October 01, 2018

Electronics Consultant Impedance Matching

1 hour 24 minutes

Welcome (counterclockwise) Piotr, Eric and Dave!

Dave is 30% local to 70% remote, 75% fixed, 25% hourly

0h 16m 20s

Eric is 80-90 local, 10% remote. 50-50 split on hourly vs fixed.

0h 17m 55s

Piotr was 100% remote and , but his remaining job is local and hourly

0h 19m 21s

Client archetypes

0h 20m 34s

Stability

0h 22m 34s

Past guest Philip Freidin wrote about being a consultant

0h 24m 04s

"So you want to be a consultant?"

0h 25m 43s

Do you bill for software?

0h 27m 17s

Time tracking

0h 28m 51s

Consulting specialty

0h 29m 31s

Dave: likes diversity and depth of work

0h 29m 47s

Eric: smaller projects beginning to end

0h 30m 36s

Piotr: Vertically integrated

0h 31m 4s

0 hour billable weeks

0h 36m 51s

Let's figure out what's best for that

0h 37m 59s

Learning the personality of a client

0h 40m 58s

Playing the timeline all the way forward

0h 41m 37s

Client communication

0h 43m 16s

Setting expectations

0h 43m 22s

Firing a client

0h 43m 52s

3 strikes

0h 43m 56s

Growing empathy for customers

0h 45m 24s

Language barriers with clients

0h 47m 37s

"This SHOULD be done by..."

0h 48m 2s

Dealing with impostor syndrome

0h 51m 58s

Known risks

0h 53m 18s

Communicating to the client about lack of knowledge

0h 53m 39s

When your startup client who suddenly gets funding, is woo’d and ultimately stolen by a bigger design firm promising the world....how does one manage ones anger?

0h 55m 22s

Working through some of the design houses

0h 56m 57s

Focal points - distributor FAEs, design houses, contract manufacturers

0h 58m 32s

Getting recommendations from past clients

0h 59m 38s

How to get started

1h 0m 36s

Judging potential hires by their pull requests

1h 2m 56s

Insurance

1h 8m 51s

Usually on a product basis and not the design basis

1h 9m 35s

LLCs all around

1h 10m 53s

Good resources from IEEE

1h 11m 31s

Consultant survey

1h 12m 28s

What I really want to know is: why engineers feel they must *undercharge* for time as a consultant? No one should be blanching at $100+/hr.

1h 14m 4s

Hourly rate goe down for billing more hours

1h 14m 18s

Dave changes billing for if there's more risk

1h 14m 35s

Lowering hourly rate for things you like. Piotr does this for open source hardware.

1h 16m 25s

Should you work for equity?

1h 17m 18s

Working with startups

1h 18m 12s

Changes the nature of the relationship

1h 18m 38s

Rainy days cash

1h 20m 17s

Getting personal finance stuff in order

1h 21m 42s

Check out our guests' sites to learn more:

1bitsquared.com

LowVoltageLabs.com

YoungCircuitDesigns.com

...more

View all episodes

By The Amp Hour (Chris Gammell and David L Jones)

4.9

226226 ratings

October 01, 2018

Electronics Consultant Impedance Matching

1 hour 24 minutes

Welcome (counterclockwise) Piotr, Eric and Dave!

Dave is 30% local to 70% remote, 75% fixed, 25% hourly

0h 16m 20s

Eric is 80-90 local, 10% remote. 50-50 split on hourly vs fixed.

0h 17m 55s

Piotr was 100% remote and , but his remaining job is local and hourly

0h 19m 21s

Client archetypes

0h 20m 34s

Stability

0h 22m 34s

Past guest Philip Freidin wrote about being a consultant

0h 24m 04s

"So you want to be a consultant?"

0h 25m 43s

Do you bill for software?

0h 27m 17s

Time tracking

0h 28m 51s

Consulting specialty

0h 29m 31s

Dave: likes diversity and depth of work

0h 29m 47s

Eric: smaller projects beginning to end

0h 30m 36s

Piotr: Vertically integrated

0h 31m 4s

0 hour billable weeks

0h 36m 51s

Let's figure out what's best for that

0h 37m 59s

Learning the personality of a client

0h 40m 58s

Playing the timeline all the way forward

0h 41m 37s

Client communication

0h 43m 16s

Setting expectations

0h 43m 22s

Firing a client

0h 43m 52s

3 strikes

0h 43m 56s

Growing empathy for customers

0h 45m 24s

Language barriers with clients

0h 47m 37s

"This SHOULD be done by..."

0h 48m 2s

Dealing with impostor syndrome

0h 51m 58s

Known risks

0h 53m 18s

Communicating to the client about lack of knowledge

0h 53m 39s

When your startup client who suddenly gets funding, is woo’d and ultimately stolen by a bigger design firm promising the world....how does one manage ones anger?

0h 55m 22s

Working through some of the design houses

0h 56m 57s

Focal points - distributor FAEs, design houses, contract manufacturers

0h 58m 32s

Getting recommendations from past clients

0h 59m 38s

How to get started

1h 0m 36s

Judging potential hires by their pull requests

1h 2m 56s

Insurance

1h 8m 51s

Usually on a product basis and not the design basis

1h 9m 35s

LLCs all around

1h 10m 53s

Good resources from IEEE

1h 11m 31s

Consultant survey

1h 12m 28s

What I really want to know is: why engineers feel they must *undercharge* for time as a consultant? No one should be blanching at $100+/hr.

1h 14m 4s

Hourly rate goe down for billing more hours

1h 14m 18s

Dave changes billing for if there's more risk

1h 14m 35s

Lowering hourly rate for things you like. Piotr does this for open source hardware.

1h 16m 25s

Should you work for equity?

1h 17m 18s

Working with startups

1h 18m 12s

Changes the nature of the relationship

1h 18m 38s

Rainy days cash

1h 20m 17s

Getting personal finance stuff in order

1h 21m 42s

Check out our guests' sites to learn more:

1bitsquared.com

LowVoltageLabs.com

YoungCircuitDesigns.com

...more

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Electronics Consultant Impedance Matching

Electronics Consultant Impedance Matching

More shows like The Amp Hour

The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

This Week in Tech (Audio)

Security Now (Audio)

Software Engineering Daily

Talk Python To Me

SpyCast

SANS Internet Stormcenter Daily Cyber Security Podcast (Stormcast)

Embedded

Smashing Security

Darknet Diaries

Physics World Weekly Podcast

Practical AI

Hackaday Podcast

Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast

Robinson's Podcast