I had a question asking me how to get started in electronics. It’s a hard question to answer but I thought I might collect some thoughts in this blog post.
The first thing that comes into my head is that if you want to understand electronics you really need to build circuits. I started with electronics when I was ten years old and back then I was connecting batteries and light bulbs and using paperclips and thumb tacks for switches and terminals. After you learn a little about power, wiring, and circuits it’s time to learn about passive devices: resistors (bring down voltage and current), capacitors (pass AC but block DC, store energy), and inductors (pass DC but block AC, store energy). You don’t need to focus on inductors if you’re mostly in digital land. After you learn about passive components you need to learn about active devices including diodes and BJT transistors. After that you will get into other semiconductor stuff including FETs, SCRs, integrated circuits, microcontrollers, etc. Project kits are a great way to get circuits to build for practice, I would recommend the Maxitronix 300in1 but there are a billion options out there when it comes to electronics kits. I don’t think it matters much if you breadboard your circuits or solder them together, but it’s good to have practice with both approaches to circuit implementation. After you know one hundred different ways to flash an LED or emit a tone you are well on your way to understanding electronics.
The second thing that comes to mind is that you really want to have access to as much test equipment as you can get. You want to have at least two multimeters, if not more. If you’re on a budget buy some cheap multimeters (I have five of these) otherwise you can get something decent over on the EEVblog store. Then, if you can, get yourself the best oscilloscope you can afford. If you’re on a budget look for a handheld scope otherwise get something for the bench. Learning how to use your oscilloscope will be a challenge (there is a lot to know) but it’s good equipment to develop familiarity with and it will help you understand what is happening in your circuits better than anything else.
Over on the website for In The Lab With Jay Jay you can get a chronological report of my equipment which roughly indicates what sort of stuff you probably want to buy first. But it’s very rough because some things I already had aren’t listed and some things I got aren’t necessary. But it’s at least some indication of what you might like to buy to facilitate your journey into electronics.
The third thing that comes to mind is make sure you have somewhere to ask questions! I would recommend the Beginners Forum over on the EEVblog forums, but there are heaps of other places to go on the internet. I don’t use it but the Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange is probably decent. If you’re down with IRC check out ##electronics on libera.chat.
The fourth thing that comes to mind is that a little math never hurt anyone who was trying to learn electronics. It’s best if you know enough algebra to know that if P=IV and V=IR then P=I2R. Also good to know is trigonometry and calculus. But you can limp along without much mathematics as long as you’re willing to make circuits and proceed through trial and error. Empiricism trumps analysis. Related to this: you should know the Greek alphabet, both uppercase and lowercase; you should start with knowing the letters and how to pronounce them, and eventually you should learn what they mean when they’re used in electronics. The main one to be familiar with is Ω for Ohms, but you should know all the rest too, including Δ, Σ, λ, ε, µ, Ï€, and θ.
The fifth thing that comes to mind, which is nevertheless very important, is that you should read as much as you possibly can. I have hundreds of electronics books but if I had to pick some books for absolute beginners I would pick something like this:
Also if you can get your hands on a product catalog from your local electronics store you can flip through and look at all of the components that are available. This is a pretty good (and cheap!) way to survey the territory. In Australia it’s these:
The sixth thing I will say is that if you want to learn electronics, given that it is now the year 2025, watch YouTube videos! There are videos on YouTube for all levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I have a few playlists on YouTube which are beginner friendly, including these:
And the last thing I will say is: be patient. There is a lot to learn and it will take a long time to learn it. Don’t try to start at the end. Just go through the process, doing the activities, reading, watching, and making circuits, and your familiarity with the subject matter will grow.
Good luck!
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