Design · Build · Troubleshoot

Build Real Hardware.
Learn Real Things.

AI can explain a circuit. It can't tell you why yours isn't working. When you're at the bench at 2 AM with a dead board and a multimeter, the only thing that helps is a mental model of how electrons actually behave. That's what we build here — through real design, real builds, and the debugging process that no tutorial or LLM can replace.

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Find your starting point

Software engineers moving to hardware

You can write firmware all day, but when the board doesn't work, you're stuck. You need a structured path from schematic to fabricated PCB — with someone who's done it thousands of times showing you what to check and why.

→ Start with the courses

Working engineers filling blind spots

You ship boards, but there are areas you've always worked around — signal integrity, power design, systematic debugging. CE gives you the depth to stop guessing and start reasoning about the parts of the design you've been avoiding.

→ Browse the course library

Career changers and self-taught builders

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

→ See how it works

Learn the Hardware Design cycle

From concept to manufacturing. It's not linear, it's a loop.

Schematic
01 // MODEL

Skills & Mental Models

Don't just learn where the buttons are in KiCad. Learn why you are placing that trace and how it affects the rest of your circuit. We focus on visualization, constraints, and building a mental map of the electrons.

Soldering
02 // BUILD

Assembly & Reality

Simulations don't burn your fingers. Real hardware does. We tackle component selection, soldering techniques, part programming, and the physical "gotchas" that prevent a design from working.

Multimeter
AI can't smell the magic smoke.

Troubleshooting

The critical skill. When the smoke clears and the LED doesn't light up, what do you do? We teach the rigorous process of measurement and deduction to find the fault.

Practical
Electronics
for Inventors

Fifth Edition

Scherz, Gammell

Best Selling Electronics Textbook

Practical Electronics for Inventors
(Fifth Edition)

This is the book we wish we had when we started. It bridges the gap between heavy theoretical textbooks and shaky hobbyist tutorials. It is 1000+ pages of "how it actually works." New edition to be revised and authored by Chris, due out in late 2027.

Errata & Updates

Get notified about new editions, errata sheets, and supplement material. Click below to sign up for the Free version and join the mailing list.

Community Access

Guided Study Group

$1/mo

Join the engineers and hobbyists helping define a new classic.

  • ✓ Discuss book content on the Forum
  • ✓ Suggest new topic areas
  • ✓ Early access to new coursework

Ready to build?

How CE works

You pick a project. You design the circuit, get the board fabricated, solder it, and troubleshoot it. Along the way, you build the mental models that actually make you a better engineer — not just someone who followed a tutorial.

When you get stuck, you post your schematic or layout and get feedback from Chris and a community of serious builders and working professionals. That feedback loop is the core of the program.

Start free, go deeper when you're ready

Sign up for free to access introductory courses like Getting to Blinky and see how we teach. Registration also gets you a forum account so you can start exploring the community right away.

When you're ready to build for real:

MEMBERSHIP

$59/mo
Complete course library: 20+ structured projects from beginner to advanced
Direct design feedback from Chris on your designs
Full forum access with working professionals
The full design-build-debug experience

MASTER

$279/mo
Everything in Membership
Two live video sessions per month with Chris
Hands-on mentorship on your own projects

One piece of feedback that catches a mistake before fabrication saves you a board respin — and pays for months of membership.

Cancel anytime. No contracts.

The future of electronics belongs to those who can debug reality.