Re: A few Questions about Obtaining Design Help.



"Patrick Keenan" <test@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Z5WdnTstW6rRpNbUnZ2dnUVZ_sHinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello All,


So, here are my few questions:

How do I go about finding such a person? Where do I look, do I advertise?

Here is good.


How are they paid - naturally in untraceable internationally negotiable
funds - but on what basis? Hourly? Is there an average rate?

Most engineer-consultants who have been around the block a few times can
look at a reasonable set of specifications and give you a set price to
design something to those specifications, including breadboard, testing, and
preliminary pcb layout with deliverable Gerbers. Your job is to look at the
proposal and see if you can do better on an hourly rate with another person
who is similarly qualified.

Your problem is to do a fairly detailed and definitive set of
specifications. If you specify "flat response in the audio range" and my
"flat" is 1 dB and yours is 0.01 dB, we've got a problem. Likewise "audio
range" to me is telephone audio 300 - 3k Hz and yours is audiphool .3 - 30k
Hz we've got a similar problem.


What would I look to avoid?

Folks who think they are "complete" engineers who have never delivered a
manufacturable design, don't quite understand real-world worst-case or Monte
Carlo analysis, and have no background in your specific area.

ESPECIALLY avoid folks who propose to give you reams of theoretical data and
theoretical analysis but can't predict what will happen if XYZ part shorts
or opens up and exposes your design to catastrophic failure. Joerg is much
better with his whhhhhhhissssssszzzzzz BANG fizzz comments, but you know
what I mean.

Also people who give phony return email addresses ... like you did.


There do happen to be a number of major universities in my area, if that
proves to be a source of candidates.

Do you really want a student who is probably in their senior or at least
junior year and up to their hineys 80 hours a week at school and homework on
your design? Or a faculty who last touched a soldering iron in their own
freshman year of a fabrication class? I think not.


Any comments appreciated, and if I need to rephrase the question, I'll do
so.

pm me jweir43@xxxxxxxxx and I'll help you with the question(s) offline.

Jim


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