I work in niche corporate software that basically has me do full-stack programming in addition to a ton of proprietary server configuration. It's wide as an ocean but deep as a puddle, so it's really difficult to learn everything but the day-to-day is super chill. Pays by the truckload compared to normal programming jobs, and I probably realistically work ~3 hours per day, most of which is directing my team. Unfortunately there's basically no overlap in my job skills to my hobby skills/special interests as everything is super proprietary (even most of the programming languages), so I really only do it for the money and not because I like it.
I'd like to do a more Linux-centric or interesting job in the future but I'm not sure if I'll enjoy it more because ultimately it will still be work and will probably pay much less. As-is I'm brute forcing my way to early retirement in the next handful of years, and I'm not sure if I want to punch out when I hit my number or transition to something more "fun".
My course is mostly digital, the analogue stuff is taught, but mostly as a historical interest or as an exercise for teaching the mathematics behind the system or components
Any thoughts on what you want to work in? I've got a lot of friends in the same boat but it's hard to make a realistic plan on how to go about actually switching without needing to go back to college.
Most companies in our union do both. The two main groups of work are Service and New Construction. Repair would fall under service work as well as installing things in finished buildings, preventative maintenance, etc. Right now I'm doing new construction. I hope to get to do service work at some point, though we always have a lot of new construction in this area. I get assigned to a new company every year while I'm an apprentice so there is a chance I'll get to.
Currently in my last year of a CS degree. As a hobby I've been focusing on programming procedural generation stuff for games and recently I've been getting more into working with electronics hoping to one day make an automated sorting system for my Lego collection.
Sounds like your hobby could turn into something more. Electronics can have some really unintuitive debug issues. Your idea for a lego sorter reminds me of parts Shane's (Stuff Made Here) puzzle robot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu_1S77XkiM
Yeah, I'm still new to all of it. My plan of action is to make a machine that tumbles bricks onto a conveyor and takes pictures of them before cycling them back through. This is to collect a dataset for training a machine vision model. If that doesn't work out I'll just have to make it sort the bricks by color as that's easy enough to do.
The hardest part I've encountered so far is trying to learn how to control lots of stepper motors, how to power everything, and of course learning the 3d modelling process so I can mix both Lego and non Lego in the machine's construction.
Sounds interesting. All I have in response to that is I sometimes like watching wristwatch revival on youtube. I feel like I could get some relaxation out of that.