Check in #
SO its been like a month since i last posted something on this blog. Its not because i abandoned the project or any major event has happened in my private life, but its rather because i did not really know what i could write about and kind of ran out of ideas/projects i could do/that where interesting to write about. Also because the following 2 weeks will be the exam weeks before the summer school break and i am really focussed and dedicated in passing those exams. In total 3 exams so not much, but i am already redoing this whole period over new, so i really want to pass these (or the retakes). But i also got some more exiting news which i will talk about later.
Exams #
So next 2 weeks i also have exam week for my study. These will be the final exams before the summer school break. The 3 exams are in order: Solidworks (CAD), Mechanical engineering (MEG) and Electrical engineering (Basic ElectronicS BES). Because as i mentioned in some previous post that i do this part of the study over, i really hope i pass these 3 exams. And its nice that i dont have to redo stuff like digital software engineering or our assasment project. I have the solidworks exam tomorrow the 22nd at 14:00. The mechanical engineering exam is the 29th also at 14:00. The Electrical engineering exam is the 30th at 9:00. After those 3 exams i finally have some free time.
Solidworks exam #
So this time i practiced a lot more but i am still uncertain if i will pass. Previous time due to a lack of motivation i basically did not come to the lessons or practice at home and just threw in the towel, but this time i did practice a lot more and come to all lessons i could go to. But i still dont fully know how to work in it or am comfortable with it. I did read that this exam can be retaken so if i fall i can hopefully redo it as i dont want to redo the whole solidworks practice course over for the 3rd time. I am proud that i did a lot more and found motivation in the process, but i do know that sometimes even when i practice i dont pass stuff and that if i dont pass for the first time i have to practice it extra the next time as my brain works this way sometimes. Sometimes i have to practice it like every day to get good at it. But before commiting and taking the L, I will try my best to pass so we will see how it goes!
Mechanical engineering exam #
SO i am also a bit skeptical about this exam as while i do know the stuff a bit better, i still find it difficult. And also a large part of it is mathematics and i suck at that subject so i really need to practice this one. I do see a fair chance of me passing the exam but i will try my best anyways and see how it goes. I hope that after solidowrks exam thta i can practice this primarily. Its kind of like the physics lessons we got in highschool but it delves a lot deeper into it.
Electrical engineering exam #
SO this is the exam i have the most comfort with and i see myself passing this exam with a big chance. I know the subject a lot better and practiced it a lot this time! We get subjects like node voltage analysis, superposition, opamp (operational amplifier) and dc motors and H-bridge. I know a lot of them really well and really did my homework on these. And last week we had our final lesson where we did a practice exam and i got more than half of it correct. I will practice this also and make some more practice exams so i dont forget, but its more remembering the formulas and properties of stuff like the DC motor or Opamp and knowing how the logic/it works. But most of my focus will go to mechanical engineering.
What i do find sad is that this weekend its pretty warm in the Netherlands (around 30 degrees) and then instead of getting to enjoy the nice weather, i have to sit inside to study. And because our house has no AC its kind of a sauna in my room but my fan keeps me from melting luckily, but its still basically only circulating warm air instead of cooling.
I got a job #
SO yes i finally got a job! Kind of embarassing as i am already 18 years old and this month is where i finally got my first job (kidn of embarasing as i sometimes see kids my age who have been working for quite some time), but i hope i will like it. Its actually a job where students will help elderly and non-tech-savvy people with their technologies so think about stuff like computers, internet, mail, tv, settopbox, audio, printers, basically any IT stuff. Its basically IT support at the home. I signed up to an organisation who will take care of most administartive stuff and then give me a ping when someone needs help. Then i get that task in my task list and then i go to that persons house and help them. Its quite easy and its very flexible as you can put in time zones where you are available and then they will give you customers. And also i can specify a work area i want to work in so i dont have to help people in Amsterdam when i live in Eindhoven an thus not have to travel far. And i like sharing my IT knowledge with other less tech savvy people and help them better understand our modern world.
I came up with the idea basically after my neighbour asked for help with his electronic devices. I needed to connect his networkradio to his new network (he switched provider from KPN to Ziggo) and also had to help him with installing and activating microsoft 365 office on his new laptop. That worked out and he was very thankfull for it! After that i thought “Maybe i could help more people” and then i started searching for organisations and jobs. And quickly found one which seemed fine to me. They did specify that an IT degree was wanted but i sent them a mail anyways and told them that i am into computers and networking and that while i dont follow a IT related study that i am pretty wise with computers and they accepted me and i got hired pretty quickly.
Only downside is that they said they will not have any service that requires me to open up some customers computer and repair or upgrade it, but i also understand that. If you provide that service, you also need to worry about liability and computers and parts are expensive so if stuff breaks it can be costly and might even lead to data loss. But i might see if i can find work at a repair shop and maybe do 2 jobs at once as this one is pretty flexible already and there are no specific deadlines/times i have to be available. But i do also love the software side of computers and can always at home tinker with the hardware. SO i dont mind it at all.
So far i got my first customer a few days back. It was an elderly woman who neede help with her computer. I had to do a check on her computer to make sure everything was working fine and stuff was up to date and functional and it was, so i was done in like an hour. When i got there she gave me a drink and then let me take a look at her computer and check stuff. She was really kind and i had a great talk with her. She was also very wise and secure as she did know not to open sketchy links or websites or mails or pick up sketchy phone calls and she had strong passwords. I checked her computer and made some backups for her and also i installed ublock origin on her browser so that she would not get any advertisements on websites and explained to her how she could disable that if sites did not want to function with it turned on. SO all in all a good first experience. My next customer is planned for 1st of july and she needs help with installing her tv. on the 8th of every month is when i get my salary. Also nice is that i can take some weeks off and plan in so called timeouts, basically moments i am not available and where i dont want to be disturbed at any moment, so i put in the following 2 weeks as unavailable also because i am not bound to a specific contract demanding me to work X hours as i get paid for the amount of hours i work and no consequences are tied to me taking some weeks off other than no money coming in.
Signing off #
So all and all, i am perfectly fine and healthy and the reason for a lack of posting for a whole month was just lack of time and or ideas and because school got in the way. But i hope to post more in the week after the exams as then i have more time and freedom. I did not fully abandon working on my websites and behind the scenes i did some stuff and optimisations but its not any major stuff.
I do plan on next deploying my Matrix.org powered chat server (discord kinda like alternative) and my own search engine (based on searXNG). I got the idea from Eva, someone i know from DJOE (De Jonge Onderzoekers Eindhoven. Basically a club where you can do stuff like electronics or computer related stuff or even 3d printing/woodworking), who also hosts their own website called https://Lynnyc.net where they write about transitioning from bigtech and corporate owned options to FOSS alternatives. They are also a big selfhost geek/nerd. So shoutout to them for giving me some ideas of what i can do. I wont deploy them as rival options but rather just interesting experiments and may make them public, but i atleast already did configure a domain for them. But now the domains of those mostly lead to my nice “Site not yet configured” page i deployed on my nginx proxy manager if i have not yet setup a site or have disabled it (see picture below).
For anyone wondering what the future domains for the stuff i will deploy in the future will be, i will put some links below. Can also be found on my Link page
I also have other stuff/ideas but i dont know if i will deploy them/work them out. SO thats it for today. I am all alive and well and for now i will sign off and focus on and put the last ditch effort into my exams and then after that i will post stuff again.
Be well, take care and bye!