The Amp Hour

An Interview With Dave Young

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Chris and Dave brew beer a few weeks ago in Denver
  • Chris and Dave started co-ops together at Audiopack, now Ultra Electronics.
  • One of the co-op tasks was intelligibility testing.
  • Dave told Chris about the job he eventually got at Keithley Instruments. The work culture there was one of the best parts.
  • Learning how to do error budgets and power budgets was an important task for young engineers.
  • Dave now does consulting under Young Circuit Designs out in Denver.
  • He learned that being up front with CMs about what startups and/or consulting projects needed saved LOTS of time.
  • It's a big advantage to work with local suppliers. Dave now has Advanced Circuit (Denver) and Tracer Assembly (Golden)
  • Want to be a consultant? Have cash in the bank. Also...work whichever 16 hours you'd like!
  • Dave does embedded + analog + whatever else needs to be done. Small teams means you're in charge of everything!
  • One project seeks to take the low cost of "hoverboards" (balancing wheeled devices that were starting on fire) and use them to build low cost motorized wheelchairs. They got a Google Grant to do so.
  • Dave's other major venture is Bluestamp Engineering (BSE). They introduce and mentor high school kids who are interested in engineering over the course of 6 weeks.
  • The students have to apply and determine which project they want to do before arriving. There is a 3:1 student to staff ratio as well, so each student gets lots of attention .
  • Dave's current favorite project is based on a Hackster entry that uses the Particle photon and google cardboard to create a lightsaber simulator.
  • The tuition for BSE is $3500-$4000 (depending on location), but turns out to be $35/hour (cheaper than most/all tutoring). There are also scholarships for students, though everyone is required to pay something to have "skin in the game".
  • The students are high school age. Man update their profiles when applying to college because the experience looks good. Some students also come back as instructors!
  • BSE currently operates in (click links to see the students' pages):
    • New York
    • Palo Alto
    • Denver
    • SF
    • If you're interested in talking to some of the BSE students, let Dave know!
    • Reach Dave on Twitter (@DaveYoungEE) or on his companies' websites: Bluestamp Engineering and Young Circuit Designs.
      • Many thanks to my old friend Dave for joining me on short notice. Though I've heard many of his stories, I am glad he got to share a lot of them with all of you. There are lots more good ones, perhaps we'll hear them sometime in the future!
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      The Amp HourBy The Amp Hour (Chris Gammell and David L Jones)
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