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Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen

hoektronics.com

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Re: Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen

#21

Post by coryrc »

akiselev wrote: post #6

Reading stories about Shenzhen makes me terrified for the future of electrical engineering in the United States. Here in Silicon Valley I often have to wait a week to get a board fabbed and another week to get it assembled. I usually have to order the parts myself from Digikey, which takes a few days, and then manually build the kits. If something goes wrong during the bring up, I need to either spend boatloads of mo…

If you are building a product, you don't really want to be using rare ICs. When you are making a decent number, you don't want to always be hunting for reliable suppliers (i.e. counterfeited SD cards http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?page_id=1022 ). I like that when I'm buying parts from Digikey, I get what I actually ordered. When or if I want to take my chances and cut costs, I have the option to have it built overseas. But prototyping parts cost is a rounding error in any decent product run.

Oh, and spend 'boatloads of money on overnight shipping' -- $65. How much is a programmer per hour in Silicon Valley?

You could also move to Thief River Falls :)

I like buying cheap junk from dealextreme, but when I need something reliable that'll be around for a while, I'm glad to pay more for something from a real company.

Also, SparkFun has a few pick&place and I know a few people with them around, being used to varying levels.

Re: Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen

#22

Post by olalonde »

mads wrote: post #8

I live in Shenzhen, have good sourcing relationships and know my way around the various electronics markets, so if anybody needs a thrustworthy contact in this part of the world, feel free to write me. I am from Denmark originally and I live and work in shenzhen in the mobile phone industry.

I also live in Shenzhen (originally from Canada). Would be cool to hang out some day.

Re: Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen

#23

Post by [deleted] »

akiselev wrote: post #6

Reading stories about Shenzhen makes me terrified for the future of electrical engineering in the United States. Here in Silicon Valley I often have to wait a week to get a board fabbed and another week to get it assembled. I usually have to order the parts myself from Digikey, which takes a few days, and then manually build the kits. If something goes wrong during the bring up, I need to either spend boatloads of mo…

[deleted]

Re: Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen

#24

Post by olalonde »

akiselev wrote: post #6

Reading stories about Shenzhen makes me terrified for the future of electrical engineering in the United States. Here in Silicon Valley I often have to wait a week to get a board fabbed and another week to get it assembled. I usually have to order the parts myself from Digikey, which takes a few days, and then manually build the kits. If something goes wrong during the bring up, I need to either spend boatloads of mo…

You might be interested in http://www.haxlr8r.com. From their website: "HAXLR8R is a new kind of accelerator program. For people who hack hardware and make things. Join us for 111 days in Shenzhen, China and San Francisco."

Re: Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen

#25

Post by dear »

coryrc wrote: post #21
akiselev wrote: post #6

Reading stories about Shenzhen makes me terrified for the future of electrical engineering in the United States. Here in Silicon Valley I often have to wait a week to get a board fabbed and another week to get it assembled. I usually have to order the parts myself from Digikey, which takes a few days, and then manually build the kits. If something goes wrong during the bring up, I need to either spend boatloads of mo…

If you are building a product, you don't really want to be using rare ICs. When you are making a decent number, you don't want to always be hunting for reliable suppliers (i.e. counterfeited SD cards http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?page_id=1022 ). I like that when I'm buying parts from Digikey, I get what I actually ordered. When or if I want to take my chances and cut costs, I have the option to have it built ove…

"Rare" is a relative term and is location dependent.

If I am an enthusiastic DIY'er, I want my parts now, not tomorrow.

Also I wonder where Digikey gets their "reliable" parts from.

Re: Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen

#26

Post by alaskamiller »

i386 wrote: post #12
alaskamiller wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if the massive empty complexes along the 101 in Silicon Valley gets repurposed to be hacker spaces and dorms, imagine if RadioShack and Fry's makes a comeback and returns to their roots of supplying bare parts, imagine if 3D printers become affordable and everywhere, imagine if crowd funding sites can wire funds within a day, imagine if the distribution channels can also mail out products the next day. Imagin…

> Imagine if the massive empty complexes along the 101 in Silicon Valley gets repurposed to be hacker spaces and dorms I sympathise with your intent but that sounds like a sweatshop to me.

Those poor college aged kids and their sweaty dorms enjoying the benefits of youth, low overhead, access to information, and sharing knowledge.

Re: Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen

#27

Post by icelancer »

akiselev wrote: post #6

Reading stories about Shenzhen makes me terrified for the future of electrical engineering in the United States. Here in Silicon Valley I often have to wait a week to get a board fabbed and another week to get it assembled. I usually have to order the parts myself from Digikey, which takes a few days, and then manually build the kits. If something goes wrong during the bring up, I need to either spend boatloads of mo…

I wrote an article on my blog about this very topic. A common theme amongst college graduates with no job is that they "want a fair shot." Not quite. They don't want a fair shot against Chinese nationals with their same skill set with an order of magnitude less in wage requests!

Re: Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen

#28

Post by derleth »

i386 wrote: post #12
alaskamiller wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if the massive empty complexes along the 101 in Silicon Valley gets repurposed to be hacker spaces and dorms, imagine if RadioShack and Fry's makes a comeback and returns to their roots of supplying bare parts, imagine if 3D printers become affordable and everywhere, imagine if crowd funding sites can wire funds within a day, imagine if the distribution channels can also mail out products the next day. Imagin…

> Imagine if the massive empty complexes along the 101 in Silicon Valley gets repurposed to be hacker spaces and dorms I sympathise with your intent but that sounds like a sweatshop to me.

> that sounds like a sweatshop to me.

No, for one fundamental reason: The people in real sweatshops don't have any other realistic option. The people in the proposed complexes along the 101 would have the ability to say "screw this" and go do something else.

I once had the idea that wealth really means having options. I don't know if that's universally true, but it certainly applies here. Silicon Valley is fundamentally wealthier than the areas where sweatshops which are sweatshops spring up.

Re: Meet a Shenzhen Maker: Mr. Chen

#30

Post by derleth »

icelancer wrote: post #27
akiselev wrote: post #6

Reading stories about Shenzhen makes me terrified for the future of electrical engineering in the United States. Here in Silicon Valley I often have to wait a week to get a board fabbed and another week to get it assembled. I usually have to order the parts myself from Digikey, which takes a few days, and then manually build the kits. If something goes wrong during the bring up, I need to either spend boatloads of mo…

I wrote an article on my blog about this very topic. A common theme amongst college graduates with no job is that they "want a fair shot." Not quite. They don't want a fair shot against Chinese nationals with their same skill set with an order of magnitude less in wage requests!

> They don't want a fair shot against Chinese nationals with their same skill set with an order of magnitude less in wage requests!

That isn't a fair shot, though. The Chinese national has an unfair advantage due to the order of magnitude wage differential.

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