Electronics as work and hobby, is it possible? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ballanux
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2013, 07:32:25 pm
content: Hi all!It just occurred to me that since more than a year ago, when I started working as an electronic designer (I mainly do schematic designs and uC programming) I haven't finished absolutely any of my own personal projects!!Before this job, my work had a little less to do with electronics, it mainly was instrumentation, PC programming and EMC testing. As my main interest always has been electronics I always had two or three personal projects going on. Right now I enjoy my work much more and I'm very happy with it, but when I get home after 8+ hours of electronics, the last thing I want is to work on my projects!I don't know if anyone has experienced the same, but I have found out that if I want a hobby... it has to be anything else than electronics or programming...

author: Excavatoree
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2013, 07:38:12 pm
content: Dave did it. Eventually, his hobby became his new job after he started something called the "EEVBLOG."

author: yanir
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2013, 07:43:18 pm
content: I'm in a similar situation. Electronics started out as a hobby for me and I'm fortunate to have been able to incorporate into to my job. I was doing home projects mostly to improve my skills. Now I'm doing some freelance work so I don't have the time to work on hobby projects even if I had the energy for it. The little free time I have is usually spent vegging out in front of the tv.I still have lots of project ideas and sometimes wish I could do small fun projects that have nothing to do with work. Hopefully one day...

author: jpb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2013, 07:45:01 pm
content: I think this is very true.It is not just that you do electronics all day, it is also that you are more enthused by your day job - the more you put in during the day the less you have left for evenings and weekends.I'm just getting back into electronics as a hobby as I no longer do it as a job - I now do research into computer science which is very different. Even so it is hard to find the time and energy to make much progress in free time.When you've been with your present job for a while you'll probably be less involved and may find the work projects a bit similar to each other and then you may start getting back into your own projects again.

author: ballanux
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2013, 08:12:28 pm
content: Quote from: Excavatoree on April 24, 2013, 07:38:12 pmThat's a very special case and I think Dave will agreeDave's bosses, it's audience, (us) want him to continue doing cool stuff, not to release a product before the deadlineAnd as I say, I enjoy very much my job! it's just that now I feel that I need a new hobby

author: lapm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2013, 08:25:05 pm
content: I bring my side of answer to this question. It was not bossible in my case. Taking job as selling electronics components in company really ruined it for me. And did that for a long time...Taken me more then decade after quitting the job to get back on electronics even in this small level im in now..Taking that job for me was easily one of my worst decision ever.. But there's hope still.About you, making it success depends on you, your personality and job and its requirements.. if your lucky its good match and you manage to combine things nicely.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2013, 10:56:55 pm
content: All of the really good engineers I know are both hobbyists and professionals. It's one of those things where designing and building stuff is just what they do. It doesn't really matter where they are or if they are getting paid. If it wasn't work stuff it would be hobby stuff, but it's always something. It doesn't even have to be electrical. Now in my opinion the tricky part is getting a job where the stuff you do at work satisfies a big part of that need to build stuff. If you got that, then you are all set and don't need to supplement it as much with projects on the side.Most of my side projects, of which there are a bench full in various states of incompleteness, are more about learning a new technology, or skill, or field, than they are about having a fully functional widget. And this is coming from an unmarried dude with no kids. I can imagine how that wouldn't leave any time for side projects even if that was your only source of satisfying the need to build stuff.

author: skipjackrc4
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2013, 11:06:52 pm
content: Quote from: Smokey on April 24, 2013, 10:56:55 pmThis has been my impression as well, from my somewhat limited experience in the field. Certainly there are exceptions going both ways, but I think it is possible.All of my hobbies involve making things. I have no idea what I would do without that.

author: ftransform
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2013, 02:50:47 am
content: You need to be very obsessive

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2013, 04:23:35 am
content: I do both and enjoy both. The stuff i do at work is extremely interesting but has no practical applications outside harddisks. So the stuff i do at home has no overlap with work but is equally interesting as it still involves building things, exploring and discovering and learning.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 25, 2013, 05:02:59 am
content: I had the opposite. Usually my personal project were more exciting to me than my work projects.

author: casper.bang
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2013, 06:07:40 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on April 25, 2013, 05:02:59 amExactly! For what it's worth, the same applies to software engineering work vs. hobby. One significant difference though; at work you are pretty much forced to finish what you start, whereas I will typically start (at least) an order of magnitude more hobby projects than I finish.

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2013, 04:56:23 pm
content: I usually work as a contractor, and am picky about which contracts I choose, so normally I can get enthusiastic about working.I then wanted to set up a high grade lab at home and got too enthusiastic about buying test gear. The home lab is slowly taking shape but I have very little time to use it.

author: Neilm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2013, 06:54:07 pm
content: I am a professional engineer and I tend not to do hobby electronics at home. What I tend to do is "research", learning about new devices, keeping my hand in with programming trying to learn PCB layout packages etc. I don't do layout at work, only reviewing them.Neil

author: Hypernova
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 01:22:21 am
content: Quote from: Neilm on April 25, 2013, 06:54:07 pmThat's what I do too, I get my "fix" at work and it's plenty fun: Linear servos, it moves, work on AC mains voltage, high speed/force, pretty much ticks all my boxes for the definition of a fun job.Another thing is I mix in a lot of my own stuff at work, my Agilent MSOX3014 is my work scope, I use my own funds to built little tools and stuff for work and the boss doesn't realize if I leave a sizable chunk of the lab shelf leaves with me. Being the only DSP guy on the RD team means no one in the company realizes how far I'm mixing my own hobby stuff into work beyond "that guy has a messy desk".

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 07:02:50 am
content: Up until a couple of years ago, I'd probably have said 'no', the two don't really mix.I started out doing electronics as a hobby, and then when I realised it was something I already did for fun that people might actually pay me to do for a living, I did an engineering degree and got a job doing it professionally. I couldn't ever really imagine myself doing anything else.That said, having spent the whole day doing electronics work in the office, the idea of working on more projects at home didn't really appeal. For a good 10 years or so, although I still enjoyed the job, I completely lost interest in it as a hobby. But then something happened...I've always been into hi-fi, and whatever I'm doing, I usually have music on in the background. I fancied a system upgrade, but the source component I was drooling over was expensive and hard to justify. Then it dawned on me that I had all the technical skills, supplier contacts and other resources available to me to be able to make a separate DAC - not just like the simple, and often nasty or misguided designs that float around the DIY audio community, but a really decent, professional quality piece of kit.Inspired by this realisation, I got really into the project. I converted a small bedroom into a lab, bought myself a scope for the first time ever, and spent evenings and weekends completely immersed in it until it was complete.The lab sat unused for a while after that, but the idea that there could be more to electronics than just my job never went away. The line between the two became all the more blurred when I started working as a self-employed consulting engineer; working from home, often at odd hours, means there's no longer the clear distinction between 'work' time and 'home' time that there once was. Some people might not get on well with that, but on the plus side, I've been able to equip myself with a much nicer lab than I could otherwise have justified.I still don't do all that much 'hobby' stuff, but when I do, it always has some underlying commercial motive. I do stuff that's not merely interesting or fun, it also has to lead to something useful I can put on my CV and use on clients' projects. Today, for example, I'm going to be working on upgrading a PIC project I did a couple of years ago to using an ARM processor - not because it really needs one, but because it's a really worthwhile learning exercise.

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 07:12:41 am
content: QuoteWant to do vs obliged to do - no contest really

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 04:33:31 pm
content: I bet it really depends on the size of your company and the scope of your job.I can see how if you worked for a huge company with hundreds/thousands of employees that you could get stuck doing the same thing every day, and how that, while still technically interesting, could get boring.Small companies, for better or worse, turn you into a "universal engineer" and you get the whole product picture. Just don't expect to be able to fade into the background noise. If you don't get it done, no one else will.

author: edpalmer42
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 05:02:31 pm
content: One thing to watch out for is burnout. Imagine if you were working in electronics during the day and playing with it evenings and/or weekends. If you burned out, you'd lose interest in both your job and your hobby. At the least, make sure that your hobby electronics is quite different from your work electronics.Ed

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 06:51:30 pm
content: Quote from: edpalmer42 on April 26, 2013, 05:02:31 pmOn the other hand, if you learn a new skill on your own time that is applicable to your job, you just became more valuable to the company while doing something you would have been doing anyway. That opens more doors as far as what you get to work on at work and keeps things interesting. It might even expand the possible company products if no one else knows how to do that thing. Hopefully you would be working for a company that would recognize your value and pays you accordingly.

author: larry42
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 01:15:00 am
content: Same here: electronics hobby -> degree -> jobmade me less interested to do it in my spare time, I'll still read related items, but little desire to bother building a power supply - I'll buy one instead for my own use, unless someone commissions me to design one.

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 04:01:06 am
content: QuoteYeah. I've always had hobbies that were SO close to my profession that it was difficult to tell when I was supposedly "working" and when I was supposedly "having fun." And I watched with a certain envy those co-workers who had hobbies that were REALLY, CLEARLY, "not work." (you know, like sailing, or racing cars, or following around some band, or playing some sport...) But it didn't help much. You are what you are.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 08:28:12 am
content: Some people would consider you very lucky!

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 09:30:23 pm
content: Like others said it depends on what you like to do. I've always had electronics and programming as a hobby. At some point I found myself drifting towards programming at work while I wanted to stay with electronics. I decided to take on a big electronics project in my spare time. I spend a couple of years on and off working in it but in the end it never got completed. I did gain a huge amount of knowledge which allowed me to take on other projects so it did propel me forward.

author: skipjackrc4
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2013, 11:32:47 pm
content: All of my hobbies revolve around music, at least to some degree. I build musical instruments. I make audio gear and effects. I design power supplies for an LED lighting system in the music room. To me, everything I do on my own has a purpose; it's not just something to do. That helps to keep you going.

author: N2IXK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2013, 03:39:19 pm
content: I managed to turn a hobby into my full time job, as well. I've been an electronics hobbyist since I was a kid playing around with LM3909s and 555 timers, and scavenging parts from discarded TV sets to build projects. Now I work as the electronics half of a 2-person instrument shop for a university research lab. Along with a machinist/modelmaker, we produce all kinds of one-off prototype equipment and maintain all the field gear and high speed towing tank used for a broad coastal engineering, oceanography, and marine craft hydrodynamics program.The nature of my hobby pursuits has changed a bit over the years. I now get my fill of playing around with surface mount and modern solid state stuff in my day job, so my hobby interests are decidedly "old-school"-- Vacuum tube circuitry, boatanchor era ham gear, and vintage radio/TV restoration. I also am involved with high-power model rocketry, so the electronics experience comes in handy for building the various avionics I fly in them, video systems, altimeters, pyrotechnic controllers, etc.