Day One of Ninety

Day 1: My Electronics Journey Starts From Zero ⚡

90 days. One goal. Learn electronics, build things, fail, fix, and keep going.
This is Day 1 of my 90-Day Electronics Challenge.
I've always been interested in electronics and the things happening behind the devices we use every day. But there's a big difference between being interested in electronics and actually sitting down, picking up a circuit board, writing some code, and making something work.
So I decided to start from scratch.
No fancy projects. No complicated circuits.
Just 90 days of learning, experimenting, failing, and building.
And honestly… Day 1 was already an adventure. 😂
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🛒 The First Step: Buying My Components
The first thing I needed was some basic hardware.
So I woke up, got ready, and headed out to buy my components.
The electronics shop wasn't exactly around the corner. I had to travel quite a distance by bus just to get there. After reaching the shop, I finally started picking up the things I would need for my first experiments.
My main purchase was an ESP32 development board.
Along with that, I got some basic components:
- ESP32 DevKit
- Breadboard
- Jumper wires
- LEDs
- Resistors
- USB data cable
- Some basic electronic components
These aren't expensive or complicated components, but they're enough to start learning the fundamentals and building simple projects.
After getting everything, my day somehow turned into a little adventure of its own. 😭
I even went to a mall before finally making my way back home.
So technically, Day 1 started with a bus journey, an electronics shopping trip, a mall visit, and a bag full of components.
Not a bad beginning.
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🔌 Finally… The ESP32
Once I got home, I was excited to finally connect the ESP32 to my laptop.
I thought:
«Plug it in → write some code → upload → done.»
Yeah…
No. 😂
This was where things got interesting.
I connected the ESP32 and tried uploading my first program.
And then…
ERROR.
I tried again.
ERROR.
Again.
ERROR.
At one point, I genuinely started wondering whether I had somehow damaged my brand-new ESP32 before even using it properly. 💀
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💻 COM Ports, Drivers & Upload Errors
I quickly realized that learning electronics isn't just about connecting wires.
There's a whole software side to it too.
I had to figure out things like:
- Which COM port was my ESP32 using?
- Was the correct board selected?
- Was the USB driver working?
- Was I using a proper USB data cable?
- Why wasn't the ESP32 entering download mode?
- Why was the upload failing?
- What exactly was this mysterious boot mode error?
I spent quite a while troubleshooting.
There were moments when I thought:
"Maybe electronics isn't for me."
But instead of giving up, I kept trying.
I changed settings, checked connections, tried different methods, and kept searching for what was wrong.
Eventually…
I GOT IT CONNECTED.
That feeling alone was satisfying.
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💡 The First Project: Blinking an LED
Once the ESP32 was finally communicating with my computer, I decided to start with the most basic project possible.
Blink an LED.
It sounds ridiculously simple.
And technically, it is.
But when you're starting from zero, there's something special about seeing a physical LED respond to a program that you wrote.
I opened Arduino IDE and started learning the basics.
The idea was simple:
Turn LED ON → wait → turn LED OFF → wait → repeat.
My first few lines of code were enough to control something in the real world.
That was the moment it started feeling real.
I wasn't just watching tutorials anymore.
I was actually making something happen.
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😭 Except… It Took Three Days
Here's the funny part.
I didn't finish my first blink project on Day 1.
Or Day 2.
It took me THREE DAYS.
Three days of trying things, getting errors, reconnecting the board, checking settings, uploading code, failing, searching for solutions, and trying again.
And finally…
💡 BLINK!
The LED turned on.
Then off.
Then on again.
It was probably one of the smallest electronics projects anyone could make.
But for me, it felt like a huge achievement.
Because this wasn't really about the LED.
It was about getting past that first obstacle.
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🚀 Why I'm Doing This 90-Day Challenge
This is bigger than just an ESP32 project.
I want to document what happens when I seriously dedicate time to learning electronics from the basics.
Over the next 90 days, I want to explore things like:
Basic electronics → circuits → microcontrollers → sensors → programming → PCB design → projects
I know I'm going to make mistakes.
I'm probably going to break things.
I'm definitely going to get more error messages. 😂
But that's part of learning.
My goal isn't to become an expert overnight.
It's simply to become better than I was yesterday.
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🔧 The Basic Components I'm Starting With
If you're also interested in starting electronics, you don't need a huge laboratory to begin.
A basic setup can be enough.
ESP32 DevKit
The ESP32 is going to be the main controller for many of my upcoming projects. It gives me Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPIO pins and plenty of possibilities for experimentation.
Buy: ESP32 DevKit → [add your preferred affiliate/product link]
Breadboard
A breadboard makes it possible to build and test circuits without permanently soldering everything together.
Buy: 830-point Breadboard → [add your preferred affiliate/product link]
Jumper Wires
These are basically the little connections that allow different components on the breadboard to communicate with each other.
Buy: Jumper Wire Set → [add your preferred affiliate/product link]
LEDs & Resistors
LEDs are perfect for learning the basics of outputs, while resistors are essential for controlling current in simple circuits.
Buy: Basic Electronics Component Kit → [add your preferred affiliate/product link]
USB Data Cable
Don't forget this one.
A charging-only USB cable can cause unnecessary headaches when you're trying to program a development board.
Buy: USB Data Cable → [add your preferred affiliate/product link]
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📚 What I'm Using to Learn
I'm using Arduino IDE for programming the ESP32 and gradually learning how microcontrollers and electronics work together.
I'm also using the official ESP32 documentation whenever I run into problems.
Arduino IDE: "Official Arduino IDE" (https://www.arduino.cc/en/software)
Arduino-ESP32 Documentation: "ESP32 Arduino Documentation" (https://docs.espressif.com/projects/arduino-esp32/en/latest/)
ESP32 Getting Started: "Espressif Documentation" (https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32/get-started/index.html)
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🌱 From One Blinking LED…
Looking back, it might seem funny that it took me three days to make an LED blink.
But I don't really see it as three wasted days.
I learned how to troubleshoot.
I learned that things don't always work on the first try.
I learned that an error message isn't necessarily a failure — sometimes it's just a clue.
And most importantly…
I started.
Every complicated electronics project I've ever seen started with someone learning the basics.
For me, that beginning is a tiny LED blinking on an ESP32.
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⚡ 90 DAYS. ONE JOURNEY.
This is only Day 1 of 90.
I don't know exactly where I'll be at the end of these 90 days.
Maybe I'll build some cool projects.
Maybe I'll destroy a few components along the way. 😭
Maybe I'll discover something completely different that I love.
But I'm going to document it all.
Learn → Build → Fail → Fix → Repeat.
And hopefully, when Day 90 arrives, I can look back at this post and see just how far I've come.
Day 1/90 — COMPLETE ✅
See you on Day 2. ⚡
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🎥 Video done but find my channel
I documented the entire Day 1 experience — from going out to buy the components, to fighting with the ESP32, to finally getting my first LED blink working.

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What would you build first?
If you're also starting your electronics journey, tell me what you're learning or building in the comments.
Let's learn together. ❤️
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