@funderburker,
The easiest way is to start with Arduino. There is plenty of tutorials online, for example on youtube. You can buy starter kits for this quite easily.
Several people make tutorials on the same subjects, so if you can't understand something from one tutorial, go to the other.
Some things you need to answer to yourself before you start learning:
1. Do you want to be proficient at it, or make a single project, or get some base knowledge so you can create stuff occasionally?
This describes your engagement, and determines how much time and money you should be investing into it.
It also describes whether you should pay someone to do it, or do it yourself.
You will need tools and materials to solder/desolder stuff, to etch the PCBs, you will need to buy components...
2. People learn differently. I think it's because their brains like to gather knowledge in different ways. You should first look at which mode fits you best:
- read all the books on the subject, memorize everything, think out your project, and only then proceed to create it, or,
- jump head first, making a lot of mistakes, and building the knowledge as you go.
Find out which of these work best for you, and follow it.
In both cases, prepare your education materials! Don't dive into the details straight away. See what exact things you need to learn to reach your aim. Try not to off-topic into other interesting things too much. Stay focused and aim-oriented.
I'd suggest finding a local hackerspace or makerspace (
http://makeriga.org/ perhaps?) to get you started, and work in a way where you get your results quickly.
A nice starter project is to get an arduino, and:
- upload a code to it that makes the computer recognize it as a human interface device (HID). There is a ready code for that online, look around.
- wire a switch to it, and program the arduino to send a keypress info to the computer when you click the switch.
And on a final note, if you want to gain proficiency, don't ask. Search.
Why?
First of all, people will most often give you replies you're not ready for. The experienced ones will give you complex answers. The inexperienced ones will give you bad answers.
Second of all, this teaches you how to formulate search queries, what to look for, and how to apply that to your project. You'll be doing a lot of that in the future, even as an experienced EE! Saw Stackoverflow? Seen its popularity? It's not there without a reason!