Electronics development and freelance
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I want to share with you my experience in the development of electronics by a freelancer. So, we tell in order ...
I have been developing electronics for the past 7 years. The main place of work - the company produces a variety of security and fire panels and related products. He came to the company as a young and inexperienced 3rd year student. Over the next 2-3 years, I managed to complete several projects put into production. Among them were both updated versions of previously manufactured products and new developments. Over time, I completely plunged into production support (more than 10,000 products annually), so new developments did not start.
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Due to boredom, I started looking for orders for the development of various devices in various ways. Why not? After all, so many people with original ideas of excellent devices - you just need to meet and make a project. To do this, I signed up at the well-known freelance exchange of Runet, and also sent offers to various companies.
What projects were considered as possible to use? The main category is various devices based on popular microcontrollers. Within the framework of the order, it was intended to carry out the processes familiar to me from the coordination of the TK for the device and the design of the concept to the purchase of necessary components, the soldering of the samples and their testing.
Since there are few orders, at the initial stage I took on projects of various subjects and from various customers. Read more about customers.
Who orders the development of electronics and why? At this stage, I know several basic categories of customers:
The further narrative will be presented as a description of some orders executed for a person - “loners”, and an analysis of their prospects for various categories of customers.
Through mutual friends I received an offer to develop a small medical device. A prototype without production was required. The customer is a neurosurgeon. For scientific work required a device for recording in the PC "signals of brain activity" (I do not know the exact name). Since the device was supposed to be used for experiments on mice (yes, we open the skull and stick the wires) - there was no talk about certification and any safety for the organism.
The solution was quite simple - I bought a simple handkerchief with a Microchip microcontroller, Analog Devices ADC, a 16-channel multiplexer and a galvanically isolated USB interface. You can’t even remember the exact name of the board - the main field of application is the automation of any experiments, reading sensors and other tasks, that is, the board had nothing to do with medicine. Data input in the PC, processing and visualization implemented using the Matlab environment. Having studied the examples of the environment, I implemented a software oscilloscope. Such amateur radio programs are quite common on the Internet, but in my case I convinced the customer about the benefits of Matlab for processing and visualization (he still used them).
After some time, the doctor told me that this piece of hardware, connected to a laptop, and with a modified software was used in operations on living people. Equipment in the hospital provided much worse information. I was very proud.
The work was transferred (spent several evenings), the money was received (half a monthly salary), new knowledge was obtained (working with Matlab, signal processing, etc.) - an ideal order.
After some time, the order from the same doctor - design and manufacture of a portable two-channel pacemaker. The doctor developed special methods of stimulation of the body, which very well alleviated the suffering of the sick and also contributed to recovery. We discussed the project and the work began. Some time later, on the table lies a prototype capable of producing recordings downloaded to it from a PC. It is necessary to test and work out the method of use. To test means to disconnect a device from simple resistors and connect it to a living body.
Here the problems started - there is no one to check it and there is no time. It is a bad idea to give signals to your hand that can unpredictably affect the brain. The project stopped and gradually became covered with dust. The time spent (2 months of evenings and weekends) was practically not compensated for in any way (there was enough money for accessories).
Do not worry and continue. From the freelance exchange comes a message with a proposal to develop a stuffing computer gadget. We agree and to confirm the ability to perform animates the mock-up card sent by the customer. Further payment of half the money with the requirement to design a printed circuit board corresponding to the breadboard, that is, for the finished firmware you need to design the hardware.
To design a printed circuit board, it was necessary to coordinate the design of the case with the designer. Here we faced the first difficulties - the customer managed to find a competent designer who was able to design the hull, only from the third time in six months. After a long wait, I received a PCB drawing and was able to complete the work. The finished device is transferred to the customer - summing up. The time spent half a year was not justified in any way by the payment received in the amount of a monthly salary, so an understanding of the futility of developing electronics for the customer, the “loner”, arose.
The main problem that arose during the execution of orders is the impossibility of starting the project development pipeline for a number of reasons:
To solve the above problems a team of specialists is needed, that is, to offer the most comprehensive solution to the problem. The solution should include such things as writing the technical assignment, development of the device, design, documentation, and, if necessary, certification and organization of production.
In this case, the customer is required to have large financial influences, which in fact transfer him to the category of customer-enterprise. It turns out that most beautiful ideas will remain unrealized?
I want to share with you my experience in the development of electronics by a freelancer. So, we tell in order ...
I have been developing electronics for the past 7 years. The main place of work - the company produces a variety of security and fire panels and related products. He came to the company as a young and inexperienced 3rd year student. Over the next 2-3 years, I managed to complete several projects put into production. Among them were both updated versions of previously manufactured products and new developments. Over time, I completely plunged into production support (more than 10,000 products annually), so new developments did not start.
')
Due to boredom, I started looking for orders for the development of various devices in various ways. Why not? After all, so many people with original ideas of excellent devices - you just need to meet and make a project. To do this, I signed up at the well-known freelance exchange of Runet, and also sent offers to various companies.
What projects were considered as possible to use? The main category is various devices based on popular microcontrollers. Within the framework of the order, it was intended to carry out the processes familiar to me from the coordination of the TK for the device and the design of the concept to the purchase of necessary components, the soldering of the samples and their testing.
Since there are few orders, at the initial stage I took on projects of various subjects and from various customers. Read more about customers.
Who orders the development of electronics and why? At this stage, I know several basic categories of customers:
- A person with an interesting idea of ​​the device. With the production and development of electronics in no way;
- An enterprise with a need for an original device. An example would be an institution that needs to automate an experiment. It is impossible to hire a person under an employment contract, but there is money to order. Or an enterprise that needed to make the same device, but with some peculiarities. For such enterprises, the development and production of electronics is not the main field of activity, therefore there are no designers, suppliers and other necessary people in the state;
- Enterprise developer of electronics. Its developers are very busy, or they are not enough, or the project is risky and so on. There is own production, designers, testers and a warehouse of components.
The further narrative will be presented as a description of some orders executed for a person - “loners”, and an analysis of their prospects for various categories of customers.
Through mutual friends I received an offer to develop a small medical device. A prototype without production was required. The customer is a neurosurgeon. For scientific work required a device for recording in the PC "signals of brain activity" (I do not know the exact name). Since the device was supposed to be used for experiments on mice (yes, we open the skull and stick the wires) - there was no talk about certification and any safety for the organism.
The solution was quite simple - I bought a simple handkerchief with a Microchip microcontroller, Analog Devices ADC, a 16-channel multiplexer and a galvanically isolated USB interface. You can’t even remember the exact name of the board - the main field of application is the automation of any experiments, reading sensors and other tasks, that is, the board had nothing to do with medicine. Data input in the PC, processing and visualization implemented using the Matlab environment. Having studied the examples of the environment, I implemented a software oscilloscope. Such amateur radio programs are quite common on the Internet, but in my case I convinced the customer about the benefits of Matlab for processing and visualization (he still used them).
After some time, the doctor told me that this piece of hardware, connected to a laptop, and with a modified software was used in operations on living people. Equipment in the hospital provided much worse information. I was very proud.
The work was transferred (spent several evenings), the money was received (half a monthly salary), new knowledge was obtained (working with Matlab, signal processing, etc.) - an ideal order.
After some time, the order from the same doctor - design and manufacture of a portable two-channel pacemaker. The doctor developed special methods of stimulation of the body, which very well alleviated the suffering of the sick and also contributed to recovery. We discussed the project and the work began. Some time later, on the table lies a prototype capable of producing recordings downloaded to it from a PC. It is necessary to test and work out the method of use. To test means to disconnect a device from simple resistors and connect it to a living body.
Here the problems started - there is no one to check it and there is no time. It is a bad idea to give signals to your hand that can unpredictably affect the brain. The project stopped and gradually became covered with dust. The time spent (2 months of evenings and weekends) was practically not compensated for in any way (there was enough money for accessories).
Do not worry and continue. From the freelance exchange comes a message with a proposal to develop a stuffing computer gadget. We agree and to confirm the ability to perform animates the mock-up card sent by the customer. Further payment of half the money with the requirement to design a printed circuit board corresponding to the breadboard, that is, for the finished firmware you need to design the hardware.
To design a printed circuit board, it was necessary to coordinate the design of the case with the designer. Here we faced the first difficulties - the customer managed to find a competent designer who was able to design the hull, only from the third time in six months. After a long wait, I received a PCB drawing and was able to complete the work. The finished device is transferred to the customer - summing up. The time spent half a year was not justified in any way by the payment received in the amount of a monthly salary, so an understanding of the futility of developing electronics for the customer, the “loner”, arose.
The main problem that arose during the execution of orders is the impossibility of starting the project development pipeline for a number of reasons:
- The incompleteness of the customer's idea - often a person sees the bottleneck in the project of its electronics. As a result, in the manufacture of the device, the customer begins to think about the future course of the project, respectively, the final is postponed indefinitely;
- Financial constraints - the customer often cannot (or does not understand the need) pay for the required number of components for devices. For example, it is incredibly difficult to debug the firmware of a device if it is one and should work up to six months from the battery, so the development time is stretched;
- The lack of a team - designers, programmers, designers and testers. Part of the problem stems from financial constraints;
- Lack of a warehouse with parts - parts from our own stock are often not enough, and buying is sometimes problematic (20 weeks of delivery) or not at all (many suppliers do not work with individuals);
- The project may simply not be claimed - as a consequence of the development is not expected.
To solve the above problems a team of specialists is needed, that is, to offer the most comprehensive solution to the problem. The solution should include such things as writing the technical assignment, development of the device, design, documentation, and, if necessary, certification and organization of production.
In this case, the customer is required to have large financial influences, which in fact transfer him to the category of customer-enterprise. It turns out that most beautiful ideas will remain unrealized?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/146705/
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