Joys of building
I like sparkling lights and making things. I remember my Dad introducing me to electronics from an early age. Together with my sister we’d put together one of those early electronic kits. I still remember building a crystal radio and being amazed that it worked.
I now hold a degree in Electronic Engineering from Dublin City University. I graduated in 2000. Near the end of my course, I realised I didn’t want a life of chip design as I saw it. Electronics took a long time to get right. I liked building things quickly and rapidly iterating. I discovered software engineering gave me this. So I side stepped into it and never looked back.
I haven’t built a single electronic circuit since I graduated. I even forgot the red wire is for positive voltage! I decided to regain some hard earned knowledge and bought the ”ELEGOO Mega 2560 Project The Most Complete Ultimate Starter Kit”.
It has been great fun wiring all the components and programming the Arduino. I’ve even come up with my own project to show the temperature, humidity and the “comfort level”. You can check this out on my Github here.
Its important to find time to play and do things like this. It reminds me of the simple joys of putting something together and seeing it work, without having a deadline or reason to do so. This reconnects me with earlier times and gives me a break from the busy humdrum of modern life.
