Background: I took some 100 and 200-level courses on electronics in college over a decade ago. I still remember some stuff (Ohm's law, Kirchoff's law), and I can recognise the basic parts in a circuit diagram.
I am also happy to pick up a beginner friendly text book and go through the theory by myself, if there are any recommendations.
However, I've never even held a soldering gun. I am a blank slate when it comes to any practical applications. I get overwhelmed trying to figure out what kit to order on Amazon.
So, is there a course/tutorial you'd recommend for learning the hands on parts of it? I'd prefer as much handholding as possible. Ex -- if someone sells all the components to finish the projects in the course that would be the course I pick.
Yeah, I definitely understand that. I certainly have things that I don't use as much as I hoped (I'm staring at a solar panel doing nothing leaned against my wall). For me, I really need the resulting "thing" to be something that I will use/be excited about.
That's why, for me, fixing stuff that's broken, upgrading stuff, or repurposing stuff you already own is good. Replacing a worn out jack is a relatively simple task that can turn an expensive brick back into a nice thing.
The tools you need are not a very long list. You can get a cheap, crappy soldering iron for $6, solder for $4, a crappy multimeter for $7, and one of those magnifying glass/alligator clip things for $6 from harbor freight. Despite being poor quality, a lot can be accomplished with just those tools.
I ended up buying a bench power supply for like $40, but you can just get DC power supplies from the bin of assorted cords at your nearest thrift store for basically free.