This is a multi-kW DC system problem (battery pack, resistive heater, contactor, safety logic). The constraint is reaching sauna temps without relying on a 240V wall connection.
We currently generate ~$5k MRR renting saunas in the SF Bay (sfsaunarental.com). We've validated pain-point and demand.
If there’s mutual interest and the prototype goes well, this could extend into deeper collaboration or a more dedicated role.
To apply, email zach (at) sf-sauna (dot) com and include:
A short description of the EE project you're most proud of building from scratch
A link (GitHub, project photos, writeup, resume, etc)
Visit sf-sauna.com for more info about the problem space.
'RF fingerprinting' is a process used to uniquely identify RF devices based on hardware imperfections that show up in the RF signal. RF fingerprinting is used by both the US military and adversaries to surveil opposing RF assets. This tech is also used by private US companies to collect location tracking data of users' devices.
Here I present an experimental idea, development and commercialization plan, technical implementation, and risk assessment for a device modification to obfuscate the RF fingerprint: Obscuring RF Noise to Combat RF Fingerprinting Surveillance by Adversaries
The main idea is to introduce a hardware / thermal random noise generator after digital-to-analog conversion to hide hardware-induced RF identifiers.
To move this project forward, I'm looking for a technical co-founder with a background in electrical engineering. All experience levels welcome, including capable EE undergrads. If you know anybody who might be interested, please have them reach out!
We're Zach and Carl. Previously we worked on a small team at a startup writing software. That project involved impressive military hardware and guys who could literally snap us like twigs; our contribution was rock-solid code for use on distributed systems. We decided we'd try to keep rolling together and post here as a pair. Think of us as a no-money-down aqui-hire. (we're also available individually!)
Location: San Francisco
Remote: Hybrid or remote
Willing to relocate: No
Carl: A skilled manager and engineer with experience as a founder, a consultant, and a full-time employee. I've created and sold two companies. I’ve worked for startups, midsize, and large organizations in a diverse set of domains including blockchain, military communications, agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, gaming, billing, work management, DevOps, and web services.
Zach: 6 years of experience as software engineer and product manager across robotics, space, defense, agriculture, and web dev. I've been project lead on all technical projects and have 4 YOE at small startups (<5 engineers)
6 years of experience as software engineer and product manager across robotics, space, defense, agriculture, and web dev. I've been project lead on all technical projects and have 4 YOE as small startups (< 3 engineers)
it's really theory (CS) vs building things (SWE). As you want to build larger projects, or build them better, you rely on CS ideas to do that. So SWE is really engineering assisted by applied CS. I've been studying CS for about two years and am only now learning any real application development. You can study CS without ever touching a computer or building an application (though doing both those things will give you context for why CS topics matter).
It's kinda like if you want to build a rocket to get to space, you can tinker with propellant, metal, and fire, and be a hobbyist that eventually you build a rocket to go to space. Or you can be a physicist and calculate everything on paper. To get to space you really need both those people, but the physicist can learn to build and the engineer can learn theory.
is this stuff really like 1970s weed? I have a feeling it's still has quite a bit less THC than 70s weed. I started smoking weed probably a year before the medical craze hit the midwest. We called them 'regs' and they were about $5 / gram. I completely stopped smoking after I couldn't find regs anymore because I was just getting way too high off the medical stuff. I would definitely start again if I could find actual pre-medical weed. I just can't find it. Even the lowest THC content at dispensaries is way too much
I used to be a lot like this too. Eventually I got tired of it because I felt like I never had anything to show (mostly show to myself and feel proud of).
For hobbies/projects where the goal is just to unwind and enjoy myself, sure, I still do this. But that's often still not satisfying to me. I started making the intention to just complete the damn thing, even when it wasn't fun anymore. Motivation is hardly worth anything tbh. I used to only work with motivation, and while it felt good at the time, nothing ever got completed and I probably felt how you do a lot of the time.
Second, learning is hard. If you think you're comfortable with a new language, framework, whatever.. but you lose steam when working on whatever your building with it, you might not know it as good as you think you do. It's a lot easier to keep steam when there aren't roadblocks, but when you continually come across roadblocks, it just doesn't feel like your moving towards your goal with much speed. But this is generally where the learning takes place.
And I've also seen, finishing one project to completion makes it a lot easier to finish the next project to completion. It's a skill you have to learn (to do a personal project even when it's not fun, and there's nobody telling you you have to do it)
tl;dr: for enjoyment and relaxation, don't finish projects if you don't want. For learning / creating, make it the goal to finish and know that it'll probably be not fun sometimes
I'd also add, why not just find an appropriate data science MOOC to use? I'm sure there are tons out there that have had more time and resources to pour into it. You could at least use one as a jumping point so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.
This is Part B, but there's also parts A and C. While I recommend the whole course, you don't need to take it all if you just want the interpreter project.
Appropriate assignments. For me, that often makes or breaks a MOOC. I want to be stumped in an intellectual way, but not a cryptic way. I don't want to feel like I'm just trying to decode the professors cryptic problem. I want to feel like it's a genuine hurdle to learn the content well, yet still accessible, and definitely not busy work.
Good example: write an interpreter for the given (made up and simple) programming language. We had to figure out how to implement certain language features such as clojures.
Bad example: in networking course, we had to recall details about certain protocols, and do calculations. While this might be useful to know how to do in practice, it didn't contribute anything to my understanding, and it just always felt like tedious busy work, and lacked projects that contributed to the course goals.
I don't know data science, but here's a project I've heard of:
Somebody's hobby was disc golf. Discs come with ratings on them (I'm assuming things like curve and distance). They created a controlled experiment to take various data points from many discs, and compare them to their stated ratings, and apply a bunch of data science-y things to the data.
Edit: I'd add some type of reference resources like a wiki, and ideally some auto-grader that gives feedback if possible (like what tests failed)
Electrical / Power Systems Engineer - Build a battery-integrated sauna heater
Paid contract role, $80 - 150/hr, 15–25 hr initial scope
This is a multi-kW DC system problem (battery pack, resistive heater, contactor, safety logic). The constraint is reaching sauna temps without relying on a 240V wall connection.
We currently generate ~$5k MRR renting saunas in the SF Bay (sfsaunarental.com). We've validated pain-point and demand.
If there’s mutual interest and the prototype goes well, this could extend into deeper collaboration or a more dedicated role.
To apply, email zach (at) sf-sauna (dot) com and include:
A short description of the EE project you're most proud of building from scratch A link (GitHub, project photos, writeup, resume, etc)
Visit sf-sauna.com for more info about the problem space.