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My undergrad prof didn't call out moms specifically, but was very negative towards any sort of mention of hobby/amateur electronics. For him, it was specificall
by zrobotics 4y ago
My undergrad prof didn't call out moms specifically, but was very negative towards any sort of mention of hobby/amateur electronics. For him, it was specifically because he thought that the only way to learn the basics was to have the calc & physics underpinning first before even knowing what the components actually do. This was in reference to overhearing a classmate explaining to someone why anyone would care about a capacitor. It was typical undergrad physics material discussing the mathematics behind a capacitor, and this person was mentioning some of the real-world uses like filtering. I clearly remember the prof saying "oh, you're one of those hobbyists" followed by something to the effect of that we were there to learn, not play around.
Basically, just an elitist attitude that the proper way to learn about electronics is to start with the math, and anything else wasn't proper engineering. Which is sad, b/c from what I remember Forrest Mims' books are actually some of the best intro electronics info available, since he doesn't gloss over the complexity but still writes in a way that doesn't require 2 semesters of calculus to understand.
- marmetio 4y agoSeems like he wasn't up to the challenge of teaching basic information to people who expressed an interest in the topic as kids.
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago> I clearly remember the prof saying "oh, you're one of those hobbyists" I have a very different, and more pleasant, memory of walking into a 3rd-year Electromagnetic Fields class that had some stuff on the board leftover from a senior-year "Microwaves and Radar" class. Prof said, "half a point on the midterm to anyone who knows what that diagram is." I glanced up, said, "Smith chart" and went back to getting my assignment out. He stared at me in surprise and said "Oh, we have a ham in the room!" Don't remember if I ever got my 0.5 point increase though. I do remember barely passing that class!