posted by retro on Nov 25, 2014:
Maths is quite handy in the worlds of business and programming, for sure! Talk to your head of year / head teacher if you have issues with a member of staff.
13 and already thinking of moving to japan
13 and already thinking of moving to japan
posted by adamhouse9999 on Nov 25, 2014:
My parents did, hopefully in the next few weeks i'm dropping spanish and doing extra maths also the main thing i could think of when maths would be useful in electronics is voltage, and the item's width and height...?
retro said:
Maths is quite handy in the worlds of business and programming, for sure! Talk to your head of year / head teacher if you have issues with a member of staff.
13 and already thinking of moving to japan
posted by retro on Nov 25, 2014:
General calculations, binary counting, programming, bookkeeping - it's used for lots of things.
General calculations, binary counting, programming, bookkeeping - it's used for lots of things.
13 and already thinking of moving to japan
posted by ccovell on Nov 25, 2014:
I was about 13 when I found out about all the cool things coming out in Japan that I could never get in the West (I'm talking games here...) and was amazed about the impending Super Famicom, etc. And my teenage dreams were set because of my fascination with Japan. I learnt how to read a little Japanese by myself by studying the instruction manual to Mario Paint(!); it gave me a little leg up later. (This was in an era when Japanese wasn't offered as an elective course in public (Jr/High) school.)
So my advice is to get yourself a little closer to Japan by studying & reading... so that you enter adulthood with concrete ideas of Japan, rather than just dreams and vague conceptions.
The promised land of the 1980s certainly wasn't the promised land in the 2000s, I can tell you that.
I was about 13 when I found out about all the cool things coming out in Japan that I could never get in the West (I'm talking games here...) and was amazed about the impending Super Famicom, etc. And my teenage dreams were set because of my fascination with Japan. I learnt how to read a little Japanese by myself by studying the instruction manual to Mario Paint(!); it gave me a little leg up later. (This was in an era when Japanese wasn't offered as an elective course in public (Jr/High) school.)
So my advice is to get yourself a little closer to Japan by studying & reading... so that you enter adulthood with concrete ideas of Japan, rather than just dreams and vague conceptions.
The promised land of the 1980s certainly wasn't the promised land in the 2000s, I can tell you that.
13 and already thinking of moving to japan
posted by Calpis on Nov 25, 2014:
Oh lawd.
In all likelihood you aren't going to do any of those things, because those are and will be other people's jobs--people who are the best qualified, the best social fit and physically there at the right time. That won't be you for a very very long time, probably ever just from the logistics. Become a first-rate writer, artist, designer, lawyer (???), Japanese linguist and/or engineer, then worry about the games part, then worry about the Japan part. You'll need to as the competition will only be going up.
BTW, there's a lot more to electronics than measurement (arithmetic); you'll need to get through calculus for proficiency in the physics of electromagnetism and semiconductors. Clearly math is more important than you can imagine right now for any technical discipline. There is literally no end to where you can apply mathematical insight. I wish someone told me this at 13.
Oh lawd.
In all likelihood you aren't going to do any of those things, because those are and will be other people's jobs--people who are the best qualified, the best social fit and physically there at the right time. That won't be you for a very very long time, probably ever just from the logistics. Become a first-rate writer, artist, designer, lawyer (???), Japanese linguist and/or engineer, then worry about the games part, then worry about the Japan part. You'll need to as the competition will only be going up.
BTW, there's a lot more to electronics than measurement (arithmetic); you'll need to get through calculus for proficiency in the physics of electromagnetism and semiconductors. Clearly math is more important than you can imagine right now for any technical discipline. There is literally no end to where you can apply mathematical insight. I wish someone told me this at 13.
13 and already thinking of moving to japan
posted by FireAza on Nov 25, 2014:
I haven't seen this much hopeful (and rather naive) ambition since before the dot com bubble burst!
But seriously OP, you're going to be hard pressed to achieve even half of these things. If you're looking to make radical change, you're looking to the wrong location. I mean, you can still buy brand new fax machines in Japan! This is a country that does not take well to sudden, radical change.
I haven't seen this much hopeful (and rather naive) ambition since before the dot com bubble burst!
But seriously OP, you're going to be hard pressed to achieve even half of these things. If you're looking to make radical change, you're looking to the wrong location. I mean, you can still buy brand new fax machines in Japan! This is a country that does not take well to sudden, radical change.
13 and already thinking of moving to japan
posted by adamhouse9999 on Nov 26, 2014:
i tried coding and didn't like it so i'm going to do just hardware
retro said:
General calculations, binary counting, programming, bookkeeping - it's used for lots of things.
I stopped with the choice of becoming a attorney and creating games, i just want to focus on electronics by doing mods to improve my practical skills, get some books so i can learn at a faster rate then i am, and try to get higher grades/levels at school also i start technology some time after Christmas so i will do my best to be the top of the class in that subject.
Calpis said:
Oh lawd.
In all likelihood you aren't going to do any of those things, because those are and will be other people's jobs--people who are the best qualified, the best social fit and physically there at the right time. That won't be you for a very very long time, probably ever just from the logistics. Become a first-rate writer, artist, designer, lawyer (???), Japanese linguist and/or engineer, then worry about the games part, then worry about the Japan part. You'll need to as the competition will only be going up.
I stopped the idea of creating games and becoming a attorney i just want to practice doing mods and get some books to learn about electronics while hopefully improving my Maths and English.
BTW, there's a lot more to electronics than measurement (arithmetic); you'll need to get through calculus for proficiency in the physics of electromagnetism and semiconductors. Clearly math is more important than you can imagine right now for any technical discipline. There is literally no end to where you can apply mathematical insight. I wish someone told me this at 13.
As i've said just want to do electronics also, can't see doing electronics bare in mind i don't know what they do there maybe i should work at Nintendo of Europe but that's in Germany and not willing to learn German yet..
FireAza said:
I haven't seen this much hopeful (and rather naive) ambition since before the dot com bubble burst!
But seriously OP, you're going to be hard pressed to achieve even half of these things. If you're looking to make radical change, you're looking to the wrong location. I mean, you can still buy brand new fax machines in Japan! This is a country that does not take well to sudden, radical change.
13 and already thinking of moving to japan
posted by bdawg on Nov 26, 2014:
The most productive advice I can offer is - concentrate on school, get it out of the way, and see where your head is at. No point making plans, as people so rightly have put, they are often skewed and far-fetched.
Props for actually wanting to do something with your life though - there are many youngsters out there these days that have no ambition, and no drive to do anything. This doesn't seem the case with you.
Good luck!
The most productive advice I can offer is - concentrate on school, get it out of the way, and see where your head is at. No point making plans, as people so rightly have put, they are often skewed and far-fetched.
Props for actually wanting to do something with your life though - there are many youngsters out there these days that have no ambition, and no drive to do anything. This doesn't seem the case with you.
Good luck!
13 and already thinking of moving to japan
posted by adamhouse9999 on Nov 26, 2014:
Thank you! Also one reason i started planning is because even know GCSE (i don't know the american name for it) is next year, time flies in fact it doesn't seem too long ago when i first started at secondary school.
bdawg said:
The most productive advice I can offer is - concentrate on school, get it out of the way, and see where your head is at. No point making plans, as people so rightly have put, they are often skewed and far-fetched.
Props for actually wanting to do something with your life though - there are many youngsters out there these days that have no ambition, and no drive to do anything. This doesn't seem the case with you.
Good luck!
13 and already thinking of moving to japan
posted by Calpis on Nov 26, 2014:
Electronics is probably the most difficult career path in this thread. It takes a lifetime to get caught up to speed with celebrated engineers.
Entering electronics you'll have to learn to program, there isn't a way out of it today. Everything is digital, microcontrollers are everywhere, even traditionally analog domains are being moved to digital signal processing, you'll need to write your own tools for calculations, etc etc. Don't give up on it just yet. I didn't like programming when I started, and to this day programmers are one of my most hated groups, but programming is an indispensable tool, I couldn't live without it today.
*****
Here's my story: I didn't know what I wanted to do. At 13 I burned out at school so I coasted through grades 8-12 and didn't take the curriculum or my future very seriously. From 10 to 16 I studied Japanese (6 years at a weekend "Japanese school", 2 years in school) and developed IT skills, thinking together they might get me somewhere. At 16 I put Japanese aside and focused on IT since it seemed more practical and I still wasn't conversational in Japanese. I never considered engineering for myself, I guess because I was lazy, more artistic than scientific and didn't have any engineers in my life.
At 17 I had an internship at a software company and only then did I realize that programming was accessible to me. I started self-studying electronics, with an emphasis on digital systems to better understand video games. At 19 I went to school for computer engineering, had poor instruction but managed to further my digital electronics and programming skills on my own time, and got an introduction to analog electronics, which I thumbed my nose at (since the world is now digital, or so I thought). I graduated, the recession started, I got a crappy enterprise programming job after a few years, lost it, and have struggled to get by in the last 4 years with hardware projects. Every day for the last 10 years I've self studied something to do with computer engineering.
My interest is still primarily in digital systems, but it's taken me this far to see the importance and wonder of analog, and along with it the importance of math and physics. (Computers are analog, however hard we try to ignore this fact.)
Today I wish I took my analog, optics and math classes way more seriously, because every bit of insight is precious to me now with my ambitious projects. I wish I chose to take AP classes in high school. I wish I was shown the importance and application of math beyond algebra in my earlier years.
I've since learned that engineering curriculum sucks, and that most engineers have a way of oversimplifying problems--and this carries into instructors glossing over fundamental concepts at school, and failing to associate one concept to the next. Be prepared to learn everything the hard way, because in engineering instructors are often as ignorant as their students at many subjects. You have to know their limitations as well as your own.
Take it from me, if you're serious about your career, don't dismiss any field of study because it seems irrelevant, just learn everything you can with an open mind, and do your best to retain it. Make sure you learn on your own AND with instruction, you'll probably need both to get anywhere.
Electronics is probably the most difficult career path in this thread. It takes a lifetime to get caught up to speed with celebrated engineers.
Entering electronics you'll have to learn to program, there isn't a way out of it today. Everything is digital, microcontrollers are everywhere, even traditionally analog domains are being moved to digital signal processing, you'll need to write your own tools for calculations, etc etc. Don't give up on it just yet. I didn't like programming when I started, and to this day programmers are one of my most hated groups, but programming is an indispensable tool, I couldn't live without it today.
*****
Here's my story: I didn't know what I wanted to do. At 13 I burned out at school so I coasted through grades 8-12 and didn't take the curriculum or my future very seriously. From 10 to 16 I studied Japanese (6 years at a weekend "Japanese school", 2 years in school) and developed IT skills, thinking together they might get me somewhere. At 16 I put Japanese aside and focused on IT since it seemed more practical and I still wasn't conversational in Japanese. I never considered engineering for myself, I guess because I was lazy, more artistic than scientific and didn't have any engineers in my life.
At 17 I had an internship at a software company and only then did I realize that programming was accessible to me. I started self-studying electronics, with an emphasis on digital systems to better understand video games. At 19 I went to school for computer engineering, had poor instruction but managed to further my digital electronics and programming skills on my own time, and got an introduction to analog electronics, which I thumbed my nose at (since the world is now digital, or so I thought). I graduated, the recession started, I got a crappy enterprise programming job after a few years, lost it, and have struggled to get by in the last 4 years with hardware projects. Every day for the last 10 years I've self studied something to do with computer engineering.
My interest is still primarily in digital systems, but it's taken me this far to see the importance and wonder of analog, and along with it the importance of math and physics. (Computers are analog, however hard we try to ignore this fact.)
Today I wish I took my analog, optics and math classes way more seriously, because every bit of insight is precious to me now with my ambitious projects. I wish I chose to take AP classes in high school. I wish I was shown the importance and application of math beyond algebra in my earlier years.
I've since learned that engineering curriculum sucks, and that most engineers have a way of oversimplifying problems--and this carries into instructors glossing over fundamental concepts at school, and failing to associate one concept to the next. Be prepared to learn everything the hard way, because in engineering instructors are often as ignorant as their students at many subjects. You have to know their limitations as well as your own.
Take it from me, if you're serious about your career, don't dismiss any field of study because it seems irrelevant, just learn everything you can with an open mind, and do your best to retain it. Make sure you learn on your own AND with instruction, you'll probably need both to get anywhere.