Electronics
Electronics has been for the greatest part of my life a constant hobby and profession, both on the professional plane and when I’m relaxing back at home.
I see the world through the eyes of an electronic engineer, no because i plan to se it that way, but because i can’t help to wander about the processes involved in technology, and I’m forever wondered about how far humanity have gone using innovation and problem solution.
when i was 8 years old my Mom gifted my brother an electronics encyclopaedia, inside there were around a hundred circuits to etch, drill and solder, including all the components.
I remember my brother smile and mine when he received the gift and we started with the first circuit on the book, a simple, but incredible at that time LED oscillator using the NE555 chip
From that moment i never stopped working with components. Opening anything that come across my path that had some electronics inside. In primary school made a few projects using sensors and smart switches, like elevated bridges and door locks. Both, me and my brother went to a Technical highschool were we got specialized on the things that we liked the most. He studied electro-mechanics which joins Electric, Electronics, and Industrial Mechanics Engineering. I went down the path of pure Electronics getting my Engineering on Electronics degree. On the course of those years I learned all the tools i needed to build every single machine out there. Is not surprising that by being a musician my first devices were amplifiers and sound modulators.
The first time back in the 1997 when my family could afford us our first computer I was on top of it like it was the best thing I’ve come across ever. I still remember the “Energy Start” welcome logo, the RAM reading and the OK beep. It was an Intel i386 that I was able to open, take apart, and add Hard Drives, upgrade and put back together without manuals of guidance, back then, there was not internet to goole things up. So I was on my own if I broke something. I had to learn slowly and thinking all the process through. I was only 11 years old and i was already playing with machines.
After getting out of School I went to work with various technicians installing AudioVisual Multimedia Systems, on repair and spare parts shops, and finally landing my own electronics brand creating sound modulators and pedal boxes for guitars, my own electronic project that lasted for a few years before having to shut down because or electronics importation restrictions in Argentina.
Having to be resourceful in a country where economical stability is not a long term constant, it’s not easy. After dissolving my first company i went to work for a multinational company, and being good with computers and -according to friends- a good teacher I got a nice job as a Teacher for the Accounting system that the company had at that moment, a custom variation of Cabal ( i know, ancient) but it gave me the opportunity to travel around the country helping people to get along with their computers without hassle. It was in this moment when i was living on hotels a month at the time that i got really intrigued by the WEP WiFi protocol and Backtrack Linux back in 2007.
I still apply all my knowledge on electronics today every time I have to resolve an intricate problem or come up with a really clever solution that implies tweaking components.
Even though, my soldering iron and my multi-tester are always nearby, nowadays I’m more into Programming and Networking, Servers and applications, I feel electronics gives me the base to understand the underlaying world of hardware, and now it’s time to give way to the Software and learn to exploit all the capabilities it has to offer.
