dignick

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies: C/C++, Zephyr RTOS, Nordic nRF Connect SDK (nRF52/53/54), Bluetooth LE, LTE-M, Swift/SwiftUI, Kotlin/Java, Python (FastAPI), TypeScript, PostgreSQL, AWS, MQTT

Résumé/CV: https://nickbrook.me/files/NickBrook-Oct26.pdf

Email: [email protected]

Senior connected-product engineer with more than ten years of experience. I build the whole stack: device firmware, the companion app, and the cloud backend.

I look for contract and project work first, through my company NRB Tech. I would also consider a permanent role in connected hardware or climate tech.

Things I have built: - A field-updatable Zephyr firmware platform and apps for AirTurn's Bluetooth pedals, with an SDK that apps such as forScore and OnSong use - An LTE-M vehicle-security product (firmware, SwiftUI app, AWS/MQTT backend) with PKI and secure OTA updates - USB-MIDI and BLE firmware with signed, rollback-safe updates for guitar controllers - Wiggle, a home energy monitoring app (SwiftUI, FastAPI, PostgreSQL), now in beta testing

I care most about devices that last for years in the field: secure boot, OTA with rollback, power management, and diagnostics.

Remote: Yes (remote-first; UK/EU hours, happy to overlap US), or hybrid if nearby (Leeds/Manchester)

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies: Embedded C/C++, Zephyr RTOS, nRF Connect SDK (nRF5x, nRF9x), Bluetooth LE, LTE-M / NB-IoT (Quectel BG77), Wi-Fi, LoRa, secure boot, signed firmware, DFU (MCUboot), USB MIDI/DFU, MQTT, Protocol Buffers. iOS/macOS — Swift, SwiftUI, CoreBluetooth, AccessorySetupKit. Linux SBC fleets (Raspberry Pi, Yocto/Buildroot, Tailscale), Python, Node/TypeScript, AWS (EC2/S3/CodeDeploy), PostgreSQL, Redis, Mosquitto.

Résumé/CV: https://nickbrook.me/files/NickBrook-Jun26.pdf https://nrbtech.io and https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickbrook/

Email: [email protected]

SEEKING FREELANCE WORK | Connected Product / Embedded & IoT Engineer

Hi, I'm Nick. I help startups and small teams ship connected products that stay reliable in the field for years, not just months. Through my consultancy (NRB Tech) I design, build, harden, and support production-ready IoT and embedded systems end to end — firmware, wireless connectivity, secure OTA, and the companion iOS/Android app to go with it.

Recent work: a Zephyr/nRF firmware platform, iOS/macOS/Android apps, and a developer SDK for Bluetooth pedals used by musicians worldwide (AirTurn); USB-MIDI guitar-pedal controllers with reliable OTA (Positive Grid); an LTE-M vehicle security platform with BLE coexistence, aggressive low-power management, and an AWS backend (KēZ); and a remote-managed Raspberry Pi fleet driving an outdoor interactive light installation (ROUTES).

I'm best for: BLE / Nordic / Zephyr firmware, cellular IoT with low-power constraints, secure boot + OTA, hardware-paired iOS apps, technical audits of an existing product, and long-term maintenance of shipped devices. MEng in Electronic Engineering and a CSSLP, so I can interface with and debug hardware — though I don't take PCB layout or RF design as deliverables.

I work around outcomes rather than timesheets, usually starting with a short audit or discovery phase so we both have clarity before a larger build. Drop me a line with a short description of your project and we can arrange a call.

https://www.tag-connect.com/product/tc2030-retaining-clip-bo...

However, when it received the holiday update with Apple Watch support, and I paired my watch, it started losing several % charge every day. I contacted service who told me to reset my password, which effectively disconnects all connected devices from your account. That solved it. Then I paired my watch again, same problem.

In the next update, Tesla fixed it. And in the next update, it automatically paired your watch without asking. Brave/risky of them, given the previous issues.

My biggest concern for this car now, other than getting abuse for owning a Tesla or the brakes rusting up [1], is Tesla releasing a software update that breaks something, possibly dangerously. With Musk’s recent behaviour I wouldn’t be surprised if talented engineers are leaving or considering it, perhaps excluding Musk’s favoured h1b employees…

[1] https://www.carscoops.com/2024/11/tesla-model-3-comes-bottom...

- write well-defined and self-contained bash, python, powershell scripts to automate tasks

- give it an error (often from a build tool) and ask it to help fix it. Sometimes it figures it out, but if not then it gives me ideas, and sometimes this allows me to figure it out myself

- ask it how to achieve things at a high level (if I’m unfamiliar with a tool or problem domain). Sometimes this is to validate what I was already planning to do or find a better way to achieve the desired result (I tend to work solo on projects)

- text or code transformations

- writing regular expressions

- I use copilot to improve code writing speed. Sometimes it gets things wrong but overall I find it does speed things up, particularly for repetitive tasks (e.g switch statements with similar cases)

Yes, but not for drivers (so device manufacturers have to write drivers specifically for ARM)

1. Cost per MW compared to renewables (~$150 vs ~$40 and falling). Here in the UK the government is promising to subsidise this to make it viable.

2. Construction time - average is 10 years, we don’t have that long to wait.

3. Decommissioning is expensive and a long way in the future. Is that cost built into the cost per MW? How can we be sure the money will be protected, and will be enough to cover it?

4. Spent fuel. The project you mentioned isn’t complete yet, but even then it’s a huge liability to leave for future generations to manage indefinitely.

Meanwhile, renewables don’t have these problems and are available immediately. We should be building huge factories to produce wind and solar en masse.

Source for the figures: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-energy-nuclearpower-idUSK...

But you are saying that isn’t like an aircraft - why?

> So why don't you hear from your observation point the airplane (or all airplanes for that matter) as it takes off, which is when it makes its first noise? And by all means, account for a few ms of light movement if that makes you happy.

That is attenuation! The aircraft is far enough away that all the energy from the sound is absorbed by the air and objects between observer and aircraft. Attenuation does not affect the speed the sound travels. But when the aircraft is closer to you, the attenuation is lower so you can hear the sound.

Then shouldn’t it be Swift 6?

You are looking at this from a world where that isn’t the case. Money would be worth less in that scenario, and that 10% owns 99% of the wealth, which is still going to cause problems.

By the same logic, this would seem to require all of iOS and Android to be open source. Where does the "App" end and the underlying OS and libraries begin in this requirement?

I don't think the government deserves the credit they have received for this. The "hack" was well understood and documented before this App was created, and it has been implemented poorly [1]. [1] https://github.com/nhsx/COVID-19-app-Android-BETA/issues/10