Learning the hard way

Finally a bit of success with my Arduino. A few attempts at getting the LCD to work have stumped me and I couldn't find a solution until I tried a tutorial which had a very small and seemingly insignificant comment about the value of a resistor to be used on the ground. I felt quite excited to have gained a bit of knowledge and managed to get a small thing to do something simple. When I put it like that then it doesn't really sound that good.

Living in a large urban environment normally means that you have a larger number of opportunities to attend hands on workshops or to get hands on help from a wider environment. I say normally as there will always be exceptions but in general if I were to live in London or Glasgow there would undoubtedly be a microprocessor based 'Workshop' that I could attend. A good example fo this are the Bath buildathons where those in the local area can get direct help and come away with a working receiver or transmitter. The benefit is that the individual who attends can get one to one help when they need it. Some radio clubs are into homebrew but its likely that tastes vary and not everyone has the sae interests but essentially experts are on hand and can offer a world of support to the hopeful homebrewer.

When you live in a rural environment there aren't as many opportunities to get direct hands on help. The usual route is to look to the internet to search the forums and tutorial websites to see if a solution matches your problem. I shudder to think of the hours I have spent doing this and how often I have given up with a problem and either accepted it or just moaned about it. I find this learning process very frustrating and not one that I have an affinity towards. Having spent a number of years learning through the Open University and eventually gaining my chartership as a result of distance learning study I know that the right material presented in the right way can further your knowledge and reduce frustration.

I'm not likely to move house in the short term so the likelihood is that I will continue to use the internet to learn new skills. It strikes me that this method will reduce productivity to a snails pace and lead to frustration and if I had any sense I try and get out a bit more and travel to some of these workshops. Even if it means that I cover a lot of miles in the process. You just can't beat mentor. In the mean time I'll carry on asking questions on forums which tends to be the equivalent of sticking your hand up in a class of a million.