You can get there without a diploma and a degree using time, books (or youtube) and a modest quantity of tools (the setup in TFA would be overkill for establishing a basic knowledge about electronics).
The thing about a diploma or a degree course, is that you get GUIDED knowledge. A good institution will teach you the math and physics background first, and then proceed from basic circuit analysis to advanced circuit design in logical steps.
All while separating analogue electronics, digital electronics, RF, and signal processing as appropriate.
Self-taught people are almost always too eager to get their hands on a soldering iron, and end up with a jumble of information, instead of intuitive understanding.
> Self-taught people are almost always too eager to get their hands on a soldering iron, and end up with a jumble of information, instead or intuitive understanding.
But if those self-taught people spend enough time, that jumble of information becomes deep empirical knowledge. At the end of the day, developing an understanding of electronics just comes down to how much time you are willing to invest in studying datasheets, working out schematics, fabricating circuits and keenly observing. Understanding the math and physics is deeply valuable and a great gift, but empirical knowledge is just as valuable- if not more. After all, Faraday (and all the others who did the work that eventually led to our mathematical and physical understanding of elecric circuits) did not need theory to do his experiments.
