# Changing Course with Shawn Hymel

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2024-08-09
- Episode: 675
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2024-08-09-changing-course-with-shawn-hymel
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/675-changing-course-with-shawn-hymel/

## Summary

Shawn Hymel, formerly of Edge Impulse, discusses his transition from developer relations to creating full-time educational courses in embedded systems and CAD. He explains why he is leaving corporate engineering to focus on progressive learning content, citing the difficulty of competing with low-cost hardware manufacturers and the limitations of one-off video projects. The conversation covers his upcoming courses on FreeCAD, 3D printing, and the Zephyr RTOS, as well as his advice for hardware engineers looking to upskill in machine learning and edge AI.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2024-08-09-changing-course-with-shawn-hymel#t=0) Introduction and Career Transition
- [2:47](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2024-08-09-changing-course-with-shawn-hymel#t=167) The Business of Hardware vs. Content
- [11:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2024-08-09-changing-course-with-shawn-hymel#t=701) Developer Relations and Teaching Philosophy
- [17:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2024-08-09-changing-course-with-shawn-hymel#t=1058) FreeCAD and 3D Printing Course Plans
- [33:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2024-08-09-changing-course-with-shawn-hymel#t=1992) Teaching Embedded Systems and Zephyr
- [46:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2024-08-09-changing-course-with-shawn-hymel#t=2773) Machine Learning and Edge AI for Engineers
- [1:04:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2024-08-09-changing-course-with-shawn-hymel#t=3884) Course Business Models and Marketing

## Topics

- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [EDA & CAD tools](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/eda-and-cad-tools)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Creator business](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/creator-business)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Edge Impulse (company)
- DigiKey (company)
- SparkFun (company)
- Adafruit (company)
- Seeed Studio (company)
- FreeCAD (tool)
- KiCad (tool)
- Zephyr (tool)
- Arduino (product)
- NVIDIA (company)
- Hugging Face (company)
- ARM (company)
- Contextual Electronics (company)
- Golioth (company)
- Fusion 360 (tool)
- Onshape (tool)
- ESP-IDF (tool)
- FreeRTOS (tool)
- Coursera (other)
- Andrew Ng (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [403: Engineers Are a Difficult People](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-02-25-403-engineers-are-a-difficult-people) (Embedded.fm)
- [228: Pedantic or Andrantic](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2018-01-03-228-pedantic-or-andrantic) (Embedded.fm)
- [AI Vision Systems in Manufacturing with Deepview's Eliyahu Davis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2024-07-30-ai-vision-systems-in-manufacturing-with-deepviews-eliyahu-davis) (OnTrack)
- [The Future of PCB Design Education: HaSofu Founder Kirsch Mackey](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2025-05-21-the-future-of-pcb-design-education-hasofu-founder-kirsch-mackey) (OnTrack)
- [351: Dextral or Sinistral](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2020-11-13-351-dextral-or-sinistral) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

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