No doubt the vast majority of engineers have joined engineering students doing work or study from home. With the current serious pandemic many people are looking for things to do, so to help with information we have gathered a list of podcasts and some courses being offered free.

The Engineering Podcasts

1. The Amp Hour tops most lists online. Started in 2010, this was one of the first and still being broadcast. They have 487 podcasts.

2. The Spark Gap has done 52 podcasts since 2014. The site states it is “A podcast discussing the nuts and bolts of embedded electronics, the systems that use them, and the community that surrounds them”.

3. Women in Electronics “is a non profit organization dedicated to the professional and personal development of women in the Electronics Industry”. 

4. Tech Stuff is a combination of information about electronics and components, but also includes interviews with industry leaders and news about component companies. The link is to the Basic Components of Electronics episode.

5. ECIA Podcast is from the Electronic Component Industry Association an industry standard where manufacturers and distributors promote and improve the industry.  There are some recent episodes covering the impact of the pandemic.

6. The Prepared is as the site describes “the podcast contains honest conversations with engineers and operators about their work and careers”.

7. How I Built This is an NPR podcast that interviews company founders who talk about how they started and built their companies.

8. The MacroFab Engineering Podcast has two company-employed hosts who have conversations about electrical engineering and not specifically about their own products.

9. Engineering IRL “is here to help improve problem solving skills for all people by breaking down engineering design concepts and applying them to real life”. A good Google hosted podcast.

10. The K12 Engineering Education Podcast has 92 episodes that promote “education in engineering and design for all ages.”

Free Engineering Courses

1. Gadget Makers Blog has a number of quality engineering tutorials that are worth a look.

2. EdX has a large selection of free engineering courses in a number of languages.

3. Class Central has over 1200 free engineering courses offered by numerous universities including Georgia Institute of Technology and MIT.

4. Interesting Engineering offers a list of 20 courses from various institutions and covering various engineering disciplines.

5. Academic Earth has 81 courses that “range from courses covering the basics of the profession, to high-level classes focused on one particular aspect of the field,”

As it looks like the “Stay in Place” orders will be here till at least the end of April if not longer, these podcasts and courses offer a way to keep informed and learn.