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What Changes Would You Like to See Made to Project14?

tariq.ahmad

Its been a long time since we've made any kind of changes to the format of Project14 but its due for an upgrade.   Its natural for programs to evolve overtime and things can't stay the same forever. We've experimented with different things with the program and some have been received more enthusiastically than others.   I'm starting this thread to see what kind of changes you would like to see us to make with this program.  What shouldn't be touched,  what would make things more exciting, and how do we grow the program without turning it into something different?  Should it be something different?   Where does Project14 fit in with the larger community?  Before getting this conversation underway, I would like to stress that the goal is to improve not diminish the program.  My managers have been very supportive from the beginning of this program and I want to reward their confidence.   Some of these changes are workload related.  Others are business related.  I'm open to all ideas and suggestions.

 

Topics on the Table:

 

- Launch Themes Every Other Month or Keep them Monthly?

- Shorter Contests or Longer Contests?

- If we have fewer contests Is there Stuff We Can Do In-Between?

- How Can We Make It Easier For More People to Participate?

- Should We have Bigger Prizes?

- Should we have a giveaway before we launch every contest?

- Most Importantly How Do We Make These More Fun?

  • in reply to yosoufe

    Hi  ,

     

    This is an thread started: Re: Team Contests? and I did look into this with Project14 but was unable to get anything together for.   As far as p14 is concerned,  I think it would be pretty cool to have multiple members team up on a project,  provided they didn't mind splitting the shopping cart if they won.  :-).   Also,  commenting on members projects and helping out with builds is a goal of this program and may be something we need to do more to incentivize such as a special badge.

  • in reply to tariq.ahmad

    Maybe creating places for different countries or states here would help to know who from my city is a member here? And I could also ask l questions related to my city and  ....

  • in reply to 14rhb

    You require 0.1 headers, no castellated pads(or whatever those are called), they're pretty cheap, around 3-4ish dollars for 50.

     

    I'm planning on buying a ton of these-

     

    I'm realizing newer chips are all in SMD>

     

    I've usually used SOIC8, 16, (or TSSOP), there's also TQFP32, 44, 48.

     

    SOIC is really easy to solder tbh, and I'd usually prefer it but some come with TSSOP which is *still* pretty easy, even with a SP25.

     

    I can probably send you a few of the adapters if you'd like to try them out.

  • in reply to fmilburn

    I usually can do 0603 comfortably with a SP25(but ya know that iron really sucks so I'm hoping to win the Holiday special so I can get a better iron with the shopping cart)

     

    The first time I soldered SMD passives(not ICs) was with a solder kit, which was noice but then there's also down to 0402.

     

    But yeah, I feel really comfortable after around 2 weeks of practice and assembling those corgis, so...

     

    I actually like SMD better than THT.

     

    Well, not BGA and QFN.

  • in reply to 14rhb

    I can probably help too hehehe, it's an excuse for me to open up KiCAD to get more practice. Familiarization with SMT is very crucial. Should I have not taken that leap to try out SMD I would still be using THT and a ton of perfboards.

     

    BUT BGA... No.

     

    I've tried qfn, it's more like a hit and miss to me, sometimes my tip decides to go great, sometimes my tip decides to take the day off. Sometimes my eyes and hands take the day off.

     

    Maybe with a better iron. And more flux. Much more flux.

  • in reply to yosoufe

    Anyone in NYC wants to come for a quick Zoom call?

     

    (Not actually tho lol)

     

    There's COVID, if that's any indication. But I'm thinking if some more experienced people here don't want to participate but want to support, they could DM, text, or call each other for support.

  • Another idea that I was wondering whether would work would be some sort of retro- turn back the clock competition.   What if we had a month that didn't involve any prizes and just 4 options from past competitions.   For example,  options could include Robots with Wheels,  Geeky Gadgets, RF (Radio Frequency), and Movers and Shakers.   We would reopen the space and instead of usual prizes we had badges.   Do you think that would be something that would go over well?

  • in reply to tariq.ahmad

    Do the badges come with points? I certainly need to gain some points. 1K to go before yellow!

     

    Would a corgi arduino count as a "geeky" gadget? (hahaha not actually)

     

    I might consider joining if the deadline isn't very short (if you could open it for a few months that's great), and if I can make a project.

  • in reply to hugohu

    Yes.   Badges come with points.  I have a backlog of Project14 badges dating back to earlier this year that I need to sort out and distribute.  We have Project14 badges but haven't given them out in a while as its currently done manually.   With stuff like shipping getting backlogged and day-to-day taking priority this is still on the list of things I need to get crossed off the list to do.

  • in reply to tariq.ahmad

    It is perfectly acceptable, and actually desirable, to occasionally repeat popular themes.

    Many popular themes have many more untapped potential projects than some new esoteric themes.

    Small contests with just badges or minor swag as prizes, might be worth exploring. They could be smaller and quicker - keeping activity bubbling on the forum, if they prove popular.