Online · electronics · apprenticeship · since 2015

Build real hardware.
Learn real things.

AI can explain a circuit. It can’t tell you why yours isn’t working. This is a hands-on apprenticeship for people who want to design, build, and debug their own boards — and actually understand what’s happening under the mask.

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fig. i · ce-apprentice dev board — rev B ink on vellum

Find your bench.

Three ways in
FIRMWARE → HW

Software engineers moving to hardware

You write firmware all day, but when the board doesn’t work you’re stuck. A structured path from schematic to fab, with someone who’s done it thousands of times showing you what to check and why.

→ Start with the courses
BLIND SPOTS

Working engineers filling in gaps

You ship boards, but there are corners you’ve always worked around — signal integrity, power, systematic debug. Stop guessing, start reasoning about the parts you’ve been avoiding.

→ Browse the library
PORTFOLIO

Career changers & self-taught builders

You’ve watched the videos. You’ve read the tutorials. But you don’t have a portfolio of boards you designed, built, and debugged yourself. That’s what this program produces.

→ See how it works
The loop

Design.
Build.
Debug.

It isn’t linear. It’s a loop — and the debug step is the one that makes you an engineer instead of a tutorial-follower.

01DESIGN
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fig. ii

Skills & mental models

Why this trace, not where the button is. Visualization, constraints, and an internal map of how the electrons move.

02BUILD
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fig. iii

Assembly & reality

Simulations don’t burn your fingers. Component selection, soldering, part programming, and the physical gotchas.

03DEBUG
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fig. iv

The critical skill

When the smoke clears and the LED is dark, what do you do? A rigorous process of measurement and deduction.

Fifth edition
Practical
Electronics
for Inventors
SCHERZ · GAMMELL
The book

The book we wish we’d had when we started.

1000+ pages bridging heavy theoretical textbooks and shaky hobbyist tutorials. Best-selling electronics textbook for a reason. A new edition — revised and authored by Chris — is due out late 2027.

1000+
pages
18
chapters
5th
edition · 2027
01Theory
02Basic electronic circuit components
03Semiconductors
04Optoelectronics
05Integrated circuits
06Digital electronics
07…and eleven more
08Appendices & errata
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Membership · 4 tiers
Tier 01
Free
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  • Free intro lessons
  • Podcast & blog
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Tier 02
Book study group
$1/mo
  • Weekly book-club threads
  • Chapter walkthroughs
  • Errata & solutions
  • Full forum read/write
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Tier 04
Master
$279/mo
  • Everything in Apprentice
  • Two live sessions/mo with Chris
  • Mentorship on your projects
  • Priority design review
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