Right now is a great time to learn about lower level, "on the metal" type programming! Has been for a while now. People, like Ben Eater, are making great kits

Right now is a great time to learn about lower level, "on the metal" type programming! Has been for a while now. People, like Ben Eater, are making great kits. Components are not so expensive. You can (and will) fail. Get more, get gear, try again. One can get good gear, scope, meter, solder station, etc... at good prices. Used pro gear is a good option too. Making things, signal generator, logic analyzer, are also fun projects. And there are many programming options from assembly to Python showing up. I love this stuff and often couple it with retro computing. The speeds are low enough to make most things possible for fairly new comers. Jump in. It is fun! Great post OP.