Hardware Engineer Indie Hackers: Are you out there?
Are there any Indie Hackers who are, or started out as, Hardware Engineers?
I am at a point in my life where I want to work for myself and work remotely. The options as I see them are: freelance or build a business (building a business being a scary life goal of mine).
I would be very happy freelancing even though working remotely for a hardware engineer is tricky (but in my opinion very doable). However my conclusion from the trawling of job sites is that I would have to compete on a platform like UpWork for peanuts.
So that pushes me to building a business. From a skill-set point of view I'm considering various options from:
(1) Retraining into something and maybe trying software development (currently a hobby really).
(2) Some sort of (seemingly impossible) remote hardware company.
(3) Something in between like tool development for hardware engineers (I have written several tools for myself to increase my productivity).
Each has pros and cons. Option (3) on the surface seems best but I think has the most cons.
So, indie hacker hardware engineers, do you exist? Do you have any guidance, ideas and stories? What businesses did you build?
FWIW, I wouldn't draw this conclusion based on what is posted on sites like Upwork. These sites to attract the most unreasonable/lowest paying kind of jobs. I have heard from people who use them successfully, but it's very much a game of sifting through bad stuff. The better jobs come through things like networking, writing, etc.
That said I am not familiar with the hardware game so it may be the case that there really isn't that much remote freelance work.
Sorry I wasn't that clear on that point. I meant that: there was a distinct lack of advertisements of credible remote hardware jobs. The only jobs I could really find were awful places like Upwork. I have sent out feelers to people in my network, but with no real promise. It just seems like something companies are very resistive to.
So this is why I am seriously considering option (1). I love learning and I have runway for several months if I quit now. I could use that as time for trying some start up ideas and re-skilling. Worst case it all fails, but I have a new set of skills in an industry that is more receptive to remote work. There will be a pay cut now doubt, but that's ok.
I think you have a big advantage. That is if you would have a sense of what people want, and if you could do most yourself.
I met a lot of entrepreneurs who spend their time building products for Kickstarter and Indiegogo, over the last few years. Some of them are doing incredibly well, with relatively easy to build products.
It takes much more effort and resources to enter the hardware space, therefor I think the space is much less crowded. If you wouldn't want to start something yourself, maybe starting a service where you could be the 'hardware founder' for aspiring Kickstarter entrepreneurs could be an idea? Make sure you don't take the financial risk, though.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Developing and selling my own product is a dream of mine. But the "good ideas and a finding market part" are hard for me. What is also scary is the longer development cycle times and higher costs involved before you can test a product in a market properly. I only really have the capital for one maybe two attempts at this (and no good ideas).
I have thought about something like the 'hardware founder' idea. To my dismay when I looked a couple of years ago, I found several contract manufacturers, who are staffed with 10s or 100s of people, positioned for that role.
But you are making me think, maybe there is some smaller niche in that big chain that I could work in? I probably also have some assumptions and biases that are blinding me to what potential customers would want.
That's quite a surprise to me too :) having so many competitors might not mean it's a good market, but it could be worth a try. It would get you close to what you aspire (people shipping physical products). You'll learn and build a network at the same time, plus get familiar with the entrepreneur side as well.
I'd try to find those competitors and see what they offer. Try to see if you can find information about their success. Think of what you have to offer and if there is something that could be an unfair advantage (like your experience in the space).
Then use that information to sketch up an idea of what your company could be like. Don't start selling yet. Approach potential customers personally and just have a conversation. Ask them about their painpoints, and what it would be worth if someone could take those away.
Then use that data to come up with your positioning, and set up a landing page to validate demand.
I might not make a lot of friends saying this, but: don't incorporate before you have your first customer.
That is good advice. Thank you :) I will give that a go.
You have got me thinking though, I do have some horribly coded productivity tools, perhaps I could monetise those. I would be competing against big CAD companies (and some of my tools have been obsoleted by new features they add) so I am not sure if it is a good idea trying to enter that market.
What kind of hardware are you interested in? Also, where are you located?
Embedded systems is my main interest and where I am most experienced. Currently I reside in New Zealand.
I was in embedded system/smartphone for 10 years. In general, hardware is a money game. Healthcare, Military, Industrial all have their restrictions (=cost), so consumer electronics are the cheapest. Then there's the R&D and manufacturing cost. Personally, I think the hardest is prevent the copycat if the product doesn't have certain level of entry barrier.
Yes, the copycat threat I worry about a lot. It has been a problem at every company I've worked at. The only products that were not a problem were either sold to big OEMs who had no interest in copycats (but would never source from a one man company like myself) or there was a lot of proprietary software creating a high entry barrier, which requires even more resources. Another reason why it's hard for me to see that sticking with hardware is the way.
My thought exactly. It's a shame really, that embedded engineers are leaving... Oh a side note, a positive story. I once met an inventor in his 60s who owns a number of factories at the time. He and his team keeps on inventing new consumer electronics. The first 6 months he'd have monopoly since it's a new product in the market. between 6-9 months, he'll have ~3 competitors. between 9-12 months, competitors generally grew from 3-10. He exit the product after 12 months. But it's this market requirement that kept his team moving and inventing.
It is sad. Among my friends and colleagues I know several who started in hardware and then made the jump into software mainly for pay, career, work-life balance and/or partner's career reasons. I don't know anyone who has made the jump the other way. It's not a recent thing either, but seems to have been occurring at a constant rate for a long time (I know a couple of guys who jumped just after the dot-com crash purely for pay reasons).
Thank you sharing about that inventor. I don't think I have the guts or head to what he does at the moment, but maybe it's something to aspire too.
I was going in and out between SW and HW, but I am really a SW guy that got stuck in HW career for 12 years or so... I do think HW indie must have a point-of-no-return mentality, 100% in the business to have a shot. Putting on my strategy hat, I think to start a SW business but have the mindset that HW could be a value-add or as a 'moat' to the business could work.