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I've seen people build one-of-a-kind custom electronics for themselves. There are PCB manufacturers that specialize on small orders with no setup costs (I think

I've seen people build one-of-a-kind custom electronics for themselves. There are PCB manufacturers that specialize on small orders with no setup costs (I think you can get as little as 3 copies?) and you can 3D print or laser cut the case if you need one. Though the thing that does stick out to me as a software engineer is that you need parts and thus can't iterate on your ideas nearly as quickly. You can't just pull in a library or something, you have to order a part and wait for it to physically get to you. And the cost of any mistake is in actual real money because wiring something incorrectly can destroy things.

SethTro 5y ago
https://oshpark.com/ https://oshpark.com/ is my favorite for low volume runs. You get 3 copies for $5/in^2
allendoerfer 5y ago
> And the cost of any mistake is in actual real money That's the same in software engineering. You are losing your own time. If you are just breaking your prototypes and not the machines to build them, your time lost is probably multiple times more valuable than the material. I guess, once you have billed a certain number of hours to clients, the relation between time and money just ingrains itself so deep inside your mind, that you might as well start telling the time in USD.
- alexb_ 5y ago
  This is true, but it gets worse with hardware - it's not like your code fries itself because you forgot a character.
  - richardfey 5y ago
    But your customer's data can, with equally destructive results.
- grishka 5y ago
  That's when you're working for money. If it's your own project, your mistakes cost you nothing but you learn something from every one of them.
  - allendoerfer 5y ago
    > That's when you're working for money. Don't you still work for time? If you have achieved something, you can do it again or something similar you might enjoy. Unless what you are doing is completely directionless and you are basically just randomly soldering stuff together, I would say there is still esentially the same loss function as with money. I give you that the abstraction often makes you feel less pressure in the moment itself. But in the end it is really just an abstraction. Money is just a virtually constructed number we use to control people's time. > If it's your own project, your mistakes cost you nothing but you learn something from every one of them. You also learn form professional mistakes.

SethTro 5y ago

https://oshpark.com/ https://oshpark.com/ is my favorite for low volume runs. You get 3 copies for $5/in^2

allendoerfer 5y ago

> And the cost of any mistake is in actual real money That's the same in software engineering. You are losing your own time. If you are just breaking your prototypes and not the machines to build them, your time lost is probably multiple times more valuable than the material. I guess, once you have billed a certain number of hours to clients, the relation between time and money just ingrains itself so deep inside your mind, that you might as well start telling the time in USD.

alexb_ 5y ago
This is true, but it gets worse with hardware - it's not like your code fries itself because you forgot a character.
- richardfey 5y ago
  But your customer's data can, with equally destructive results.
grishka 5y ago
That's when you're working for money. If it's your own project, your mistakes cost you nothing but you learn something from every one of them.
- allendoerfer 5y ago
  > That's when you're working for money. Don't you still work for time? If you have achieved something, you can do it again or something similar you might enjoy. Unless what you are doing is completely directionless and you are basically just randomly soldering stuff together, I would say there is still esentially the same loss function as with money. I give you that the abstraction often makes you feel less pressure in the moment itself. But in the end it is really just an abstraction. Money is just a virtually constructed number we use to control people's time. > If it's your own project, your mistakes cost you nothing but you learn something from every one of them. You also learn form professional mistakes.