Notes about full²stack development

Looking back at 2024

Warning: This post contains mentions of burning out. If this is uncomfortable for you, please stop reading. I sincerely hope it’ll get better over time.

The previous year was a pivotal one for Hati Research, not only because it was somewhat officially founded, but because the road to it has been quite wild.

Thoughts about founding a company appeared at the beginning of the year as I started to see PCB assembly getting easier and cheaper (thanks Opulo!) and doing small batch prototype assembly seemed like something that might be worth doing. Back then I was working for an agri-tech startup, where the hardware development was being hindered by the lack of fast PCBA.

Burning out

Without going into much detail, back then, I was at least actually, but not formally, leading the hardware and software development for the startup. That meant everything from PCB bring-up, up to dealing with fleet management in the AWS. Being responsible for something without having a lot of power over it (stemming from not being formally responsible and having to fight windmills to change how things are done), finally culminated in me burning out hard. One moment, I realized that the technical and organizational problems I am unable to solve well will not go away and I will be going through that again and again in the following weeks. That was when my mind snapped and became unable to work.

What followed were months of computers having a repulsive field around them for me and I tried to rest (unsuccessfully, because after decades of doing nothing but work, stopping is extremely hard). So I went and instead of grinding at work, I started grinding at home renovations, which of course led to another uncomfortable mental state and problems.

Making a plan for the future

Fortunately, during that time after burning out, I also managed to do some thinking about what my life (and especially my work life) should look like from now on.

My thoughts were:

• I need to focus on working sustainably for the next decades, not grinding myself for the next few years and then becoming so mentally unstable that working anymore would not be possible. Well, life in general would not be possible.
• I don’t want to work on products, only projects and prototypes. The distinction is subtle, but for me, projects and prototypes are duration-limited. Meaning that I’ll do what I do best, pass it over to the customer’s engineering team, provide some basic support (but with good docs), and be done with it. I can work on the prototype further, but the baseline is to dispatch it and ideally not think about it again.
• I cannot work full-time. I have too many of my own things to try and research and that is what fulfills me. Also, having a baby on the way, I want to be there for them as much as possible even if it means limiting the time I spend working. I am fortunate, and privileged (and I paid for it with my health and social contacts) that my financial situation is well enough to be able to do this. Don’t get me wrong, I still must work, but I figured out I could do part-time without it meaning any for me and my family financially. Also, there can be parts of the year when I work hard and parts where I don’t. I am extremely thankful for this and realize it is extremely liberating.
• I initially thought that going forward I’d try to find a job, that would be just it - a job. No personal interest in it - code/design/whatever for X hours a day and be done. But slowly, I realized, that this would be even more destructive for me than the grind I was going through before. I realized that doing prototypes and consulting is much better for me.
• I don’t think I can have a boss (or manager) any longer. In my past two jobs, I found myself being at odds with every level of management there was. This may have been bad luck or me just not being able to conform well, but right now I need to be my own boss, with all the advantages and disadvantages that come with it.
• Being self-employed should be quite possible because of the unique demographic circumstances (more work than people to do it) and the range of things I can work on. Full^2 stack is just one of them, but I also can do manufacturing (laser cutting, engraving, 3D printing, PCBA, woodworking, and many other DIY crafts picked on the way). There is no work that I shouldn’t be able to learn and start doing if the situation requires it (as arrogant as that may sound, I am talking about engineering/design/construction work, not becoming a medical doctor, also I plan on maintaining my ethical standards (no work exploiting people, etc.))

In rare moments when sitting at a computer would not be repulsive for me, I started working on a small mobile robot (my background is in robotics after all) and I found the work very refreshing and calming. I named the little bot Hati - I was playing God of War again at that time and I really liked the idea of a wolf that chases the moon to bring out the sun. And that was when Hati Research was born. Of course, Hati has a brother Skoll, who in turn chases the sun to bring out the night, but for now, I reserve the name for something I’ll do in the future.

Rebranding as Hati Research

I started on the rebranding in November of last year, doing a really simple landing page, and then in late December the very blog you are reading. Both of these were done in the simplest way possible to avoid decision paralysis (common when doing web development for me) and to avoid maintenance burden (why maintain Jekyll/Hugo, when you can generate HTML from markdown with a few lines of bash).

What’s next?

Right now I am extremely thankful to my family, friends, and former colleagues who gave me the opportunity to work on interesting projects at Hati Research, these include:

• Embedded Rust consulting (something from which intrusive-thoughts spun from)
• Climbing volumes manufacturing and manufacturing optimization
• Making light shades for the restoration of a historic locomotive using silicone molding and resin casting.

And there are many more that are now in the state of proposals and preparation.

In conclusion…

This is the story of becoming Hati Research. I hope that it will function onward as well as it started and that thanks to it, I manage to find a more sustainable way of working for the decades to come.

Once again, I’d like to express my thanks to my family, friends, and everyone else for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to be better.