Avoid first principles (to start with), instead focus on a domain you're interested in and buy a DIY kit from a vendor in that domain to solve a niche applicati

Avoid first principles (to start with), instead focus on a domain you're interested in and buy a DIY kit from a vendor in that domain to solve a niche application. Repeat 3-10 times. Start dabbling in other domains. If you have a question, youtube it. The way a lot of people get into electronics, as a hobby, is wanting a piece of hardware for a simple application, seeing existing solutions are very expensive, and discovering a community of people building their own solutions. The way a lot of people get out of electronics, as a hobby, is loosing interest. Seeing something you built come to life is a great way to maintain interest, getting stuck in theory and first principals may delay that gratification long enough to loose interest. Later on it's fantastic for building something new from scratch that no one has seen before (even more gratifying.) For every generation this is different so depending how old the person you're asking you'll likely get a different 'stock answer' about how they got into it. In the 50's it was radio equipment. In the 60' was home built hi-fi. In the 70's it was kit computers. In the 80's it was a lot of radio controlled aircraft. In the 90's a lot of car tuning. In the 2000's it was modchips for video game consoles. In the 2010's a lot of stuff with Arduinos for smarthome, smart clothing, art projects. The details and exact time periods may vary a bit but the general idea is you get something tailored to your needs better and cheaper than buying off the shelf. A good place to start is find a project someone else has done and written up, recreate it, modify it, then publish your twist on it. Repeat. For instance, here is a good starting point to add custom mood-lighting to your home: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide Keep a journal of things you have open questions about as you're going through these projects on dropbox paper (for instance) and fill them in with knowledge by asking on forums, stack exchanges, youtube, here and elsewhere.