Hey guys,
I’m seriously planning to learn board-level mobile and laptop repair (micro-soldering, tracing shorts, IC reballing) as my main source of income.
Before I invest my savings into tools and training, I want an honest reality check from people who actually sit at a bench every day. The training institutes on YouTube make it look like easy money, but I know ground reality is always different.
A few specific things I want to understand:

Learning the trade:
Is it worth paying ₹20k–₹40k for a 1–2 month institute course, or is that mostly basic stuff you can figure out yourself? How long did it actually take you before your hands stopped shaking under the microscope and you could reball a CPU or pull an IC without ripping pads?

Setup cost:
What’s the bare minimum budget I need to set up a decent starter bench (microscope, hot air station, soldering iron, DC power supply, stencils)? What are the absolute must-haves versus things I can buy later?

Getting work without a fancy shop:
My plan is to start from a desk at home and take outsourced motherboard jobs from local retail mobile shops that only do screen/battery swaps. Do shop owners actually hand over boards to an independent technician, or is it hard to get them to trust you? What do they usually pay per board?

Income:
Realistically, how much can someone make in their first year if they’re consistent? And after 2–3 years, what does the income look like once you get fast and handle high-end stuff like iPhones or data recovery?

I don’t mind putting in long hours of practice, but I want to make sure I’m not stepping into a dead end. Would really appreciate any unfiltered advice, warnings, or things you wish you knew before starting.
Thanks!

Question

Hey guys,
I’m seriously planning to learn board-level mobile and laptop repair (micro-soldering, tracing shorts, IC reballing) as my main source of income.
Before I invest my savings into tools and training, I want an honest reality check from people who actually sit at a bench every day. The training institutes on YouTube make it look like easy money, but I know ground reality is always different.
A few specific things I want to understand:

Learning the trade:
Is it worth paying ₹20k–₹40k for a 1–2 month institute course, or is that mostly basic stuff you can figure out yourself? How long did it actually take you before your hands stopped shaking under the microscope and you could reball a CPU or pull an IC without ripping pads?

Setup cost:
What’s the bare minimum budget I need to set up a decent starter bench (microscope, hot air station, soldering iron, DC power supply, stencils)? What are the absolute must-haves versus things I can buy later?

Getting work without a fancy shop:
My plan is to start from a desk at home and take outsourced motherboard jobs from local retail mobile shops that only do screen/battery swaps. Do shop owners actually hand over boards to an independent technician, or is it hard to get them to trust you? What do they usually pay per board?

Income:
Realistically, how much can someone make in their first year if they’re consistent? And after 2–3 years, what does the income look like once you get fast and handle high-end stuff like iPhones or data recovery?

I don’t mind putting in long hours of practice, but I want to make sure I’m not stepping into a dead end. Would really appreciate any unfiltered advice, warnings, or things you wish you knew before starting.
Thanks!

Anonymous Practitioner · Accepted Answer

Lets go man I am not in electronics but you can build a cyber deck for personal uses and use a raspberrypie to do  some basic functions