Hi, I'm James.
I'm the founder and engineer behind 40 Below Labs. When you work with 40 Below Labs, you work directly with me.
Embedded engineer, builder, problem-solver
I've spent more than eight years writing firmware for connected products in IoT, automotive, agriculture, industrial and consumer electronics. My work centers on devices that talk to the world over LTE, Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi, mostly on ESP32 and STM32 microcontrollers.
I started my career at QED Embedded in Fargo, building firmware for internet-connected devices, writing sensor and peripheral drivers, and debugging hardware alongside electrical and software engineers. In 2022 I founded 40 Below Labs to help companies take their own products from prototype to launch.
I hold a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science from North Dakota State University. Outside client work I'm interested in UAVs, machine vision, 3D printing, CNC and anything else that involves building things quickly.
Why "40 Below"?
At 40 below, Fahrenheit and Celsius finally agree, and North Dakota winters get there more often than you'd think. It's a reminder that real hardware has to work in the real world: in the cold, in the field, on a bad connection, with nobody around to press reset.
That's the standard 40 Below Labs builds to.
How I work
- Direct communication with the engineer doing the work
- Clear scopes, estimates and regular progress updates
- Documented code your team can maintain, built to the level your project needs
- Partners for PCB design, mechanical, mobile apps and manufacturing when needed
- Remote-friendly, with clients across the US and abroad