I’m also a hobbyist and I think it’s just slow and incremental. This year I decided to expand my electronics hobby into synth stuff. I was by no means prepare

I’m also a hobbyist and I think it’s just slow and incremental. This year I decided to expand my electronics hobby into synth stuff. I was by no means prepared for this, but after a year of studying various synth module circuits I’m starting recognize certain patterns when I look at a schematic. Perhaps the hardest part of this process was learning enough to start asking good questions. Everything has gotten so much easier in the last 2 or 3 months because I’ve finally built enough confidence, knowledge and intuition to ask my EE friends why something was designed a certain way. I’ve also learned that they are often equally puzzled. :-) I think it helps if you have a project you’re working towards.