[time-nuts] modern electronics education/jobs (was:

[flarsen at yahoo.dk]

I went to Collins soldering school in the late 1960's. I also learned to tie the special Collins-knot for wrapping wires into neat cable bundles for airplanes, and still remember how to do both.
I also built a 6-digit clock using TTL chips and nixie tubes in the early 1970's. Looked great and worked well, but kept horrible time ... which let me on a search for a better timebase, with no way to check accuracy, which led me to build a 5-digit frequency counter, also using nixie tubes and with an MK5009N oscillator and timebase. With nothing to compare it to, I started to search for a way to use a local radio station (Kalundborg LW on 245kHz), and later WWVB, for calibration. One project led to another, and eventually landed me on this list.
And I agree, don't solder in the nude or while wearing shorts, and don't walk barefoot in your workshop.

      From: Mark Sims <holrum at hotmail.com>

When I was in high school (early 1970's) I designed and built my own alarm clock out of TTL... (none of that sticking the guts of a commercial alarm clock in a pencil case that get kids arrested today).  Also built my first computer by interfacing a TV Typewriter to a calculator chip.  I was well skilled in the dark arts of soldering (hint: don't solder in the nude) and wire wrapping.

There is no substitute for hands-on experience, learning, and experimenting (particularly when it comes to soldering in the nude going wrong,  or the subtle wonders of stepping bare foot on a legs-up TO3 power transistor).