Today I want to share something a bit different: my story with Arduino, how I got started, which bigger projects I have built and, more importantly, how Arduino changed the way I see the world and deal with problems.
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But let us take it one step at a time, as Jack the Ripper would say. Many of you have asked what the first steps are if you want to start with Arduino or build electronics projects. There is no simple answer, so I am going to tell you how I started so you can get a clearer picture.
How I Started with Arduino
It happened back when I was in my second year at university. I could tell you a heroic story, but the reality was much less dramatic. I was studying in the library one day when, during one of my many breaks, an advert appeared on my screen offering an Arduino kit. At that point I had absolutely no idea what Arduino was, even though I was studying electronic engineering. I clicked the advert, saw the components, the wires and a few example projects and my mind was blown. That simple kit meant I could build a huge number of things at home, so I bought it without thinking twice. From the day it arrived until now, there has not been a single day when I have not thought about Arduino or used something at home that came from that first kit.
El kit que yo me compré para empezar fue este: link kit Arduino ENLACE KIT ARDUINO aun así ahora mismo no se si es el que más merece la pena o el que me compraría, pero bueno, por algo hay que empezar.
Así que esta es mi historia de como comencé con Arduino, como veis, nada del otro mundo, me compré un kit y empecé a hacer los proyectos que se me pasaban por la cabeza (de esto hace ya más de 4 años). Cada vez que me surge un problema haciendo un proyecto con Arduino, me pongo a buscar en Google hasta solucionarlo. ¡La comunidad es gigante! Creo que es una de las cosas mas positivas que tiene, que cualquier problema que tengas, ya lo ha tenido otra persona antes.
Three Months After Buying the Kit, I Won EUR600 in a Competition
That is right. Three months after starting with Arduino, I entered a competition where the challenge was to build bridges from wooden sticks. The twist was that the bridge had to move. So I automated the whole bridge with Arduino: when you pressed the power button, the bridge started to rise, the traffic lights turned red, it played a warning sound for the cars, the barriers came down and the emergency lights turned on. I won the competition almost without expecting it and took home more than EUR600 as the prize. They even interviewed me on the radio, which made me really happy. So yes: three months after spending EUR50 on an Arduino kit, I had already earned EUR600 with it.
How It Changed the Way I See the World and Face Problems
One of the most important things Arduino has given me is a different way of seeing the world, because it made me aware of how many electronic devices actually work inside. It has also allowed me to turn many project ideas in my head into something real, ideas that would have been much harder to carry out without Arduino.
It also taught me that almost any project you can imagine can be built with Arduino. As people in the community say: if you can think it, you can build it.
On top of that, the many problems I have had while building Arduino projects taught me to be much more resourceful whenever something goes wrong, whether in engineering or in everyday life. However hard they may be, almost all problems have a solution.
I Got My Job Thanks to Arduino
Finally, I want to mention that I am writing this on a flight to the United States. I currently work as a field engineer for one of the largest companies in the world, and during my job interview I spent more than 30 minutes showing them projects I had built with Arduino. I think they valued that a lot. I will never know whether that was the reason they hired me, but many of the technical questions they asked would have been impossible to answer without the hours I had already put into Arduino.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my story. If you want, you can share yours in the comments as well. Maybe that will help people who are still undecided.
