For many; the Digital Divide
is part of 'career evolution'; and having years of experience
in electronics will only "help" you in today's world.
Some manufacturers (like TI) will help you plan on a career in
electronics; but you must spend (or invest) several hundreds
(if not thousands) of dollars in tools and software.
The tools for today's 'micro'
technician or software developer requires you learn the new technology;
SMDs (surface mounted devices), SMCs (suface moounted components),
and the devices made with this tiny stuff is: SMTs (surface mounted
technology). Its truley amazing, and virtually impossible to
repair. Unless you have the serious techno bug, you will not
be able to program, reconstruct, fix, or just 'update' any SMT
device without basic knowledge of what to do, or even how to
do it.
In just a few years; the SMTs
of tomarrow will increase the Digital Divide by a factor of 300
percent! The US department of education states that; the American
college student today is far under-equiped to handle the demands
of the trade. They actually admit that today's students don't
have a chance against anyone from Japan, China or even India.
Students and Teachers are pressured
to perform everyday, even though education in this feild is very
small; the colleges are continuing to make their cutbacks for
profits. The person studying for a career in some of these 'public'
schools will suffer the most. I could see many (thousands) of
good, smart students being turned away from schools in the near
future; just because they were not poor enough and didn't meet
the criteria for government aid, or because there's just not
enough room for smart people. Smart people require ALOT of attention
and even more in a challenging world such as technology.
Reaching the goal of a digital
designer or repair technician; is almost impossible for today's
beginner. The technology that must be learned is very secret
and competitive, and it changes about every 6 months or so. By
the time you finish this eBook, some of the stuff you might find
interesting is most likely being concidered for out-mode. Booting
out the old microchips, or dropping support only after 12 months
(1 year warranty crap) is only part of this growing divide. I
some ways it is a challenging advantage when learning how to
fix this 'over-priced' stuff. It's like; we are faced with being
a 'hand-me-down' society on someone else's ideas. Until we are
smart enough to fix or build our own; we will just have to use
what we can get.
Inorder to help 'bridge' the
divide; I included several links and information to getting some
of the techno tools and toys available for today's ameture, especially
if you are just looking for the best way to update (flash) your
device, or even how to change a screen, or maybe a keypad. These
links and products have been seriously reviewed and concidered
genuine. As with any tool in this industry, it will be a good
idea to re-evaluate its uses for tomarrow's needs. Hopefully,
you make the right choice and it sticks with you for years of
service. Take care of your technology and toys, they might be
the only thing to help you cross the Digital Divide.
-CopyCat 2010
