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To keep matters short, after an extended amount of time hating the day to day grind of programming I began playing with electronics and hardware again, and I co
by drannex 6y ago
To keep matters short, after an extended amount of time hating the day to day grind of programming I began playing with electronics and hardware again, and I couldn't have been happier.
I have always had a passion for hardware, many will disagree with what I say next but this is a personal thought: software isn't real. It isn't tangible, most code doesn't do anything that has any direct effect other than through people interacting (if that) with the real world. It is a format of making that does not age well as most code fails after a few years, it's all in your mind, and it never interfaces or have a texture outside of a screen or a keyboard. It doesn't have the feeling of a true project.
My suggestion is to start tinkering with hardware. The feeling of accomplishing real world things - even if it's just an LED blinking! Is extremely exciting for someone tired of only imagining physical processes and instead actually witnessing your code doing things in the real, physical, actual world.
I did this, and it opened a whole new world for me. I build robots from scratch, and I've turned it into my full time job. Even if most never go that far (hardware is hard! I don't suggest it in most cases! ) it will still be the best decision you could make for your mental health.
Write some code, see it play out in the real world. Have fun with servos, motors, lights, vibration motors (my favorite, seeing them jump around) , and rekindle that child within you. You'll love all forms of coding afterwards again, and you'll build some cool stuff you can show your friends and family and be proud.
You could be a great hardware hacker in disguise, we need more of them in the world!
- lifeplusplus 6y agoi can see this working, before i got into progaming i got into analog circuits and used to 'code' random logic with transistors and led bulbs. red led bulbs rule.
- simplemen 6y agoHow would you get started? And did you turn it into your fulltime job?
- sidpatil 6y ago> I build robots from scratch, and I've turned it into my full time job.
- drannex 6y agoI started a robotics company, we develop small-scale robotics for different types of consumers. I'll repost my comment that I made on tildes.net about a month ago: You can get a lot of the basics down really quickly, low cost, and all you need is a PC, an Arduino, a breadboard, and a few servos! From there you can build a lot of very cool and interesting (and sometimes useful!) stuff! I also like messing with vibration motors with mine, in fact I hate using LED's on them so I use that for Hello Worlds :) I dislike tutorials (I'm a hacker at heart) but there are a lot (589) tutorials/projects on the Arduino Robotics project site, a few thousand on the hackaday.io site, or on Hackster.io with a few thousand more! There has never been a better and more beautiful time to get into electronics or robotics! Keep in mind if an idea requires a 3D printer (and you don't have access to one), you can usually get by with some hot glue and craft sticks (tongue depressors), also have fun and find things around the house, I use a lot of random plastic containers to build shapes for fun DIY projects, and cardboard and duct tape is always fantastic. Don't let anything stop you from building and having fun with it!
- the_only_law 6y agoI got interested in hardware for a brief amount of time. There were so many things I wanted to build. Then I realized that to do anything moderately complex I would need a math ability far beyond my own and had to give it up. I agree though, that something tangible ends up being cooler than software.
- drannex 6y agoYou can do a lot without the need of any higher level math, yes it makes it easier if you know some, but it's not required for most projects! Besides, people smarter than us have a lot of really great tutorials and explanations, if you need something specific. Be creative!