
Ask HN: Is it practical to pay an expert to design a PCB? - andrewstuart
I would like to get an esp32 board designed to fit a specific size, with specific layout.<p>I&#x27;m technical, but electronics design is outside my expertise.  I&#x27;m wondering are there people or companies who do this sort of thing, and what does it cost?<p>Of course how long is a piece of string, but I&#x27;m trying to get some sort of narrative around the topic to guide me as to whether this is practical or not.<p>Where would I find someone with expertise in designing computer electronics?
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semireg
I also lacked the skills to design my own (working!) PCB. I started learning
(MSP430 and TI RTOS) and realized that it was going to take years for me to
come up to speed. However, I did learn enough to better communicate my EE
design goals.

Ultimately, I hired a EE off of Upwork and it was a great collaboration, and
went on to design a few more simple breakout boards with them. To choose my
EE, I balanced price and ability to communicate in English.

The board we designed was a PyCom (ESP32) expansion board that had a handful
of peripherals I needed for various side projects. Among those were a USB chip
(MAX3421E), a 24-bit ADC for load cells (ADS1231), and a battery charge
circuit.

You can read more about it here: [https://forum.pycom.io/topic/2979/first-
look-usb-host-expans...](https://forum.pycom.io/topic/2979/first-look-usb-
host-expansion-board-by-semireg)

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ChrisGammell
As someone who teaches layout online (Contextual Electronics) it really comes
down to how much time you want to spend and how willing you are to deal with
mistakes. Electronics is a complex field and the only way to "recompile" a
project in electronics is to spin another board. This is usually a tough
transition for people coming from software, which is many of my students.

That all said, PCBs have never been cheaper or faster and I think a lot of the
software has gotten very good. I teach with the open source CAD software
KiCad, which has improved a TON.

As for finding people to do the design, usually my layout jobs come via
referrals. You can use a site like Upwork, but that is usually a race to the
bottom costwise. Quality doesn't necessarily follow that curve but I usually
err on the side of hiring experienced folks when I bid out jobs as the overall
hours spent will usually be lower, even if it's at a higher rate.

Other things to think about is who will do the assembly, the target cost of
the boards and what functions you want to include. Usually taking an iterative
approach where you start with a pluggable ESP32 Dev board and then have it
plug into a simpler daughter board is a good start and lower risk overall.

If you have more questions, shoot me an email hackernews@analoglife.co or
message me here.

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eberkund
My company can help you with this kind of thing. Email us and we can talk you
through your options. contact@aloralabs.com

