I was a kid during this time. My recollection is that electronics, the school electronics lab, and the people there, were even nerdier than the software equiva

I was a kid during this time. My recollection is that electronics, the school electronics lab, and the people there, were even nerdier than the software equivalents, and also much 'stricter', already well-established and less accessible, whereas software was a new country, open for exploration, with stories in the press of kids making fortunes on video games, etc. Also that the electronics industry was being completely taken over by the Asian economies.