#492 – More Electronics Consultant Impedance Matching

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Another episode with people talking about consulting for electronics! Welcome to our guests, listed clockwise from the top left in the episode photo.

• Alex Klimaj from ARK Electronics in Utah in the US.
• Jeremiah Gillis from Embedded Bytes, Inc in Wyoming in the US.
• Kieran O’Leary from Mixed Signal Systems, Ltd in Scotland in the UK. Kieran has been on the show on his own in the past.
• We all know each other from the Electronics Consultant Forum. If you’re interested in joining you can apply here.

Notes from the show:

• Episode 409 was also about Electronic Consulting. That episode inspired the consultant forum as a place to discuss issues related to the field.
• Working with remote clients, before and during the lockdown.
• All have considered making hardware for sale outside of client work.
  • Alex has made the LiPow
  • Kieran does courses and has made some demo boards for SI issues
  • Jeremiah will be making some mod hardware for his Mazda RX7
• Chris liked the idea of building a reference design after Ryan Cousins from KRTKL was on the show talking about how the Snickerdoodle is a lead generation tool.
• Having a niche is also important.
• The Long Tail (written by past guest Chris Anderson)
• Past guest / co-host Greg Charvat has written niche books that lead to opportunities at startups as a CTO.
• Schedules at home lab are tough, but not that different than before for the attendees. Kieran is used to working in the middle of the night (it was 1 am during the call for him)
• Alex recorded a video of mountain biking using a Skydio drone
• Keeping up on the latest trends via podcasts. We didn’t mention it directly but this included the machine learning episode on embedded.fm.
• Classes are always a good way to learn too, but might be more limited.
• Looking at job postings also calls out what skills are in demand. Chris referenced the HN who’s hiring posts.
• Chris wishes there was an Audm for Engineers, that reads you technical articles and/or summaries. If you’re interested email chris@theamphour.com with the subject line “Audm for engineers”
• How are you rigorous?
  • Standard processes in place
  • Jeremiah is learning from the medical industry, since there are more regulations. This includes things like unit testing that links back to a requirement.
• Tracking time for quality, including how well they are doing for estimates.
• Asana with Everhour
• Book: How to measure anything
• The important thing is to check whether it’s done or not. “Are we happy? Yes or no”
• A great tip: Every block in the schematic gets a number for PCB reviews
• Using a balance sheet as a budget check. Adding custom categories to your Chart of Accounts (with your accountant’s blessing) means you can categorize with more fine control.
• Some of the accounting/tracking tools we use:
  • Xero
  • Quickbooks
  • Zoho
• Spend your time billing hours
• War stories
  • Once there was a layoff, one the employees was nice enough to update Kieran on the situation
  • Jeremiah war story about client
• “I declare Force Majeure!”
• So you want to be a consultant. Also referenced in Jack Ganssle’s series on being a consultant.
• Things to learn in the next 5 years:
  • Business strategy (Trillion dollar coach – Bill Campbell_
  • DC power storage and EVs
  • Measuring progress (Measure What Matters – John Doerr)
• Consulting forum application
• Follow our guests online!
  • Kieran O’Leary on Twitter, LinkedIn and his personal site
  • Jeremiah Gillis on LinkedIn, his company site
  • Alex Klimaj on Twitter, LinkedIn and his company site