Spent the last 6 years as the tech lead for the Hacker Lab makerspace in Sacramento CA, most recently as its CTO.
Experience being the jack-of-all-trades for all things tech, whether that's front end web development, creating custom hardware, integrating services together, scripting/coding custom solutions, or modifying 3D printer firmware.
Looking to leverage my time/exposure to such a wide range of tech as a background for work with a company/team that values open communication & has a clear mission.
Just to clear up some confusion, we are a for-profit. I wholeheartedly agree with the catch-22 nature of grants. We survived for quite awhile with a significant portion of our funding coming from them, and while they helped, the overhead that came with hitting their specific goals & reporting metrics ate way too much of our (paid) staff time. Grants we're just enough to survive, but pulled a lot of time away from developing in core-business areas. If done again, I would definitely be a proponent of running as a non-profit.
Absolutely agree with your take on grants though, I get why these stipulations exist.
A sidenote on staff vs volunteers: Volunteers are great, and heck I started out in the space as one (some 7 or so years ago), but pretty quickly we transitioned into paid roles for space critical ops.
While having paid positions was definitely one of the contributing factors into the high costs of the space, in my opinion its also the primary thing that allowed us to operate as smoothly as we did at times (not saying without a large number of hiccups).
It's easier to clearly define boundaries and expectations on individuals without souring relationships when there is compensation for someone's time.
Re: Angels: Yes, we included a hail-mary clause in that letter, and even had a couple parties (from the more philanthropic side) reach out, but to put it bluntly the hill is steep, even if we transitioned to non-profit.
Slight correction: Hacker Lab is/was not a non-profit. We ran a bit too altruistically for a for-profit, and in hindsight non-profit is definitely the way to go.
Source: Hacker Lab CTO here, somehow missed this thread until now.
Any chance you'll add just the SJ201 board on its own to your store? I'd love to experiment with my own case designs, but already have too many PCBA projects on my TODO bench, and am totally okay with paying a premium for a pre-assembled RPi daughter board.
Related question: any good recommendations for garment/fabric specific CAD software out there?
As purely a passing interest I recall trying to find a platform years ago but being disappointed with what I found.
I've always wanted to design the 'perfect' (for me) laptop bag but found the task daunting. This is coming from someone whose worked with Lasers/CNC Mills/CNC Routers/3D Printers/traditional mechanical & electrical CAD enough to be comfortable with the concepts of computer aided design and machine operation.
A way to overvoltage/current and burn out the LED. Probability low, but nonzero.
More plausible situation: There are times when the camera is pointed at me, but my head is not pointed at the camera. Perhaps I left the laptop on in the corner of a room while it's playing music, or a myriad of other things.
A cover is a simple, foolproof solution to the camera issue.
Disclaimer: CTO of Hacker Lab but speaking for myself here:
We've had more than a few Tech Shop refugees over the past few months/years. Noisebridge is great, and both of our spaces definitely have unique feels and great communities built around them.
I wandered into the space some 5 years ago and what stood out to me echos what above commenters have said - there is a definite air of don't-buy-what-you-can-build or repair within the maker sphere that spoke to me.
While there are plenty of edu institutions and private industry shops out there that have all the equipment we do and more, the community here of folks from different experience levels, background, etc. really makes makerspaces unique.
When Hacker Lab showed up there were only a small handful of coworking spaces in the area. 7 years later, I can't throw a stick without hitting one. I feel part of our survival has been going for breadth - coworking, hackathons, and makeing can all benefit from eachother.
That said, I'm as anxious and unknowing to see where this maker thing goes as the next person.
---------------------------------
Technologies:
- Daily drive: NodeJS, Python, C++, Linux, HTML/CSS/JS, networking concepts, dealing with REST APIs, dotLiquid, Git, KiCAD, SQL, various embedded mcus, MQTT
- Some familiarity: React/Next.js, Yocto Linux, Verilog, VBA, PHP
- Off-topic: AutoCAD, Fusion360, Inkskape, Arduino, light CNC operation, 3D printing
---------------------------------
Résumé: https://mittow.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Nile-Mittow_Re...
Email: nile( at )mittow( dot )com
---------------------------------
About:
Spent the last 6 years as the tech lead for the Hacker Lab makerspace in Sacramento CA, most recently as its CTO.
Experience being the jack-of-all-trades for all things tech, whether that's front end web development, creating custom hardware, integrating services together, scripting/coding custom solutions, or modifying 3D printer firmware.
Looking to leverage my time/exposure to such a wide range of tech as a background for work with a company/team that values open communication & has a clear mission.