2023 is well underway, and looking at my previous blog post about 2022 goals, I realize that a post is overdue. The good news, I suppose, is that this means I’ve been quite busy. Here’s what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work!
Technical Writing
As of mid-to-late 2023, technical writing is where JCC LLC makes the majority of its profit, and where I spend the majority of my effort. Hackster.io as well as Embedded Computing Design remain excellent customers, and there are a variety of other outlets where you may see my work.
While the majority of my writing up to this point has been in the less-than-1000-word range, lately I’ve been working on some projects that are significantly longer and require a lot of research. While I enjoy this sort of work, ensuring that I am efficiently working and making profit is somewhat more difficult since it often takes a lot of time to actually put words to the page.
Still, I’m glad to see my work evolving in this direction. One technique I’ve been using is to time my hours put into a project, even if I’m not billing by the hour. This helps me know if my effective hourly rate is excellent or quite poor, and allows me to adjust accordingly.
Create/Invent Podcast
Pat Regan and I have been putting out a podcast roughly once a month this year. We’ve had some interesting guests, and I think improved our presentation. YouTube subscribers are up to 259 as of this writing, though we believe this to be a fraction of people that listen via audio-only means. It can also be found on SoundCloud, Spotify, and other repositories of fine podcasts.
In related news, I did eight Developing with Pi webinars for Embedded computing, about getting started with the Raspberry Pi RP2040. This was a fun experience, and a nice way to expand the type of content I can deliver.
Jeremy Cook YouTube
While I haven’t posted on YouTube as much lately as I would like, I have put up a few full videos this year. I’ve also been experimenting with shorts, which is a great format for things that don’t require ~10 minutes of explanation, or things where I didn’t document the process well. Here’s my latest short:
PCB Development
As noted in my last post in January 2022, selling devices is now a non-trivial portion of what I do. I’ve yet to do another Kickstarter campaign, but my EZ Fan 2 board has been a consistent seller on my JC Devices Tindie store.
I also continue to develop new PCB ideas, and have put out two new products there, the LED-No-Solder pick thing, and a capacitive input called the “RP20-Footie.” The pedal has seen some success, but the LED-No-Solder hasn’t been a great seller.
I’ve also been working on a rather involved PCB, which integrates a bare RP2040 chip and capacitive sensing. What’s shown in the above video is sort of a partial prototype for the design, and even getting to the point of blinking an LED was quite a challenge. I’m excited to share more once things are ready!
What I do – What DO I do?
If you’ve gotten this far, it’s probably evident that I have a rather unique business. The writing, presentation, and constant experimentation all feed into each other to allow me to make a living. If I can help you with anything in this real, please do get in contact – hi at jeremyscook dot com.
I really enjoy what I do, and the fact that it allows me some flexibility to my workdays. That being said, when someone asks me what I do, I’m still at a loss for what to say!