***Editor’s Note: The “I Became An Engineer” blog runs every friday. To share you story email kasey.panetta@advantagemedia.com***
This week’s story is brought to us by reader Jack McIntosh:
When I was in the 5th grade, we had a local TV repairman, Mr. Kenny, who would come to our home to fix our TV or radios if we had a problem. He was always willing to explain to me how the TV and radios worked. He always let me watch and ask questions while he worked. His repair shop was just across the street from my school. Often, after school, I would stop by and he would let me explore around his shop. There were so many interesting things to see. He let me use his ohmmeter to measure resistors, explaining to me how to read the color codes.
On one visit to my hone to fix a broken tuner on our old Emerson black and white TV, he brought along some parts and helped me build my first crystal radio. I was pretty much hooked on electronics.
In High School, I joined the Boy Scouts of America Explorers group that was sponsored by the local Telephone Company. We got to visit phone company facilities and learn about the inner workings of the telephone system. For a short time, during a strike by the local operators, we even operated the switchboards. This was back when the operators were usually women. I had a number of hang-ups when the caller heard a male voice and thought that they had dialed the wrong number, even though the number they dialed was “0” for the operator.
After I graduated from High School, I went to college and got my BSEE and MSEE degrees in Electronic Engineering.
Since then, I have had a very rewarding career over the last 46 years that has spanned commercial, medical, military and pure research in the electronics field.
Read the other stories, here:
A Note From The Editor: An Engineer’s Story
I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Lunch Box
I Became An Engineer: Because of Christmas Lights
I Became An Engineer: Because Of The Cool Jackets
I Became An Engineer: Because My Dad Said Not To
I Became An Engineer: Despite Being Bad At Math
I Became An Engineer: Because of Uncle Chet
I Became An Engineer: Because I Can’t Stop Asking ‘Why?’
I Became An Engineer: Because of Star Trek (Specifically Montgomery Scott)
I Became An Engineer: Because I Was A Really Lucky Nerd
I Became An Engineer: But ‘Nobody Knows’ Why
I Became An Engineer: Because of Nuclear Submarines
I Became An Engineer: Because of a Sewing Machine
I Became an Engineer: Because No One Was Hiring Shoe Salesmen