Redefine engineering
With ‘hobbyism’ involving a lot of experimentation and innovation, there is ample scope for students (and fresh engineers) to even change the way in which engineering is viewed in India. It is important to understand that rather than seeing electronics as yet another degree-getter and a passport to land fancy jobs in multi-national corporations (MNC), improvement and improvisation should be the key focus.
“Mugging up electronics concepts and clearing exams is always there, but the approach of applying thought to make real-world objects smarter should be the focus for engineers. This is where electronic as a hobby enables a potentially better society that is technologically forward,” adds Dr Radhakrishnan.
At this juncture, it is vital to understand that the ultimate aim of engineering is to make society a better place to live in; with hobbyists taking to improvising the current system, the modern perception of engineering again turns traditional thereby leading to redefinition.
Effective electronics hobbies to cultivate
As far as specific areas are concerned, experts believe that students can start-off by teaching themselves embedded systems.
“Embedded is today an indispensable part of electronics engineering. Smartness is brought about, with effective deployment of embedded systems. Therefore, students can master embedded systems and start off by developing small working models to complement the Internet-of-Things (IoT),” states Prashanth who is co-founder of Bengaluru-based Fedo; a healthtech startup.
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) is also an area that has maximum potential real-world impact. Hence, this skillset can be cultivated as a hobby to build working prototypes to be later converted as actual physical systems.
Building a miniature FM/AM Radio is also a DIY project that is highly sought-after by electronics engineering students in their quest to develop innovative radio models.
With the internet buzzing with lot of hobbyists communities, students can easily interact with members to get a know-how on project ideas.
“Electronics hobbyists are on the decline nowadays. Therefore, it only adds value and does a world of good to the current generation student community to restart the trend and make our Indian society a technically-driven model society,” signs-off Dr Radhakrishnan.
Electronics as a hobby – in a nutshell; key learnings
Electronic as a hobby is fading away |
Students are better-placed to land core jobs, by turning into electronics hobbyists |
Electronics as a hobby adds value to education |
Fresh engineers become more employable |
Smart working models for societal issues can be developed |
Embedded systems is the perfect resource to work-on and develop models thus turning into electronics hobbyists |
Contributors to the story
Dr Radhakrishnan HK | a Bengaluru-based career counsellor possessing more than two decades of experience in guiding engineering students |
Shankar Ganesh | Bengaluru-based electronics engineer who also doubles up as a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) coach |
Chethan Krishna | Electronics Hobbyist |
Satish Babu | Electronics Hobbyist and Principal at an engineering college in Karnataka |
Prashanth | Co-Founder of Fedo – HealthTech startup |
Written by Rahul R, Senior Technical Journalist at EFY
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