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Entrepreneurs and Electrical/Electronics

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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

Hi!

This is exactly what I was talking about (but probably did not make myself clear enough) :D. Stories of entreprenuers who used their knowledge and skills to get around obstacles. I'm pretty sure that there will be a number of companies started and run by elctronics guys who weren't engineers (and hell, maybe some who were poor at mathematics) but succeeded anyway. I suppose I was just wanting to hear some confirmation and maybe stories about those who had done it.
 
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

Tis where I am coming from Boncuk. 18 Hours of work is nothing if you really see the end result of your efforts. My motto in life: "Do the best you can or don't bother".

BTW... I am German too. All or nothing. No half measures here.

Cheers
 

Sorry but half of what he said might be proven to be true, the other half is his opinion.

Yes he bought microsoft original software from another company,
True.

he is a ruthless greedy crook truth be told.
Matter of opinion, fair comment would be an adequate defence.

HE could have charged half what he does for his software, and still have been richer than some small nations, but he didn't.
True.

Microsoft
Revenue: $58.437 billion

Afghanistan
GDP: $11.709 billion

I'm no fan of Microsoft but I don't think they're any worse than any other company. I think it's the US government's fault that they have a near monopoly on the desktop operating system and office software market.

Some of Microsoft's business tactics haven't been good for the computer industry mainly:bundling their operating system with Internet Explorer and making deals with computer manufacturers so they have to all their PCs with the latest version of Windows; both have limited the choice for the consumer. Suppose I don't want to buy a PC with Windows on, suppose I want Linux or BSD? It's very hard to buy a decent machine with no OS installed so I can install it myself.
 
Hi ericgibbs, I would advise caution in your posts, are you suggesting I am guilty of liable?

No I am not suggesting that, but some lawyer looking for a fast buck may do.
 
Hey guys, can we keep the thread on topic please? Not very helpful when everyone starts derailing. Thanks. :)
 
No I am not suggesting that, but some lawyer looking for a fast buck may do.

Apart from the fact that half of what he said it true and can be backed up by valid sources (I'll provide some if you're really bothered), I think Bill Gates and his lawyers have got better things to do, than scour the Internet looking for for people to sue for saying silly things, on silly forums that no one cares about.
 
I did a basic electronics course (city and guilds in industrial electronics) in 1980 and that got me started in the industry.
I got taken on by a telecomms company to simply test equipment
I quickly found I could repair the equipment as well which went down well with the boss.
After a few months of test and repair work I had a go at designing some telecoms equipment and it worked well.
I was given a Sinclair Spectrum to have a play with and quickly got into Z80 programming.
I was then given numerous software projects on home computers to work with modems and teletext equipment.

I left that company after 3 years and got a job as a design consultant and did that for 16 years.

I cant say the maths I needed was anything at A level or degree level, I mostly got away with electronics basic equations upto GCSE level.

I suppose I was lucky in that the company I worked for to start with couldnt afford degree level engineers os they made do with myself.
A good part of the work I learned as I went along from datasheets and books and loads of practice.

I really cant see that I would get away with that these days because an HNC/HND/ degree is considered the minimum required to get into electronic design.

I retired from the electroncis industry a few years ago but still do a bit of work for myself, mostly analogue design and a bit of microcontroller work.
 
As a fully trained Electronics Technician, I ended up getting a very good job working in IT and now run a fairly large infrastructure for a major multi-national.

Doing the course, when it came time to do the "on the job training" part, we found we couldn't even give away our time and skills for free to potential electrnics shops/repairers!

I would say now, unless you don't need to rely on it for income, it's just no way to make a living for 99.99% of people.
 
My thoughts have been posted on other threads on Electro Tech.

Thing is I really enjoy fixing TV's. I get a kick out of it everytime I manage to fix a set that a competitor has been unable to fix. The money is another area though.....

There is a limit to what you can charge to fix something that is basically (thanks to the Chinese) an affordable product. Albeit cheap and nasty. Whereas, in the older days, TV's were built to last. There are still some Telefunken 711 and Philips K9 chassis around that have lasted all of 35 Years. Tubes might have been changed over the years. But the chassis were designed to last....

Nowday's, you cannot expect a Chinese chassis TV to live for longer than just out of Warranty. Which is around 1 year.

Everything on the chassis is made as cheaply as possible. Line Output Transformers are one of the many culprits. (We call them LOPTX). They generate around 27 KV to the tubes Anode Cap. The Anode "charges" the tube so that the Electrons emitted from the three guns (Red, Green, Blue) are accelerated fast enough to hit the screen and give you a picture. (Basic explanation here, it is way more complicated)

Anyway, back on Topic. I am still making the same kind of money I was making in 1998. That sucks.

And I am fixing more TV's per day now than I was then.....

OK. Good advise from a TV Tech. If you want to buy a new TV...ALWAYS STICK WITH WELL KNOWN BRANDS. LG, SAMSUNG etc. Sorry for shouting.

Not some unknown of bargain TV for a bargain price. When it breaks, you may as well throw it away. Technicians will not be able to repair it without access to original spares[/B

Thank you
 
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