one man company) was traded all over Europe to find hidden construction errors and correct for them for proper function of the entire air movement system - including clean room techniques.

I won't talk about money, but it was more than I ever had expected to earn.

My advice: Find a niche where you can do better than any competitor. (Be prepared for 18 hours of work per day.)

Boncuk
 
Gates' father was a lawyer and his family was considered upper middle-class. Don't know that that classifies as pretty wealthy. But a lot of guys come from a wealthy background and, chances are, you haven't heard about many of them. Gates is a very smart and driven person, and I doubt that the amount of his family's money was that significant in his developing the largest software company in the world.

He was from a wealthy family, senior lawyers and bank directors he went to top school which cost more than a lot of people earn. That definitely classes someone as seriously wealthy unless you rub shoulders with those type on a daily basis.

I think you will find I know lots of guys from wealthy backgrounds, pick any well know person, look them up and wiki and it is disturbing how many of them come from wealthy
backgrounds!!


It's not what you know it's wjo you know, Microsoft products are rubbish and the guy is essentially a criminal.
 
In fact it is generally considered that Bill Gates was a genius at maths and indeed came top of his year at Harvard. He struggled with English and grammar though and apparently his spelling is atrocious. His backround I think was irrelevant. He is driven and determined to win, but also got himself in a growth industry right at the start and drove the direction of it through will power.

Back to the original post, you really need to be fully qualified to get anywhere in electronics. As a technician, your opportunities and pay will be limited


TO say his background is irrelevant ludicrous, if he had been born into a poor background he would be a nobody.


If he is a genius at maths why does msconfig give me access denied errors that cannot be resolved after 5 years?

He's just a greedy corrupt crook end of, lot's of greedy corrupt crooks become rich and famous, most of the famous and rich are basically crooks.
 
From what I gather Bill Gates wasn't the best programmer, he strengths lie more in business, marketing and making money. He probably wasn't the most intelligent person at university but he was probable the most determined. I think that drive, determination and self belief are far more important qualities for doing well in business than brains.

Yes he bought microsoft original software from another company, he is a ruthless greedy crook truth be told.

HE could have charged half what he does for his software, and still have been richer than some small nations, but he didn't.
 
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I agree, but I will add you are not outright born with these qualities - look at all the successful people (we have Richard Branson as your Bill gates) and they were all driven hard by their parents without which I doubt they would be where they are today. I would say they certainly have the predisposition to become succesful but I bet there are 100,000 Bill Gates or Branson's in the world for each generation that never amount to anything. It is known many very bright and capable individuals live a desperate poor-mans life.

There are also some very rich idiots that prove you do not need to be a cut above the rest to appear successful in life. We have Alan Sugar, who even admits himself he got very lucky - I am not sure but Donald Trump strikes me as someone who was born in the right womb.

Parenting is a heck of a lot more than driving your kids though, it is about bringing them up in a well adjusted environment amongst many other subtle things and as I am finding now is a balance you are always fighting to get right!

BTW I am not in anyway bitter about people born into money or privileged environments, in fact I have a heck of a lot of respect for people like Bill Gates - more than most people it seems. I just see that people who say you entirely make your own life are normally talking from a pedestal and haven't been (or started) as low as some of the people who never really made much of themselves. They feel they have to attribute the success to themselves in a form of self justification when perhaps they should attribute some of that success to their family or previous mentors.[/rant] :)

Funny you mention Branson, you know how he got rich?
Through criminality, he was importing stuff and not paying taxes one it, when he was caught
his rich mum paid off the police the money he owed so they would not prosecute him.

That's crime one, crime two is he was involved in illegal price rigging with British Airways on the cost of flights.
He went to the police himself, (presumably he knew the game was up) and guess what, they let him off and let him keep about £270 million he made through illegal price rigging.

Remember these are the things he has been caught doing, who knows what else he has been up to.

Gates has been involved in his anti-competitive anti-trust stuff (price rigging or whatever).

Message is if you want to do well be a criminal
 
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