I would NOT get into any type of repairs (full stop)
it is a dyeing industry.
"Patch" wrote in message
news
:
: "Commander Dave" wrote in message
: ...
: Greetings all,
:
: Having been laid off from my job, I was thinking that it was time for a
: change and want to take a "distance learning" program in electronics.
Not
: having any idea where to begin, I thought I would ask for the group's
: advice.
:
: Situation:
:
: I am 39 years old and have worked in IT for many years and last held a
: Network Administrator position. They closed my last place of employment
: and
: it seems that the job market is pretty tight around here for the this
type
: of work. I also do not have any formal degree, just lots of experience.
I
: am
: currently playing Mr. Mom to my 20 month old boy and 4 month old girl,
: which
: keeps me running... :-) Traditional learning (i.e. live classes) is
pretty
: much out of the question.
:
: My hobby is coin-op video games, collecting, repair and general
tinkering.
: I
: can fix many games and monitors, but my skills are self taught and
mainly
: rely on the shotgun approach. I enjoy working with electronics, and
would
: like to open a small business repairing various types of electronics
: equipment. Not sure exactly what, but I do know that it would probably
be
: older electronics rather than "state of the art" type stuff. Perhaps
: vintage
: computer/video game restorations? I think the key word here would be
: "vintage", but I am not totally locked into that category.
:
: What I would like to find:
:
: A distance learning program that is EFFECTIVE in teaching electronics
: skills
: mainly for the purpose of troubleshooting and repair, but doesn't have
to
: be
: limited to just that.
:
: An Electrical Engineering degree program would be nice too, but a degree
: is
: far from being required. I need practical teaching. Classes on video
tape
: would be nice, not just book learning. The main idea is that I get my
: money's worth.
:
: I did find one online, but never heard of it before... here is the link:
:
http://pcdi-homestudy.com/courses/el/outline.html
: The course material sounds ok, but it is all dry learning - no live
class
: video.
:
: Anyone out there have any good information on a electronics distance
: learning program? Any good advice? Gotcha's?
:
: Thanks everyone,
: -Commander Dave
:
: Dave, having been in the consumer electronics repair since 1957, I can
: tell you it is a dying market. If I were younger, I would learn Cam-corder
: repair. In my city of 150,000, there is not one shop that repairs them. As
: to repairing old video\arcade games, there's not much of a market for
that.
: I get maybe 1 or 2 requests a year asking for someone that repairs arcade
: machines. Plasma TVs would be another thing to learn. Of the 3 TV shops in
: my town, not one of them knows anything about Plasma TVs. If one breaks
: down, it will be a factory Tech that will make the service call. As to
home
: study courses, I took an advanced electronics course while in the army &
it
: went well for about 6 months. They then took up algebra & that's where
they
: lost me. Not having an instructor to ask questions to made it a real pain
&
: I lost interest in it.
: Good luck.
:
: