Maple Spotlight: STone path Engineering
Stone Path Engineering is an embedded firmware consulting firm located in Central Iowa with experience in industrial IoT, lighting controls, wearable tech, agricultural applications and more. They provide consulting services such as design and code reviews and training to transition existing developers to embedded development, embedded team workflows, and effective multidisciplinary team processes.
Interview with Bailey Steinfadt, owner of Stone Path Engineering:
What prompted you to build your business?
I discovered the joy of electronics in high school and went to college for electrical engineering. I ended up riding the line between that and computer engineering for my degree. The maker movement was a good introduction to the generous and welcoming nature of the embedded community and I’ve grown to love the people and the passion I’ve found with it. My career has taken some detours, but the persistent theme has been making other people’s jobs easier. Now that I’ve found my way back and worked as a firmware engineer in teams large and small, I want to make embedded engineers’ jobs easier!
What problem are you solving?
For engineers, the learning curve to begin in embedded engineering is fairly steep, and there are an overwhelming number of directions you can take for specialization. On the hiring side, it’s often hard to know which of those many skills your particular project needs, or how to figure out which of those needs require someone around for the entire project vs at specific times only. Projects also grow and change as time goes on, and the tools and processes in place may not be the best solution anymore. A growing team, a maturing product entering a new phase of development, or a key person leaving are all stressful transitions on their own. It can be hard to know what to keep or drop, what to automate, or what to try next when you’re still trying to get a product out the door.
What are you building to solve this problem?
I consult on firmware development on embedded projects. Project reviews are my favorite and fastest way to provide value, and I also help teams set up toolchains and code infrastructure, documentation frameworks, and architecture as a consultant or a trainer. I also provide fractional engineering director services to provide ongoing mentoring and engineering leadership, and the ability to pull in other resources from my network, such as electrical engineers or product designers, when needed.
I also want to help more teams than I can directly work with. I am organizing an embedded community in Central Iowa. We’ve hosted two Hardware Hangout events so far, and will reveal the community-chosen name of the group at the next event in May! I am firmware-focused, but the group includes anyone working on an embedded project in any capacity. Those looking for work, students, and hobbyists are also welcome!
What stage are you in right now?
Just launching! Looking to hire another firmware engineer within a year.
How can people contact you?
Sign up for a free slot at my Office Hours
Come to a Hardware Hangout: https://events.stonepathengineering.com/
How can the readers of this story help you?
If you are working in or supporting embedded engineering teams, come be a part of the Hardware Hangout events! We have sponsorship opportunities, but the best help one could give would be to invite your colleagues and attend the events!
If you’re offering services or products that would help those building embedded products, whether or not you can make it to a Hardware Hangout, please reach out and introduce yourself! I want to know everyone in Iowa that I can point the teams I work with toward when they need help.
