Controversial question:
If you lived next door to your friends, would you be comfortable throwing CAT6 over the fence and sharing a local network on a day-to-day basis?
Or must each household be an island on the 'Net?
Every PCB design software should have an "I'm a Beginner" mode that hides all the weird parts and just gives you the basics: 5mm LEDs, 1/4-watt resistors, 0.1" pin headers, and the like.
Right? Wrong?
We'd love to see your best pictures of times you've let the smoke out.
Most expensive, most catastrophic, most memorable - give us your best stories from the bench!