u/OPTenguin r/embedded • Recommends
On “Custom board for hobby projects?”
>I know that I most likely won’t receive a functional board
I think you should have a bit more confidence in yourself haha.
Maybe you could start with a few ATmega328 (DIP so you can mount them on a breadboard) and learn how to program it without the Arduino. Then you choose a simple project and look at all the components you need.
Once your project is working, you could follow this video to make your PCB. It helped me a lot when I designed one.
I hope this helps and good luck with your projects.