> I don't know what it's like in the States, but here at
> the University of Calgary in Canada the first
> two / three years of EE is mostly theoretical stuff.

Which is the big problem with college engineering courses.  Virtually every
skill I use in my job I learned by doing things in the lab, by grappling
with PCB layout software, by teaching myself assembler and C, and so on.  I
learned a lot more about electronics in a two-year high school electronics
course and in five years on a T.V. repair bench then I ever did at an
engineeering college.  My BSEE did give me the theroetical background and
the math to understand how electronics really ticks, but that and a diploma
were all I got out of it.  All chalk talk, no actual design, no hands-on, no
practicality.

Many people say that a recent BSEE grad has just enough knowledge to *start*
learning electronics.

I guess I will really be looking for someone with enough interest in
electronics to take it up as a hobby, to teach themselves to solder, to
spend two hours trying to fix a $5 radio, to spent whole weekends trying to
build a robot, and so on.  If they just are a sharp student in school, and
that is all, they won't be any use to me.

--Lawrence

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