Is this a business? Or is it more than that?

I started this blog in 2012 for a practical reason: I needed a place to put my work.

At the time, it was a portfolio and a personal brand statement. A public archive of the things I built, tested, fixed, and learned the hard way. Over the years it picked up a name, an identity, and eventually a legal wrapper. Hong’s Electronics, LLC became the container.

So yes, on paper, it’s a business.

But if you’re asking what Hong’s Electronics really is, here’s the honest answer:

Hong’s Electronics is basically Jeremy Hong, Inc.

And the reason it exists is simple. It’s a resume booster. It exists to accelerate my progress toward becoming a subject matter expert.

The road to becoming a subject matter expert

What Hong’s Electronics is (and what it isn’t)

Hong’s Electronics is not a startup. It’s not a product company. It’s not a stealth venture or a brand masquerading as one.

It’s also not “just a hobby” in the way people say hobby when they mean “I occasionally do a thing and never write it down.”

This is a system. A deliberate one.

I use it to manufacture real experience on purpose. I choose problems that force me to grow. I build the lab capability to attack them. I document what I learn. I repeat. That loop compounds.

That is the whole game.

This is all relevant real-world experience.

It’s a resume booster, but not the shallow kind

Some people treat a “personal brand” like marketing. They post highlights, polish the edges, and try to look impressive without ever showing the messy middle.

That’s not what this is.

Hong’s Electronics exists to produce a specific outcome: competence that shows up in the real world.

A lot of engineers wait for their job to grant them experience. That can work, but it’s the slow path. Your scope is whatever your role happens to be. Your growth is gated by project timelines, staffing, priorities, and corporate reality.

This is the fast path.

This is where I decide what I need to learn next and go do it.

And when I walk into interviews and someone asks what Hong’s Electronics is, I say it plainly: it’s my personal platform for staying ahead. It’s how I keep building depth, even when my day job is narrow. It’s how I prove I can execute.

It’s a resume booster because it creates receipts.

The real product is competence

The visible outputs are projects, writeups, and test equipment. People notice the gear first. That’s fine. I like tools, I like measurement, and I’m not going to pretend I don’t enjoy owning serious hardware.

But the equipment isn’t the point.

The point is what the equipment enables: faster learning, better verification, higher standards.

Hong’s Electronics is where I build competence that actually matters:

• turning curiosity into repeatable methods
• making measurements that settle arguments
• developing intuition by building and breaking systems
• learning adjacent domains fast enough to be useful
• getting comfortable with ambiguity, then reducing it with data

SME status isn’t a title. It’s a track record. Hong’s Electronics exists to build that track record continuously.

In the age of LLMs, this is how I differentiate myself

Let’s talk about the moment we’re in.

In this age of LLMs and AI, it’s easier than ever to sound competent. You can generate explanations, summaries, block diagrams, code, talking points, and endless confident words on demand. The internet is about to be flooded with “experts” who have never touched the hardware they’re describing.

My differentiation is simple: I do the work in the physical world.

I measure reality. I connect the cables. I fight the noise floor. I chase the intermittent fault. I learn the instrument. I write down what actually happened. I post the receipts.

LLMs can accelerate research and communication. They can speed up the easy parts. But they can’t replace judgment built from hands-on reps. They can’t replace the instincts you get from breaking things, debugging, iterating, and verifying with real test equipment.

Hong’s Electronics is where I build that unfair advantage: practical experience plus documentation. It’s how I stay ahead of the curve while everyone else is busy generating content.

Yes, it’s also about clout

Let’s be direct about the part people pretend isn’t real.

A big chunk of this is clout and bragging rights.

Not fake clout. Earned clout. The kind that comes from doing hard things and documenting them clearly enough that other competent people can follow the trail.

This site is where I get to post about accomplishments, exploits in hardware, and amazing test equipment acquisitions that you’re allowed to envy. It’s not “humble.” It’s not meant to be. It’s meant to be honest.

Because in electronics, there are two kinds of confidence:

• confidence that comes from talking
• confidence that comes from building

Hong’s Electronics is where I back it up.

Why wouldn't I brag about this?

Full-time loyalty, personal brand, and the line I won’t cross

Have I lost a job or two chasing clout? Maybe. I can’t confirm nor deny.

But I want to make something crystal clear: whoever I work for as my full-time employer has my full loyalty. I will give them my 110%. When I’m on a team, I’m on the team. I care about outcomes, I care about execution, and I take trust seriously.

At the same time, I’m not going to stop bragging about my experience with test and measurement equipment. If I run into a new instrument, a new lab setup, or a new piece of gear that expands my hands-on range, I’m going to be excited about it. I’m going to learn it. And yes, I’m probably going to talk about it.

Here’s the boundary: I don’t talk about applications of that equipment inside my employer’s context. I don’t talk about proprietary processes, internal methods, customer details, or anything that should stay behind the curtain. I’ll talk about tools, not trade secrets. Capability, not confidential workflows.

This is just how the hustle works these days. You build skills in public, you keep receipts, and you build a reputation that follows you. The trick is doing it without being reckless, without burning trust, and without confusing “personal brand” with “divided loyalty.”

My goal is simple: be an asset to my employer, and still keep compounding my own technical story in a way that’s ethical, professional, and sustainable.

Why I keep it public

Keeping this work public does two important things.

First, it forces clarity. If I can’t explain what I did and why it worked, I don’t really own it. Writing makes me better.

Second, it creates leverage. A decade of documented problem-solving beats a paragraph on a resume. Every post becomes a proof point. Every project becomes a reference. Every deep dive becomes evidence that I can move from “I’m curious” to “I can execute” without being micromanaged into it.

Public work also attracts the right kind of people: the ones who care about craft, rigor, and measurement. That alone has value. The world is full of quiet experts, and sharing work is how you find them.

Why make it an LLC at all?

Because sometimes reality wants structure.

Once a personal brand starts interacting with the world in a business-like way, it becomes useful to have a real container for it. An LLC keeps things clean: expenses, assets, occasional consulting, review work, whatever else comes along.

But the deeper reason is that I take this seriously.

Even when it’s “just me,” it’s still work with intent. The LLC doesn’t make it more impressive. It makes it more honest. It reflects that this is an ongoing, deliberate operation, not a scattered collection of half-finished hobbies.

So… is it a business, or more than that?

It’s a business on paper.

In practice, it’s my acceleration lane.

Hong’s Electronics exists so I can keep climbing even when external constraints would slow me down. It exists so I can stay sharp. It exists so I can build depth across domains and keep my skills compounding.

It’s the place where I can say: I don’t just know things, I do things.

And I keep the receipts.

The next chapter

If the only goal were to look impressive, this would be easy. You can curate highlights forever.

But the point isn’t to look impressive. The point is to become undeniable.

So going forward, the goal is simple:

• pick problems that force real growth
• document the method, not just the result
• keep raising the standard
• keep compounding toward SME

Because at the end of the day, Hong’s Electronics isn’t a product line.

It’s a machine for turning curiosity into capability.

And that is more than a business.