I’m available immediately for contract and salaried positions. Let me put my expertise, tools, and facility to work for your organization. Not sure how I might fit with your team? Here are just a few ways I can pitch in →

During my career in Research and Development, I’ve been responsible for developing products from ideation all the way through manufacturing. I’m comfortable with every aspect of the process: concepting, prototyping, circuit design, schematic capture, layout, firmware development, mechanical design, parts and materials sourcing, working with manufacturers and compliance labs, documentation, even the design of branding and packaging where required. I designed and launched my own hardware product, BeanCounter, as a one-man team. But I’ve also worked collaboratively with small engineering teams, taking on various parts of this process and filling the gaps. Whether you need a self-directed Product Dev to take a list of requirements and turn around a solution, or just a team member with too much experience emailing with vendors, I can make the process as painless as possible.

A thin layer of plastic or metal on the outside of your product can change a customer’s entire experience. It can also mean the difference between a reliable installation and a constant battle with corrosion and pest intrusion, so it’s important to get it right. I have experience designing parts and enclosures for multiple manufacturing processes including injection molding, CNC machining, and commercial 3D-printing. I’m most comfortable working in Autodesk Fusion, but I can usually find my way around a new piece of CAD/CAM software pretty easily. In-house fabrication capabilities allow me to iterate quickly through prototypes and to validate designs before going to manufacturing. I’m happy generating mechanical drawings, finding and vetting manufacturers, evaluating material samples, and even pushing a project through DFM review. If you need someone on your team who understands the electronic design of your product but is also comfortable with concepts like SPI Surface Finish, Shore Hardness, and Draft Angle don’t hesitate to reach out.

Are you a PCB manufacturer looking for novel ways to promote your product? Do you host Maker/Hacker/Tech-related events and need an in-house designer for electronic badges? Maybe you make STEM kits and want to upgrade your PCB design capabilities. Whatever the case, why not tap my years of experience creating unique PCB constructions as well as hardware-based games and experiences? From simple swag such as the name badges for Open Hardware Summit 2020, to LED delights like the Cosmic Aggressor, all the way to event games like SparkFun’s Roshamglo with hundreds of players, I’ve designed a plethora of little gadgets with the aim to delight conference-goers.

Do you or your organization have access to funding for Open Source Science? Does your society have room for a remote researcher? Do you do chemical, biotech, or environmental research and need an in-house engineer to design novel tools or accessible alternatives to commercial tools? I’m not a trained scientist, but my hobbies have exposed me to scientific equipment in a wide array of fields. My brushes with the worlds of academia and research have included participating on behalf of SparkFun Electronics at the Open Metrology conference in 2022 as well as my recent contract work with Rising Tide Research Foundation. If I don’t have at least a passing familiarity with your field of study, I can at least guarantee that I learn fast. I’m passionate about making advanced tools and processes accessible to the lay scientist and communicating their utility to the public. Want to find a cheap way to automate gel electrophoresis? Need to capture digital images from a vintage SEM? Want to find out how much of an HPLC can be 3D printed? Let’s find out together!

Now that EDA and CAD integration is getting more and more common, are you sitting on an EDA parts library without associated 3D models? Do you have a product catalog full of devices that your customers are demanding dimensional drawings for? Maybe you need someone on your team who can pump out flashy renders for your product concepts. Whatever the demand, I can meet it. I have a lot of experience modelling parts in Autodesk Fusion from both drawings and physical samples. I’m also fairly adept at Fusion’s rendering workflow, creating detailed renders that exploit the quirks of Fusion’s rendering environment for added effect. While I specialize in hard-edge modelling and working with solids, I do have some experience incorporating organic shapes and meshes where required.

Part of my Virginia facility is an SMT PCBA assembly line! I operate 2 pick & place machines, an EKRA stencil printer, and a 5-zone conveyor reflow oven. Whether you’re considering moving your PCBA in house or are looking to step up production from hand-assembly, I can be your organization’s solo manufacturing department for mid-scale batch assembly. Not only can I do SMT assembly, but I can also hand-finish boards with PTH components and even program and test microcontrollers and SoCs.

You’re not an engineering firm but… you may need an engineer anyway. Do you work in a field where the right tool for the job doesn’t quite exist? Or maybe it just needs some tweaking. Do you need products from different vendors to talk to each other even if they weren’t designed to? Do you feel like some level of automation could be helpful but not enough to get FANUC involved? Unique problems require unique solutions, and I enjoy finding bespoke and economical solutions for the weirdest problems. With skills in electronic design, mechanical design, and fabrication, I can be the Q to your team’s 007.

A primary job responsibility for several years was to present maker-oriented video content, and it’s something that I’ve done independently for just as long. Besides being a long-time presenter for SparkFun Electronics while creating my own content on the side, I’ve also recorded voiceover for technical sales copy, and I’ve written everything from in-depth explainers to hundreds of catalog product descriptions. Whether you’re an electronics retailer, a community platform, or a hardware vendor, you could benefit from an in-house technologist to develop original projects and content aimed at a tech-savvy audience. Your team can lean on me for audio/video content, photos, write-ups, and even illustrations.

These are just a few roles that I’ve either filled in the past or can imagine a demand for. Chances are I can’t even imagine what it is your team is doing, so don’t let me limit you. If you’ve read my CV and see some combination of skills and experience that you can put to good use then don’t hesitate to tell me all about it! I’ve spent my entire career developing a broad and varied skill set, and I’m always happy to apply it to new and interesting projects. Let me be an engineering Swiss Army knife for your organization!

Let’s Talk:
By Email: Nick@signalditch.com
On Mastodon @North@chaos.social
On Discord: northallenpoole

Thank you for your consideration.