I replied earlier to your post with some method advice, but still I think after reading your resume, I would listen to some of the advice that has been given in the forum. You should also apply some common sense and remove some of the "Electronics 101" references. i.e. With your skill set and just about anything you would be applying for, mentioning that you can solder is somewhat laughable. ... there are some other 101 references, but that one in particular stands out. Instead of mentioning an exact number of years of experience i.e. "20 years" just say "several years" or "many years"... expressing a specific value can be detrimental in that you come across as a "know it all". Most employers just want to know if you are capable and can do the work.
I was laid off from Parallax just over a year ago, and found myself in your shoes. I found that I had to re-invent myself and look back at my skill set to see exactly what is was that I could do and do well. For several years my skill set has been involved on the design side of the semiconductor industry. After being let go from Parallax my career path altered slightly and now I am still involved with semiconductors, but now I design machines to reverse engineer semiconductors to perform failure analysis and forensic tests.
As far as your own resume, you might want to break it down into a main page or "title page" that leads to more detail if there is any further interest. Remember, 90% of the sale is the presentation and when you are applying for a job, YOU are the presentation. You might need to step out of your comfort zone to make that sale also.
At my current job, during the second interview I was included in a design meeting before I was actually hired. It was a sink or swim moment and I was completely out of my comfort zone. Now I'm leading the same group that was part of that design meeting. Two days before my official start date, I was on the phone with a company in Europe and Australia securing a product availability request that was brought up in the design meeting.
I have two girls, 13 and 10, and I tell them all the time ... "If you want to be noticed, then put a little kink in that paper you are turning in so that it won't quite fit in the stack the same way as the others" ... If you want something bad enough, you need to own it, otherwise there are a million great pictures of sunsets, horses, etc. nobody will buy them unless you can make it stand out among the rest.
I do have some questions though, that was 8 guage wire what would you recommend I use, On every job I have ever had I used wire nuts or wago's, but I dont think there are wagos that big and if so i don't recall seeing them in a home depot, I mean this was a residential side job involving repair of the circuit board etc, but I ran that whole 220 line out of the panel, I guess I was trying to show I can easily add sub panels etc... and that I dont leave my wiring looking like sh*t. Im not disagrreing with your view on wire nuts Im actually curious what you would have used, some sort of hex lug? Ive done government jobs to casinos and 90% of make up was done with wire nuts unless the EE specified wagos. The only other way I would think to tie those wires together would be some sort of lug?
Well, hypothetically using your picture as a sales prop, how would you promote the workmanship when showing it to a prospective customer?
and that I dont leave my wiring looking like sh*t.
What I see is:
-Free floating joints of different colored wires, no means of ID
-No wire grouping (cable ties)
-Dust in the box (and this is a promotional pic?)
I know that it's an overused phrase today but your forte needs to be to exceed customer expectations.
I would use your pic as my "before". My "after" would be an enclosure with fixed terminals, a plexiglass protective cover and warning stickers. The wiring would be neatly loomed using cable ties. In many cases I would probably also insist on the inclusion of a RCCB.
I really don't know but unions always seem to oppose progress.
I read, not long ago that because of the union, some place in Detroit has to keep paying a Farrier even though he has no horses to shoe. Total cost $56,000/year LOL
My many experiences with the UAW have absolutely been all about the trades; one trade to use the hammer, another trade to use the wire-cutters, another to drive the fork truck....of course these guys are never available when you need them, they might show up to "evaluate" the project then disappear for whatever reason and reappear when they feel like it.
Trade show in Chicago? I have BIG machines that require 3-phase power, hydraulic oil, compressed air, etc. My guys aren't allowed to touch a damn thing because of the union. Naturally the union guys were always "too busy". You can soon get through $10K cash, nonchalantly slipping it into tool boxes, let me tell you...LOL!
Lastly though I really replied again because I wondered why you think I should drop the writing links, I have no issue with this I am once again just curious, as an employer what is it you see wrong with the links?
How can they possibly help? As has been stated, nobody wants read anything that is not relevant.
I would use the standard:
Objective
To obtain a permanent....blah, blah, that would allow me to grow blah, blah
Then a list of bullet points that are RELEVANT
Everyone expects embelishments, BTW so don't be bashful.
If you want to present a "professional" front, please seriously consider one or more Business Communication, Technical Writing or college level English classes at a local community college. Some of your writing is painful to read. If you are presenting examples of your ability to document a project, then you need to communicate effectively. This skill, like any other takes a serious investment of time.
If English is your primary language, you should be able to communicate effectively without spelling, usage and general grammar errors. If you are willing to take the time to write something to communicate an idea, take the time to go over it and try to say it in standard business English. Even when posting on forums, effective communication is an idea to embrace and practice.
Regarding links to your writing, if you provides links to examples to showcase your ability to communicate and effectively document a project, then they should be examples of professional quality writing. An example taken from your project thread:
All you need to do to "re-clock" the motors is remove the three screw in the gear head, once you can see the gear train, you will see two screws that hold base of the gearhead to the motor, in order to access them you may have to take the gear train apart, do this one motor at a time so you have a reference to reassemble it, the gear train itself isn't to complicated, but there are a few spacers that need to be re installed in the right place.
The above sample is REALLY more than one sentence. You've just strung them together with commas instead of realizing the problem and fixing it. If I were looking at your resume, and there was any writing or documentation involved in the position, your resume would sink quickly to the bottom of the pile.
Their and there as well as your and you're are different words with different meanings and you have a tendency to use them and other commonly misused words incorrectly on a consistent basis.
Sorry to be so harsh but "professional" to me implies that you can communicate effectively without the reader having to puzzle through your writing and expend a lot of effort trying to figure out what you really wrote or translate it to standard English.
*I know my writing isn't perfect. I generally make an effort to avoid errors and to correct old posts when I find something wrong. It really gnaws at me knowing there are examples of poorly written English with my name attached to it.
@Beau, lol you whats funny is when I was 20 I lived in edmund (right outside of OKC) for a while, it was the only time I attempted a sales job, I worked at CompUSA and a tellemarketing place. These are the only jobs I had that lasted under a month and I was down right fired from in my probation period. I would say sales is a very week point for me and that is actually why i am asking for advice, I know im selling myself but I have a gut feeling im not doing to great. All the 101 stuff including conduit bending came from looking at other resume examples. That is a shame you got layed off, your a very smart guy and parallax seems like it would be a pretty neat job! I thought you were still working there but I havent been on the forums in a while due to building this huge power plant and being a single father to a 1 1/2 year old little girl the last few years. Ive also taken quite a detour from micros and gotten really in to analog electronics and RF. Its just recently I have been using a propeller and cypress chips again, now that I feel comfortable with analogue I want to add digital control!
@Mickster, I guess I thought they would be relevant to show you can document your work? From what I understand documentation is a big deal in the electronics industry. I dont know about the UAW but in the I.B.E.W you do everything from patch drywall and set transformers to building sub stations, contractors expect you to know your stuff, if you walk on a job and they want a panel made up or a 480 a switch gear installed and your an idiot they will send you back to the hall, when they need someone good with three phase motor control they specifically ask for it because most guys aren't good at it. It is also expected you can deal with it when the dry wallers or HVAC guys screw up your work or hang there duct in the way of what the electrical prints say. I would say im pro union ideals, a fair wage and good benefits for the working man, but Im turning more anti-union based on what I see going on at the top, its about as corrupt as any private business if not more so in some cases.
As far as that 220 line goes, I installed that over two years ago, just snapped the pix. I did everything the owner asked, including two different colors, The NEC suggests black & red for 220vac lines. There are a lot of choices I wouldn't have made like that stupid Smile switch in the spa full of foam, but it was requested even though I recommended a proper disconnect outside, the owner suggested an hi amp motor switch to save money. As far as what you do that doesn't sound like sparky work to me I would love to work for a contractor where I built stuff like that and wrote code in VB. The most technical things I think ive ever done on a job is the DC control room in a sub station and controls in power plants. To me a sparky is someone who installs lights, pulls wire, bends conduit and lands connections. how do I find companies like yours?
I guess I feel like im lucky if a company even looks at that page and anything I put up there is better than them thinking all I can do is install light fixtures. Unfortunately my job experience doesn't show that im any more than a run of the mill sparky, like I said the 220 stuff was specifically posted for the welding businesses im helping out. But now that you say it I will probably take it down or go clean it out, zip tie it and re take some pictures.
I'd also like to give a big THANK YOU to rwgast. It takes some incredible courage to put yourself out there to the Internet and take in all this criticism - and being nothing but grateful for all of it.
I hope this thread will be useful for others trying to update their resume as well. I know I've already learned a few things for myself.
I hope this thread will be useful for others trying to update their resume as well. I know I've already learned a few things for myself.
I keep forgetting to mention that the thread that rwgast started regarding starting a business without being an EE has some very excellent advice. I was going to quote from it but I would say that the entire thread is worth keeping for future reference.
@mindrobots that example was taken from the forum thread i can remove that. Were the other pieces on elment14 that bad? I acually have taken freshman comp in colleage and got an A. When i post on a forum especially if using a smart phone I dont take a lot of time to go over things, maybe a quick read through. That is my mistake . I am not sure what standard buissness english is, ill do a google. I admit I should slow down and put more effort in to it, although i will admit i dont spell well .
@David, thank you. I would say i am more worried about jobs i already applied for than have any ill feelings. This is all usefull information. Im basically a word of mouth hardware guy, and industerial electrician so my buissnes skills equate to 0. In my free time im to busy working on technical abilities and have no idea what the bissnes world wants.
In all seriousness, I don't think spelling is like programming in that you can just bang on a keyboard for a few hours and learn what a for-loop is. It's boring, it takes repetition, and you don't have a robot to play with when you're done.
If you're using your smartphone, maybe you slow down (like you already admitted you need to do) and use the autocomplete/dictionary that is built it. When you spell a word wrong, maybe erase the entire thing and spell it out by hand again - keep doing that until it no longer is underlined.
Same with typing in a browser. I think all browsers have built-in spellcheck and I'd recommend using it. Never hit "Post Comment" until all the red squiggles are gone. Spelling may not matter as much on the forums, but that makes it a good practice ground!
You know what I use spell check like I use my ti-89, way to dependent on it. I always correct squiggles these days on my PC, but on my phone LG G4 Android 5, the spell check makes red lines on every forum but the parallax forums! I did not have an issue with this on the old forums.
I was sitting in the Dr's office when I typed my last post and i knew the whole time there would be a misspelling, I was feeling a bit embarrassed . Like I said my sales tactics sucks, believe me you try when you get commission... I wrote software in high school and started building PC's in the fifth grade but I sure couldn't sell them at 20. People didn't even understand what I was talking about most of the time when they asked for motherboard advice (in those days I was a water cooling OC'ing 3d mark contest freak), and I felt shady selling those stupid warranties that never help people. I just don't know the white collar world.
I'm going to admit my resume is geared towards getting hired be a company. My website is sort of a mash up to back up those skills but also to serve as a place people who pick up my business card can check out before they call me if they need some work done. If I could do whatever I wanted I would build a product and get a few friends to help out, this would be ideal... as it would be a slower transition from the workbench to the business side. The problem is I need a decent income that doesn't devour my entire life to get that done.
You are (mostly) forgiven if you are trying to post from a phone or tablet. Between the keyboards, the auto-correction and the pains you go through to move the cursor around while editing, it's a miracle anything comes close to being readable.
If you are at a real computer with a mouse and keyboard, there are NO EXCUSES!!!!
Seriously, though, take your time, go back and re-read things and edit yourself. As David said, it may not be expected on forum postings but it sure is a good practice ground.
I do have to commend you for putting yourself out there.
With a foundation in electrical power, board level electronics and programming? That is a very marketable package.
Just start afresh with the whole resume thing.
Seriously, lose ALL the pics!!!!!
Make attention grabbing bullet point statements.
Throw in stuff like IoT being the next big thing and make the "IoT" a link to the wiki, etc. Then learn enough about IoT to get you through the interview and learn the rest when you're hired.
lt's all about being the best BS-er to at least be given the opportunity.
Don't base your future on what you've already achieved, base it on what you want to achieve.
You know a salesman only lies when his lips move, right? Well this happens all the time but some things work out regardless.
Ok so does anyone else agree with losing the pictures?? No one knows I can build a robot if I dont show them , especially since this is for consultation too! How about if I take them off the main page and I put the pictures there with better descriptions? I have already made plans to go clean up the 220 sub panel (I figured like you said I will make it much look much nicer than a standard job, except the plexi glass, I can never cut that stuff nor do I sadly have cash for it right now) and take pics of the PCB.
OK, but in the real world.....you don't have a "robot"....you have a toy! The guy reading your resume? His 9 year old kid might have the same thing! REAL robots don't use mickey mouse steppers and run around the floor, they use closed loop servos and assemble things and weld things and laser cut things.
OK, but in the real world.....you don't have a "robot"....you have a toy! The guy reading your resume? His 9 year old kid might have the same thing! REAL robots don't use mickey mouse steppers and run around the floor, they use closed loop servos and assemble things and weld things and laser cut things.
This is one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn too. What I thought was really cool and top notch ended up being jack squat in industry. It's not that the work is dumb or useless, but as a "complete project" it is.
So, if you're proud of that robot, talk about what you learned. Talk about what kind of programming you had to use. Talk about what you assembled, and how you chose what parts to use.
These arent open loop steppers everything is controlled using PID along with hand made high res encoders and 30:1 brushed gear motors. the resolution is .003mm per tick. I am also monitoring motor current. This allways for dead wreckoning along with power and PWM managment.
The idea is to use the sonar's with a wiimote laser scanner and opencv in order to do implement mapping and location and then save the data to an SD card. When the the robot enters a new house it will make a new map x,y,z then save it to SD or eeprom or something. That way the next time the robot is moved it can recall a map and know exactly how to navigate. I also want to use opencv to chase dogs .
While somewhat goofy i plan to keep expanding on the math and and exploiting new low cost technologies, as frank continues. I also want to use openCV to chase the dogs... etc. While some of it is goofy it is much more than a RoboRaptor. I want to use the BT to send its maps to a smart phone or PC and track the bots location remotely while being able to take manual control when appropriate.
To me this shows you can do power distribution (also want to add solar cells) and managment between two different packs, you can can write decent algorythms and you can also do mixed signal based on all the sensors it will have, one idea is to use photo-resistors or diodes to tell if its dark or not, and lastly I want a beacon system on a drive in charger so the bot can park and charge itself.
So is this still just a toy? sorry if this was horribly written.... eye heavy bed time!
I think that you have all the right ingredients to be a CNC or Industrial Robot service tech. It's scary how little some of these guys, already in this industry, actually understand what they are working with yet still charge $150+/hr (self employed.)
When a piece of production equipment is down, the owner is losing big bucks so your hourly fee is a drop in the bucket. With my slow paying accounts, I have them transfer $1,000 to my account as a retainer. They never complain when they need the equipment back up and running LOL.
I could never find "ready made" service techs that were worth a damn so I would hire a good sparky and train him/her. A sparky picks up an understanding of hydraulics and pneumatics very easily because the principles are similar to relay logic. Now expecting to find one with an actual interest in the theory of PID, PWM, etc....That's asking a lot.
You could be head and shoulders above a lot of these guys in a very short time.
Is there any way you could point me in that direction? I live in a small town so I am just looking for job titles on the net and filling out applications. Besides Electronic Technician or Embedded Technician im not sure what else to search for. I associate engineer jobs with a degree, it seems like you do a lot more hi tech work than a regular electrical contractor, so what are these positions actually called when searching on line. This is where my blue collar ignorance shows.
I had finished all the micro related stuff to that bot, except software and then my daughter was borne. So it never ended up getting the SBC, laser scanners etc.... there all sitting in my drawer. I took quite a break from it also because I looked at it as a learning path to integrate a lot of different systems, but I haven't focused to much on it lately because I really thought without an EE it was just kind of a toy like you said that wouldn't get me far.
No, I have never been an electrical contractor but I served a 4-year apprenticeship and my only qualification is "Electrician".
Everything else is self-taught. Don't be intimidated by the EE stipulation when job searching. I hired a couple of amazing guys from Westinghouse, not a degree between them and then I've hired less than spectacular EE's.
Comments
I was laid off from Parallax just over a year ago, and found myself in your shoes. I found that I had to re-invent myself and look back at my skill set to see exactly what is was that I could do and do well. For several years my skill set has been involved on the design side of the semiconductor industry. After being let go from Parallax my career path altered slightly and now I am still involved with semiconductors, but now I design machines to reverse engineer semiconductors to perform failure analysis and forensic tests.
As far as your own resume, you might want to break it down into a main page or "title page" that leads to more detail if there is any further interest. Remember, 90% of the sale is the presentation and when you are applying for a job, YOU are the presentation. You might need to step out of your comfort zone to make that sale also.
At my current job, during the second interview I was included in a design meeting before I was actually hired. It was a sink or swim moment and I was completely out of my comfort zone. Now I'm leading the same group that was part of that design meeting. Two days before my official start date, I was on the phone with a company in Europe and Australia securing a product availability request that was brought up in the design meeting.
I have two girls, 13 and 10, and I tell them all the time ... "If you want to be noticed, then put a little kink in that paper you are turning in so that it won't quite fit in the stack the same way as the others" ... If you want something bad enough, you need to own it, otherwise there are a million great pictures of sunsets, horses, etc. nobody will buy them unless you can make it stand out among the rest.
Well, hypothetically using your picture as a sales prop, how would you promote the workmanship when showing it to a prospective customer?
What I see is:
-Free floating joints of different colored wires, no means of ID
-No wire grouping (cable ties)
-Dust in the box (and this is a promotional pic?)
I know that it's an overused phrase today but your forte needs to be to exceed customer expectations.
I would use your pic as my "before". My "after" would be an enclosure with fixed terminals, a plexiglass protective cover and warning stickers. The wiring would be neatly loomed using cable ties. In many cases I would probably also insist on the inclusion of a RCCB.
I really don't know but unions always seem to oppose progress.
I read, not long ago that because of the union, some place in Detroit has to keep paying a Farrier even though he has no horses to shoe. Total cost $56,000/year LOL
My many experiences with the UAW have absolutely been all about the trades; one trade to use the hammer, another trade to use the wire-cutters, another to drive the fork truck....of course these guys are never available when you need them, they might show up to "evaluate" the project then disappear for whatever reason and reappear when they feel like it.
Trade show in Chicago? I have BIG machines that require 3-phase power, hydraulic oil, compressed air, etc. My guys aren't allowed to touch a damn thing because of the union. Naturally the union guys were always "too busy". You can soon get through $10K cash, nonchalantly slipping it into tool boxes, let me tell you...LOL!
How can they possibly help? As has been stated, nobody wants read anything that is not relevant.
I would use the standard:
Objective
To obtain a permanent....blah, blah, that would allow me to grow blah, blah
Then a list of bullet points that are RELEVANT
Everyone expects embelishments, BTW so don't be bashful.
If you want to present a "professional" front, please seriously consider one or more Business Communication, Technical Writing or college level English classes at a local community college. Some of your writing is painful to read. If you are presenting examples of your ability to document a project, then you need to communicate effectively. This skill, like any other takes a serious investment of time.
If English is your primary language, you should be able to communicate effectively without spelling, usage and general grammar errors. If you are willing to take the time to write something to communicate an idea, take the time to go over it and try to say it in standard business English. Even when posting on forums, effective communication is an idea to embrace and practice.
Regarding links to your writing, if you provides links to examples to showcase your ability to communicate and effectively document a project, then they should be examples of professional quality writing. An example taken from your project thread: The above sample is REALLY more than one sentence. You've just strung them together with commas instead of realizing the problem and fixing it. If I were looking at your resume, and there was any writing or documentation involved in the position, your resume would sink quickly to the bottom of the pile.
Their and there as well as your and you're are different words with different meanings and you have a tendency to use them and other commonly misused words incorrectly on a consistent basis.
Sorry to be so harsh but "professional" to me implies that you can communicate effectively without the reader having to puzzle through your writing and expend a lot of effort trying to figure out what you really wrote or translate it to standard English.
*I know my writing isn't perfect. I generally make an effort to avoid errors and to correct old posts when I find something wrong. It really gnaws at me knowing there are examples of poorly written English with my name attached to it.
@Mickster, I guess I thought they would be relevant to show you can document your work? From what I understand documentation is a big deal in the electronics industry. I dont know about the UAW but in the I.B.E.W you do everything from patch drywall and set transformers to building sub stations, contractors expect you to know your stuff, if you walk on a job and they want a panel made up or a 480 a switch gear installed and your an idiot they will send you back to the hall, when they need someone good with three phase motor control they specifically ask for it because most guys aren't good at it. It is also expected you can deal with it when the dry wallers or HVAC guys screw up your work or hang there duct in the way of what the electrical prints say. I would say im pro union ideals, a fair wage and good benefits for the working man, but Im turning more anti-union based on what I see going on at the top, its about as corrupt as any private business if not more so in some cases.
As far as that 220 line goes, I installed that over two years ago, just snapped the pix. I did everything the owner asked, including two different colors, The NEC suggests black & red for 220vac lines. There are a lot of choices I wouldn't have made like that stupid Smile switch in the spa full of foam, but it was requested even though I recommended a proper disconnect outside, the owner suggested an hi amp motor switch to save money. As far as what you do that doesn't sound like sparky work to me I would love to work for a contractor where I built stuff like that and wrote code in VB. The most technical things I think ive ever done on a job is the DC control room in a sub station and controls in power plants. To me a sparky is someone who installs lights, pulls wire, bends conduit and lands connections.
I guess I feel like im lucky if a company even looks at that page and anything I put up there is better than them thinking all I can do is install light fixtures. Unfortunately my job experience doesn't show that im any more than a run of the mill sparky, like I said the 220 stuff was specifically posted for the welding businesses im helping out. But now that you say it I will probably take it down or go clean it out, zip tie it and re take some pictures.
I hope this thread will be useful for others trying to update their resume as well. I know I've already learned a few things for myself.
I keep forgetting to mention that the thread that rwgast started regarding starting a business without being an EE has some very excellent advice. I was going to quote from it but I would say that the entire thread is worth keeping for future reference.
@David, thank you. I would say i am more worried about jobs i already applied for than have any ill feelings. This is all usefull information. Im basically a word of mouth hardware guy, and industerial electrician so my buissnes skills equate to 0. In my free time im to busy working on technical abilities and have no idea what the bissnes world wants.
Well... for one, they probably want you to spell it as "business"
If you're using your smartphone, maybe you slow down (like you already admitted you need to do) and use the autocomplete/dictionary that is built it. When you spell a word wrong, maybe erase the entire thing and spell it out by hand again - keep doing that until it no longer is underlined.
Same with typing in a browser. I think all browsers have built-in spellcheck and I'd recommend using it. Never hit "Post Comment" until all the red squiggles are gone. Spelling may not matter as much on the forums, but that makes it a good practice ground!
I was sitting in the Dr's office when I typed my last post and i knew the whole time there would be a misspelling, I was feeling a bit embarrassed
I'm going to admit my resume is geared towards getting hired be a company. My website is sort of a mash up to back up those skills but also to serve as a place people who pick up my business card can check out before they call me if they need some work done. If I could do whatever I wanted I would build a product and get a few friends to help out, this would be ideal... as it would be a slower transition from the workbench to the business side. The problem is I need a decent income that doesn't devour my entire life to get that done.
If you are at a real computer with a mouse and keyboard, there are NO EXCUSES!!!!
Seriously, though, take your time, go back and re-read things and edit yourself. As David said, it may not be expected on forum postings but it sure is a good practice ground.
I do have to commend you for putting yourself out there.
With a foundation in electrical power, board level electronics and programming? That is a very marketable package.
Just start afresh with the whole resume thing.
Seriously, lose ALL the pics!!!!!
Make attention grabbing bullet point statements.
Throw in stuff like IoT being the next big thing and make the "IoT" a link to the wiki, etc. Then learn enough about IoT to get you through the interview and learn the rest when you're hired.
lt's all about being the best BS-er to at least be given the opportunity.
Don't base your future on what you've already achieved, base it on what you want to achieve.
You know a salesman only lies when his lips move, right? Well this happens all the time but some things work out regardless.
I guess I am missing something here.
This is one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn too. What I thought was really cool and top notch ended up being jack squat in industry. It's not that the work is dumb or useless, but as a "complete project" it is.
So, if you're proud of that robot, talk about what you learned. Talk about what kind of programming you had to use. Talk about what you assembled, and how you chose what parts to use.
The idea is to use the sonar's with a wiimote laser scanner and opencv in order to do implement mapping and location and then save the data to an SD card. When the the robot enters a new house it will make a new map x,y,z then save it to SD or eeprom or something. That way the next time the robot is moved it can recall a map and know exactly how to navigate. I also want to use opencv to chase dogs
While somewhat goofy i plan to keep expanding on the math and and exploiting new low cost technologies, as frank continues. I also want to use openCV to chase the dogs... etc. While some of it is goofy it is much more than a RoboRaptor. I want to use the BT to send its maps to a smart phone or PC and track the bots location remotely while being able to take manual control when appropriate.
To me this shows you can do power distribution (also want to add solar cells) and managment between two different packs, you can can write decent algorythms and you can also do mixed signal based on all the sensors it will have, one idea is to use photo-resistors or diodes to tell if its dark or not, and lastly I want a beacon system on a drive in charger so the bot can park and charge itself.
So is this still just a toy? sorry if this was horribly written.... eye heavy bed time!
When a piece of production equipment is down, the owner is losing big bucks so your hourly fee is a drop in the bucket. With my slow paying accounts, I have them transfer $1,000 to my account as a retainer. They never complain when they need the equipment back up and running LOL.
I could never find "ready made" service techs that were worth a damn so I would hire a good sparky and train him/her. A sparky picks up an understanding of hydraulics and pneumatics very easily because the principles are similar to relay logic. Now expecting to find one with an actual interest in the theory of PID, PWM, etc....That's asking a lot.
You could be head and shoulders above a lot of these guys in a very short time.
I had finished all the micro related stuff to that bot, except software and then my daughter was borne. So it never ended up getting the SBC, laser scanners etc.... there all sitting in my drawer. I took quite a break from it also because I looked at it as a learning path to integrate a lot of different systems, but I haven't focused to much on it lately because I really thought without an EE it was just kind of a toy like you said that wouldn't get me far.
No, I have never been an electrical contractor but I served a 4-year apprenticeship and my only qualification is "Electrician".
Everything else is self-taught. Don't be intimidated by the EE stipulation when job searching. I hired a couple of amazing guys from Westinghouse, not a degree between them and then I've hired less than spectacular EE's.
There is no need for anything else.
That way, you are the focus, not politics.