Women, especially, might find this information helpful.
You may have listened to a radio. Maybe you have watched television or TV. One day, perhaps, you felt that the sound from the radio or TV was not clear. Maybe you tried turning a knob or pushing a button. The sound became clearer. You fixed the sound!
One day, you might have thought to yourself, "These radios and TV's are very inconvenient to use. If I made TV's and radios, I would change them to make them better!"
Your ability to fix the sound and your ideas to make things better are very valuable. They might lead to work that helps you make a lot of money. You might help other people, too.
You use your cooking skills and knowledge to make dinner. Similarly, you use electronics skills and knowledge to make things like radios or TV's work. You might find basic electronics to be easier than cooking.
Find out more. Start here.
Welcome to the Electronics Centre at the Equinet Broadcasting Network! You might find these tips to be helpful:
If "yes", you can start learning how to use the Internet. You might learn how to access the information here at the Electronics Centre more easily.
You might start here, and then get more information elsewhere. Then you might want to return here and continue. You can find out how to use "bookmarks", "favorites", and other ways to help you return here easily.
If "yes", you are especially welcome here! You might find much of the information here to be helpful. If you have questions or suggestions, please e-mail them to ebn@excite.com.
If "yes", you might try these resources:
If "yes", the Updates for the Electronics Centre at the Equinet Broadcasting Network might be helpful.
Things - including living things - are made of very small pieces called "atoms". Each atom contains different types of tiny particles. One of these types of particles is called an "electron". Electrons can be forced to drift from one place towards another. That flow of electrons can be called an "electron current". Many people call it "electricity".
"Electronics" is a field where people manage electrons to accomplish specific tasks.
These tasks may include allowing you to hear a radio program. Another of these tasks might be to allow you to see a television show. If you use a telephone, you are similarly relying on this management of electrons. People who use computers also rely on electronics.
For convenience, you might group the various uses of electronics into topic-areas or specializations.
Electronics may be used in specializations including:
The "Computers" area might overlap with the business electronics area. An example of a business electronics item might be a photocopier.
An item that uses electronics may use knowledge from several areas. One example is a television receiver or TV.
To understand electronics, compare cooking dinner. Suppose you are cooking dinner. You might make a soup, and cook a dish of vegetables. You might cook a dish of noodles, and make a stew. You might also make some dessert. You are making several dishes or courses in the dinner. If the dinner is big, you might ask people to help you in the kitchen.
In electronics, you can call that dinner a "system". As the chef (the chef is called, in electronics, the "electronics engineer"), you plan and decide how to combine various dishes to make a successful dinner.
You start by planning an overall picture of what dishes or courses might go together well. Initially, you do not worry about details, like quantities of spices to use. You think about the overall sequence of dining. At the beginning of the dinner, a dinner guest drinks soup. After finishing the soup, the guest will be ready to eat the noodles. After the other dishes, the guest will be ready to eat the dessert. You are looking at each dish (called, in electronics, a "black box" or "building block") as a whole - and at its role in the dinner. You think about how the guest is feeling, when the guest starts (this feeling at the start is called, in electronics, a "black box input") eating that dish. You think about how the guest is feeling, when the guest finishes (this result feeling is called, in electronics, a "black box output") eating that dish. This overall picture of the path of the guest from dish to dish is called the "black-box view". You can draw a picture (called, in electronics, a "block diagram") of that path.
You notice a magazine article (called, in electronics, a "journal paper") about scientists who are doing research. They report discovering that people eating too much salt become unhealthy. After reading the article, you decide to use a replacement for the salt in parts of your dinner. (As an electronics engineer, you might also apply research done by scientists and by others).
You plan to show your cooks and assistant cooks (called, in electronics, "electronics technologists and electronics technicians") how to help you cook the dinner. You then plan, write, and update recipes for the dishes or courses. For a dish to be successful, you must combine the ingredients in a specific sequence and pattern. This sequence and pattern is called a "circuit" in electronics. You sketch a picture (called, in electronics, a "schematic diagram") showing this pattern or circuit for each dish.
You shop for the ingredients (called, in electronics, "components") that you will use to make each dish. Examples of ingredients might be herbs, spices, vegetables, fruits, and flour (in electronics, examples might include "resistors", "capacitors", "inductors", "diodes", and "transistors"). You buy some already-prepared, complicated sauces (called, in electronics, "integrated circuits" or "chips") that have many ingredients carefully combined.
A guest who eats or consumes the dinner is called an "end-user", a "user", or a "consumer". That end-user may not understand how you and your colleagues cooked the dinner.
While the dessert is being served, the fruit slices fall from one guest's dessert to the floor. A helper brings that guest's dessert back into the kitchen. An assistant cook (called, in electronics, an "electronics service technician") there carefully places new fruit slices into their proper positions on that dessert. The helper brings the repaired dessert to the guest.
You might be investigating and trying (in electronics, you can say you're doing "research and development") new cooking styles in this dinner for the first time. Suppose this first-time dinner (called, in electronics, a "prototype") is successful. Then you might decide to start a restaurant (called, in electronics, a "plant" or "factory") that specializes in this type of dinner. In that restaurant, you might hire and train kitchen helpers (called, in electronics, "electronics assembly workers") to package and to warm up the dinners. You might hire and train people (called, in electronics, "electronics installers") to bring the dinners from the kitchen to the restaurant tables.
Women, especially, can benefit from working in many science and technology jobs. Why?
Women in some science and technology jobs may be paid more. These higher earnings may allow these women more flexibility in their personal lives.
Automated teller machines, telephone banking, and Internet banking may mean fewer jobs for tellers, for example. Women working in some science and technology jobs might have a better chance of staying employed.
Women working in science and technology jobs may inspire daughters and other women. The daughters and other women might then explore careers in science and technology more comfortably.
Women can get information to help them choose or make careers in science and technology. Various resources exist.
You might access the Internet from a library or elsewhere. Then you might see if these resources are helpful to you.
You can use e-mail to ask for more information. To use e-mail, get an e-mail address. You can get your own e-mail address for free.
Science and technology occupations include electronics-related occupations. The name of an occupation in one country might differ from the occupation name used elsewhere. Also, other aspects of the occupation might differ from place to place.
Some electronics-related occupations might be:
Some familiarity with electronics may help in various other "non-electronics" occupations. These might include:
What are the differences in the meanings of these words: "job", "occupation", and "career"? The following example might help show why these differences are important to you.
Suppose you fix computers at your "job" at a computer store. You might get a better job at another computer store. You fix computers at the new, better job also. Your "occupation" might be a "Computer and office machine repairer" at both jobs. You take courses in your spare time to study computer science. You complete your studies successfully. Then you might look for jobs in your new occupation: "Computer scientist". Your "career" includes your work at your various jobs in your different occupations.
A "job" might be your working experience with one employer. Your job might be an example of a type of work or an "occupation". In your "career", you might have paid and volunteer jobs in several occupations.
Some resources give information about occupations. These occupations include science and technology occupations, like electronics-related occupations. The resources might describe job duties, working conditions, earnings, or other aspects of the occupations.
Some resources also give "labour-market information". That information might help predict how many future jobs might exist for an occupation, for example. How does this information help you? Suppose one occupation has very many job openings. Suppose, however, only a few qualified people - including you - are applying for those jobs. Then those people might have a relatively good chance of being hired in that occupation.
Some information provided might be predictions or forecasts. Some forecasts might be accurate - or inaccurate. You might want to compare several sources of information.
The information from some resources might be dated. You might want to look for up-to-date information.
Some information provided might be overall information about a large group of occupations. However, the situations may vary among occupations within that group. Here is an example.
Employment situations might vary from one location to another. The situation in one country might be different from the situation in another country. You might want to look for information that applies to your situation.
Resources with information about occupations include:
You can benefit from using information relating to work. You might plan your career, improve your education, and make changes in your work situation. The following resources provide information relating to work.
While focusing on British Columbia, Canada, this resource has information that might be useful in general.
You might use this resource to look for current examples of job advertisements for an occupation. For example, you might use this resource to "Search" for "Electronics technician" job postings.
Safety and health at work are important. The subject is sometimes called "Occupational health and safety". You can find information about health and safety at work for different occupations.
Some groups might provide information about hidden dangers at work. Efforts by the Asian Immigrant Women Advocates (AIWA) were one example. AIWA worked with electronics assembly workers in regards to safety and health at work. Some labor organizations and women's organizations may have helpful information.
You might use search facilities for occupational health and safety information. You might type and search for the name of an occupation (for example, Electronics Technician). Alternatively, you might search for other words. You might try search facilities at these resources:
You might use various resources to help you begin learning about electronics.
You might find that learning or reviewing some mathematics helps you understand electronics. You can start learning or reviewing some mathematics to help you understand electronics.
Be very, very observant - and notice seemingly unimportant, unrelated aspects of what's around you. Even if they are not related to what you are initially researching, note those unrelated aspects. Do those "unimportant", "unrelated" aspects form a pattern? Describe or sketch the pattern. You might not find what you sought initially - but discover something else far more important! Make serendipity work for you. "Experts" with more experience or formal education might ignore those aspects - and miss the opportunity. You might then make an important discovery that the "experts" missed.
Create a connection or an association between ideas (or observations) that seem unrelated. From that connection or association, generate a new idea or product. Use this "forced association" technique whenever appropriate. Apply it to analogies that you make.
Use The Eureka Recipe.
Suggestions? Questions? Having trouble with a link
here?
Feel free to e-mail the Equinet Broadcasting Network at ebn@excite.com.
This page was updated on August 20, 2004.
Copyright © 1998-2004 by Barry G. Wong. All rights reserved.
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