The problem this addresses

Hiring managers in electronics repair can find people who solder to a standard and people who can run a tester. What's scarce is the skill in between: diagnosis — reading a failure ticket, choosing the few measurements that matter, and condemning the right part instead of the nearest one. That skill is normally built through long, expensive on-the-job ramp at a working bench, one board at a time, on your equipment and your senior techs' time.

What this is

A free, fully self-contained training site: an 11-module curriculum (schematics, DMM and oscilloscope technique, digital and analog troubleshooting, ATE workflow, IPC-grade workmanship discipline), 16 scored fault drills where the learner chooses their own measurements and commits to a diagnosis — graded on accuracy and efficiency — plus interactive decision trees, worked case files, and scored module quizzes with an 80% pass mark. Every board and value in it is generic and invented; it contains no program data of any kind.

It produces artifacts a shop can file: a per-learner Training Record (module completion, quiz scores, drill results — printable, exportable CSV/JSON) paired with a Competency Sign-Off sheet a supervisor verifies and countersigns, and a Repair Traveler that standardizes documentation habits from day one.

Where it fits next to IPC certification

IPC certifications are the credentials that count in this industry, and this course does not replace them — it compresses the ramp around them. Published prices at STI Electronics (as listed, July 2026): IPC-7711/7721 CIS, $1,900, five classroom days; IPC-A-610 CIS, $1,010. A tech who arrives at those classes already fluent in the underlying diagnosis and vocabulary gets more from every certified seat you pay for — and is productive at the bench while waiting for a class date.

What a pilot looks like

Two or three new hires work the curriculum and drills during their ramp. The deliverables are their printed Training Records and countersigned Sign-Off sheets — documents your quality organization can file as competence evidence. IT footprint is zero: use the public site, or self-host the entire thing on your intranet from a single zip (static files, no external requests, no accounts, no data collection — a one-page deployment note for your IT security review is included). No procurement, no contract, nothing to uninstall.

What it is NOT

• Not an IPC certification — no credential is issued or implied; its completion record is self-attested until a supervisor countersigns it.
• Not program-specific work instructions — it contains no real part numbers, test values, or employer procedures, by deliberate design. Your controlled documentation stays the only source for program work.
• Not a data service — no employer or learner data is ever hosted; each learner's record lives in their own browser until they print or export it.
• Not a substitute for your quality org's judgment — the Sign-Off sheet exists precisely so a supervisor, not the courseware, attests to competence.

The whole site is the demo: every module, drill, and printable document is open at circuitcardacademy.com.