An entrepreneur embedded in engineering
Nathan Ruttley MIET co-founded Embedism in April 2019. The company has since earned a strong reputation for providing affordable engineering services for professional prototypes and short-run production.
It’s often said that some people are born engineers. This certainly applies to Nathan, who from a very young age loved taking things apart, to see how they work.
His enquiring mind, methodical approach, problem-solving ability and drive to succeed served him well at school, where he completed A-levels in Electronics, Physics, Maths and Geography. A meticulous planner, he said that the “extremely high employment rate” among Electronic Engineering graduates at the University of Southampton was “a massive factor” in his choice of course and university.
During his four-year Master’s degree, Nathan deliberately selected modules that would allow him to work in the electronic design sector, including management, communication and electronic design.
Hands-on learning
In 2014 Nathan worked on an undergraduate project that involved the design and layout of circuits for fabrication on a silicon chip. He said: “After completing the IC [integrated circuit], our team had to create test vectors that could be applied automatically to the chip – we simulated them first, to verify that they were correct.”
The following year, Nathan completed a three-month placement with design agency RPD International. He then led an undergraduate project team tasked with designing a secure, portable communications device. “My main role was to oversee the design phase, prototyping and the complete integration of the final product,” he said.
“We developed a touchscreen device that had drawing and on-screen keyboard capabilities, with information transmitted to another device in real time. Our product could also send and receive audio for voice communication.”
And that’s not all. During his individual project Nathan developed an electromyographic monitoring system to help rehabilitate stroke survivors. He was also part of a group project that implemented an environmental monitoring and control system for an automated greenhouse – his specific area of focus for this one was Bluetooth Low Energy monitoring nodes.
Nathan found the course fascinating and rewarding in equal measure. He ended up with a first-class MEng (Hons) degree, two prizes for academic achievement and the Best Group Design Project Award.
First permanent role
After graduating Nathan joined RPD International, the product design agency that had hosted his internship.
He was the project lead for the development of a smart home radiator valve that saves users energy and money. The client was a company with a social purpose. It sought to design a heating control system that was simple, effective, scalable and could enable users to help “move the needle” on climate change.
Enthusiastic entrepreneur
Having worked for RPD for nearly two years, Nathan felt that the time was right to put himself in the driving seat, by setting up a business venture.
He co-founded Embedism with his business partner in April 2019. The company provides affordable engineering services to individuals and companies looking for professional prototypes and short-run production.
“Our goal is to lower the barrier to entering the amazing world of hardware by offering fair pricing, industry insider knowledge and project structures that give our clients useful output at every stage,” he said. “We do this by operating with low overheads, enthusiasm and experienced, well-connected engineers.”
Being a business owner is not always easy, of course. “There are three main challenges,” said Nathan. “The first is time management: striking the right balance between engineering and business activities. I find the engineering side fun, but finding time to complete some of the less interesting business tasks takes a lot of self-discipline!
“The second challenge is keeping up to date with emerging technologies at a time when ICs, especially IoT [Internet of Things] technologies are moving very fast. My favourite challenge is helping non-technical clients to understand difficult technical concepts – there’s nothing quite like witnessing the ‘lightbulb moment’ when something finally ‘clicks’ for an individual. It’s a great feeling!”
IET membership
Nathan’s association with the IET began in his first week at university. “My course was accredited by the IET, so initially that’s why I applied for membership,” he said.
“When I was working full time, the range of events and talks offered locally to me in London became the main reason for my involvement. The IET dinners and events have given me some great opportunities to talk with people from different areas of the engineering industry and to learn about the direction that other sectors are moving in.
“Through the IET I’ve been able to meet fantastic new people from outside my engineering ‘bubble’. Some have introduced me to potential clients and some have become clients themselves. Many have become good friends and an essential part of my engineering support network.
“The IET’s head office at Savoy Place is the ideal meeting place – it was invaluable when we were in the early stages of our business!”
Looking to the future
Nathan considers co-founding a business to be his biggest career achievement by far.
“We’re now at a point where we have an amazing team that we work with every day. This makes me really glad to have made the decision to start a business,” he said. “We’ll continue to work on building it. Our goal is to employ more engineers over the next few years and to work on a wider variety of products.
“It’s really gratifying to be able to understand the inner workings of products and to be able to create new things based on our own ideas. We’re currently working on a number of very exciting projects. Some of the awesome products that we’ve been developing will hit the market this year – it’s all top secret at the moment, but keep an eye out for them!”