Restarter Profile: Meet Faraz

Untitled 5Tell us a little about yourself.

I studied Materials Science in Oxford University and I’m still finding my way, career-wise. What I’d like to do is design and invent interesting products, so I spend lots of time in hackspaces working on prototypes.

When did you start repairing electronics and electricals?

My secondary school science teacher had given me a soldering iron when I did an after school electronics class. I still have it today and bring it to every Restart Party. It helped me replace a capacitor in an LCD monitor being discarded at uni. If there was a broken electronics item in the house it was a good exercise to break it open and deduce how it works. This sort of curiosity helps with fault finding skills.

Why do you attend Restart Parties?

I love helping people, I love learning and I love solving a puzzle. At Restart Parties I can do all three at the same time. I have made some great friends amongst the regular Restarters and it’s awesome to meet up and see how they’re getting on.

What is your favourite kind of repair?

I like hacks. They may not be pretty, and it’s a bit of a grey area for repair, but it’s cool to use the tools at your disposal and some creative ingenuity to improve something. Those fixes leave me with a good feeling.

What do you do when you are not Restarting?

I spend a few evenings in an open workspace/hackspace in my area. Use the few hours to develop something I’m working on that might use an arduino. I have a wild imagination with many ideas I’d like to explore, I hope one day I can use some of them to earn money.

Read more: http://therestartproject.org/restart-project/restarter-profile-meet-faraz/