(RIP Bob Pease…)<\/p>\n
Let’s do it FAQ style:<\/p>\n
1) Who the hell are you?<\/strong><\/p>\n FirmWarez. 937804 – ???.<\/p>\n I’m an electronics engineer. With an MBA. Expertise is embedded systems and techpreneurial start-ups. Been doing this for a while. Have held titles such as “Firmware Engineer”, “VP of Engineering”, “Director of Engineering”.<\/p>\n I’ve done some serious work on serious projects, and try to maintain a high level of professionalism in all my work; that said, I can be obnoxious, foul mouthed, and downright goofy.<\/p>\n 2) Why the made up name?<\/strong><\/p>\n I’m a self identified hacker<\/a>. It’s something we do. Deal with it.<\/a> It allows me to do things and make commentary that might or might not be proper etiquette for who I am professionally. Like any other name it serves as a fairly unique identifier for me among a certain social group.<\/p>\n 3) So you’re an engineer? What have you designed?<\/strong><\/p>\n Toys. Consumer items. Industrial equipment. Automotive devices. Medical controllers. Military hardware. Badges<\/a> and badge hacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n 4) Highlights of your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n First time I saw something I designed for sale in a store. Working on equipment that makes peoples lives better. Designing part of a system demonstrated in front of the secretary of defense in 2010. Doing things other people say can’t be done.<\/p>\n 5) Low points?<\/strong><\/p>\n Accepting a job for someone who flagrantly violates the Fair Labor Standards Act and isn’t big enough of a fish to fry over it. Yeah, that cost me a few grand. Exempt != hourly labor. Another: finally getting value from the stock I got as options from a start-up. Ten years later when the company was bought and everyone got to cash out, it was worth less than when I signed on to the company. Of course all the guys up top with preferred stock made out like bandits. Lessons learned!<\/p>\n 6) How long have you been doing this?<\/strong><\/p>\n Long enough to see junk I’ve designed and\/or written code for being sold as junk on e-bay<\/a>.<\/p>\n 7) Will you help me design\/build\/code x\/y\/z?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yep. Pay me. I have kids to feed, a mortgage, and incomplete personal projects. That’s not to say I don’t do projects for phun, of course I do. But, if you want me to add value to your project, you need to add value to me. Note that value need not be cash, barter may be acceptable. <\/p>\n 8) What are you, some kind of bookworm nerd?<\/strong><\/p>\n Sometimes. I also like the outdoors, camping, guns, rally racing, overlanding<\/a>, machine shop work<\/a>, firefighting (I am part of the 80% — of firefighters in the US that are volunteers), fun & spunky women.<\/p>\n Plenty of otaku nerd stuff too: EBM<\/a>, anime, GITS, Gunsmith Cats, physics, Forteana<\/a>, cryptozoology<\/a>, analog synthesizers, rockets<\/a>, lasers, robots, pwnies<\/a>.<\/p>\n 9) What’s with all the DEFCON references on your site?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a>
\nDEFCON.<\/a> Best damn hacker con on the planet. Thanks DT<\/a>!<\/p>\n