I have an extreme need to constantly design or build something. In high school, I could never sit down and focus on tasks – I always turned them into personal design challenges. Predictably, I loved chemistry and physics because I could actually demonstrate and prove everything I learned by myself – regardless of how many times I had to evacuate my room for a day or two to let some unknown fumes escape. My biggest disappointment when starting university (at least for the first two semesters) was that the material got too difficult to demonstrate, so everything was mostly theoretical.
However, I soon discovered the university’s rocketry club, where I could scratch that itch in a professional but welcoming environment. Due to my previous electrical engineering skills, I could quickly contribute quality designs and feedback, all while having the university’s resources behind me. Naturally, I took up as many roles as possible, contributing to the firmware, hardware design, and construction. Even though studying, working a student job, and participating in a club is hard, somehow, I am managing it so far.
The most interesting designs of mine so far have been the ones I wrote about in the previous article on the blog about IO protection. However, I have contributed other, smaller designs as well. In addition to sitting on a chair and reading application notes and datasheets, I do a lot of soldering and SMD rework. The fact that I can easily solder QFN and 0402 packages came as a surprise even to me – I would love to try a BGA package next. If I can solder a BGA, I can also make my dream of making my own SBC real!
Another incredible benefit of building real designs is that things go wrong – a lot. So many issues that I would never have thought of have appeared to me and other people. This has been an invaluable learning experience so far. Fixing unexpected issues is also one of the most fun parts of the club.
There is little to say about the daily activities because they are standard for a university club. Join meetings, discuss designs, share feedback, build circuits, test circuits, and occasionally drink beer. Nothing new under the sun.
