SparkFun is 20 years outdated this 12 months! We’re fortunate sufficient to have a bunch of workers which have been round for over 10 of these years, and we wished to share their reflections on their time right here with you. As we speak you may be listening to from Bobby Chan!

Inform us a bit about your background.

I used to be born and raised in Denver, Colorado. I moved as much as Boulder in 2005 for the College of Colorado’s engineering program. I graduated within the winter of 2010 with {an electrical} and laptop engineering diploma.

I first began as an meeting technician in manufacturing division at SparkFun in June 2011 (wow, 12 years on the time of this writing!). That is me within the entrance doing a bit of freeze.

In November 2012, I moved over to technical assist division serving to clients with elements for his or her initiatives or troubleshooting points.

On June 2017, I moved over to high quality assurance and documentation staff to work with our tutorials beneath the product providers division!

Working within the constructing with staggered schedules in 2020.

What’s your favourite mission you’ve labored on at SparkFun?

Awww, there’s so many cool initiatives! It is exhausting to only discuss one favourite mission or one which I’ve labored on. Beneath are just a few initiatives that I’ve constructed! There are different initiatives that I might wish to work on however I’ve not had an opportunity but.

What is the coolest factor you’ve seen a buyer make with our merchandise?

Ahhh, there’s multiple cool mission that I’ve seen clients construct with our merchandise! Hmm, those that I can discuss… I might say GPS monitoring animals or arctic ice with the are fairly cool! There’s additionally the Roast Imaginative and prescient utilizing the Qwiic Photodetector (MAX30101) Breakout to measure the extent of espresso roast. Escape Rooms utilizing relays, RFID, sensors, and buttons are fairly neat as properly. And even the Mars helicopter utilizing the LIDAR-Lite v3!

What introduced you right here?

I used to be a scholar engaged on my bachelor’s diploma simply earlier than becoming a member of SparkFun. I did not know a lot about SparkFun till my first soldering class with the Simon Says SMD Equipment. If I bear in mind accurately, there was Nate and some different SparkFunions. I used to be a bit gradual grabbing the SMD parts utilizing tweezers and soldering them on the board. I used to be the final one there soldering and everybody was affected person with me. The solder joints have been fairly unhealthy however the board labored. I nonetheless have this board as we speak!

Once I began ordering parts for my senior design mission, I believed it might be superior to work at an organization with the kind of merchandise accessible within the catalog and assist make electronics extra accessible for folks.

How has SparkFun advanced throughout the time you’ve been right here?

SparkFun has matured loads when it comes to designing boards and merchandise. I really feel like boards have been a bit scrappier and it was more durable to get revisions by way of. I really feel like we have gotten quicker and higher at designing boards. Our manufacturing division can even deal with extra complicated builds and rework!

Tutorials have been nice again then however exhausting to work with (this was barely earlier than my time working in our documentation, nevertheless I discover myself going again to the outdated tutorial website each every so often). It’s a lot simpler to jot down tutorials with the instruments made accessible from our IT division and they give the impression of being extra skilled. Tutorials additionally observe a extra standardized template (though there’s nonetheless some flexibility relying on the character of the topic and the creator). Code can also be simpler to share and replace with GitHub repositories.

Know-how has additionally come a great distance and SparkFun’s catalog has modified as properly to adapt to EOL parts and extra highly effective IC’s. Desire a small animal tracker? It was tougher to prototype manner again after I labored in our technical assist division. I bear in mind speaking with just a few clients about making prototype GPS trackers and suggesting some elements to transmit location information. The elements have been restricted in vary with the mobile modules and XBees accessible. The elements mixed have been additionally massive and clunky. Now, it is loads simpler as of late to trace an animal wherever around the globe utilizing the Iridium or Argos Satellite tv for pc Networks!

The main focus has additionally shifted to incorporate different sectors of the market. SparkFun was extra for enterprise to shoppers (i.e. hobbyists, college students, educators, makers, and many others.) to start with however has grown to business-to-business (i.e. partnerships with different organizations and corporations).

Describe your first day!

Hmm, I bear in mind elements of my first day. I got here in by way of the entrance the place the large, inexperienced GPS LED clock was hanging and headed into the breakroom within the outdated constructing at about 9:00am able to work. There have been free burritos (not an on a regular basis factor so I used to be fairly fortunate). I then headed to my desk and commenced my coaching within the manufacturing division with Adam!

Favourite spot within the constructing?

Hmm, the engineering division is fairly cool. It has a lot of the instruments and area that I have to construct initiatives. I additionally get to listen to about initiatives or try boards which can be coming down the pipeline.

Different spots that get pleasure from making my rounds embody the manufacturing division (they’ve further instruments for remodeling and cleansing boards, however it’s additionally candy testing the choose & place machine or seeing everybody in manufacturing), LED testbed set up by the engineering tables, and break room.

How would you describe SparkFun’s tradition?

I’d describe SparkFun’s tradition as a combination between a laid again environment with exhausting staff that put a variety of care of their work in order that clients obtain a high quality product. Everyone seems to be open to new concepts, keen to hear, and approachable. It doesn’t matter what your background is, SparkFun is supportive of 1’s progress (whether or not it is private or profession targets), and who you’re as a person. After all, you may see canine, skateboards, scooters, and candy initiatives.

What’s the greatest a part of the work you do?

With the ability to work with my co-workers on new know-how and making electronics extra accessible to folks around the globe!

We have been celebrating our long run workers all 12 months – try the opposite interviews we have carried out: