I went down the route of fixing TVs, videos, fridges etc from about the age of 12, which led straight to a degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. The cool thing about it was it included VLSI design, Power electronics (heh heh) and my optional extra was opto electronics.

The main practice I get is in designing audio electronics for my studio (mostly guitar effects etc) and fixing hardware for my mates. I acquire a lot of kit free that way