There are many stories of internet influencers and personalities that have made a lot of money using various platforms such as Instagram. As I move closer to retirement, I was wondering if I could make any money from the years of seminars and teaching materials that I have. I started researching the possibilities. This led to thinking about the bigger question of how well one can learn power electronics from internet based resources.
The first question is why someone would want to learn power electronics from the internet. So, one “use case” for learning power electronics from internet resources is to get a formal Master’s degree. Obviously, traditional in-person, on-campus learning is not for everyone. It may be a matter of time commitment, location, or cost. Many cannot take two years off from full-time employment, for example, to get a Master’s degree. I earned my Master’s degree mostly by taking classes at night at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA. I was, and am, grateful that I had that opportunity. Had internet based Master’s degree programs been available in the 1980s, when I earned my MSEE, that might have been a path I would have chosen.