Laid off in 2024, part 20: One of the upsides of being laid off (electronics and IoT) : Global Nerdy

Joey de Villa’s “IoT box” — a clear plastic storage container containing Pimoroni Badger 2040W, Elegoo UNO R3 Super Starter Kit, Rasberry Pi 3 Model B, Adafruit Circuit Playground Express, 2 Raspberry Pi 4 Model Bs, Elecrow 5" HDMI screen, Elegoo 37 sensor module kit, and Raspberry Pi Pico.

One of the upsides of being laid off is that you get a couple extra hours a day — and only a couple, because getting a new job is your new job — to pick up some things that have fallen by the wayside. For me, one of those things was playing around with electronics and IoT (Internet of Things) devices, and I’d been waiting for a chance to pull out my “IoT box,” pictured above.

Clockwise from the top:

Pimoroni Badger 2040W: It’s an ID badge that’s also a wearable computer with Wifi and buttons, so it’s interacive as well! It has an E Ink screen, so the display can still show text and graphics, even with the power cut off.
Elegoo UNO R3 Super Starter kit featuring the Arduino UNO revision 3 microcontroller board, a breadboard for building circuitry without soldering, and a whole lot of electronic parts. It’s programmable in the Arduino language, which is pretty much C++.
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B: I’ve had this one for a while, performing all sorts of yeoman service tasks for me in the background.
Adafruit Circuit Playground Express — Another microcontroller board with blinking lights, motion sensor, temperature sensor, light sensor, sound sensor, mini speaker, push buttons, and infrared transceiver. It’s programmable in Microsoft MakeCode blocks or JavaScript, CircuitPython, or Arduino.
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B: This was a gift from Computer Coach.
Elecrow 5″ resistive touch screen: For the Rasberry Pis.
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B: Yup, I have two! This one’s from my time as a student at the Undercroft’s UC Baseline cybersecurity course, and the other
Elegoo 37 sensor module kit: Lots of blinking lights, speakers, buzzer, laser emitter, keypad, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, light sensors, sound sensor, infrared motion sensor, magnetic spring sensor, and more.
Raspberry Pi Pico: A really tiny microcontroller board, programmable in MicroPython and C. Can easily be used to fashion a USB Rubber Duckie to do what Tony Stark did to the SHIELD Helicarrier’s systems in the first Avengers movie.
Fomu: (Not pictured) A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) that fits into a USB port — basically my tiniest computer.

I also have a basic electrical/electronics kit:

Joey de Villa’s electronic kit, a plastic container containing soldering iron, digital multimeter, and various electronics tools.

I’ve used it for all sorts of little repairs, including the time I fixed a manufacturing defect in one of our emergency lights.

There are big payoffs to being able to tinker with and fix physical things: it helps build a “can do” mindset that will serve you well, especially during a long post-layoff job search during a time when the jobs market is tough. It’ll take you far in work, life, and play.

I’ll write more about my IoT/electronics projects as I complete them.

Recommended reading/viewing

Additional notes for “Beyond the Circuit: The Everlasting Role of Hardware Skills”

Would you be able to perform this simple household repair?

Also in this series…