Please Help

[jseifert1984]

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for what I'm asking, so I apologize ahead of time. In the last 6 months audio gear has become my obsession and I hope to eventually make this passion my career. I am going to begin attending a local community college this summer and start working my way towards an electrical engineering degree. The predicament I find myself in is that no matter how much schooling I receive, I still need somebody ( a technician ) to teach me the "Hands-On" repair work. I have tried enlisting the help of several local repairmen to no avail. They are either too busy, or tired, or just dont care to help struggling newbies ( like myself ) grasp the complexities of stereo repair. I have tried reading books, but struggle to learn without the visual and hands-on aspects. I need someone to help me. I dont want to learn about stereo repair to make money or be self-employed. I want to learn about this stuff because I LOVE IT. If anyone who reads this lives in the Portland Oregon or Vancouver WA area, and if you would be willing to help teach me, I would really appreciate it. I'd have no problem trading some audio equipment in exchange for being taught. There has to be somebody who lives in my area who feels it's his/her duty to pass on what they have learned. All I want is to sit next to a technician and watch and learn. If anyone has other ideas on how I might expand my knowledge of stereo gear, I'm all ears.

 

[Jailtime]

First, welcome to AudioKarma!

Funny that we have two folks looking for hands-on tutoring in the same night-http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=304119. Read my post there. You can learn a bunch here by just reading the posts of the experts on the forum. Most posts are accompanied by pictures and schematics. You're just going to need to be patient, and actually get into the gear and break some. Yeah, I said that! Start on junk to build your confidence. It's taken my two years to build the most basic of troubleshooting skills, and I'm an avionics tech. Good luck, and have fun!

 

[newguy1]

Have you considered joining the armed forces........I hear they give LOTS of hands on training.

 

[Bucky Badger]

Welcome to AK. Good luck in your quest.

 

[terra1]

Frankly, I think you are needlessly fretting before even starting. Of course, electronics repair can be daunting if you start cold and don't know where to begin. But by going to school you are going to be given an education by progression. You're not expected to know everything all at once. You should be able to make your vocational experience and the stereo repair aspect whatever you want. Hopefully you'll learn a lot of the basics that can be applied to understanding stereo repair and at the same time primarily focus in finding a career in an industry with high demand.

Talk to an adviser or your instructors about your concerns and sorting out goals and focus. They can help you make a plan and strategy. They can help guide course selection and let you know how much hands-on projects are involved. And hopefully assist in networking among any connections they may have. Community colleges usually work with students and companies for internship placements and gearing course selection for specific interests. Any community college I know of will have labs where hands-on projects and exercises are completed.

A lot of the folks here have learned tweaking and fixing stereo equipment with a lot less education. There's no shortage of cheap thrift shop, craigslist, and eBay stereos that need some kind of work that you can practice on.

If you LOVE IT, find a way to learn it. If you can't, at least get the degree. :yes: