Engineering Portfolio

Jayson Chaykowski.

Engineering physics background. Hands-on with instrumentation, embedded systems, and heavy equipment. Comfortable building things that work in the real world — in a lab, a cleanroom, or a field.

Physics, fabrication,
and field work.

I've done what I can to accrue knowledge and experience in various fields. I know what its like to work in a cleanroom fabricating solar cells, designing PCB's and ultimately debugging them when the first iteration will inevitably fail, and I know the feeling of crawling under a piece of farm equipment in the middle of a muddy field trying to weld that piece that just broke off back on. Each of these experiences have been invaluable.

I'm drawn to these challenges - to experience and learn something new in environments that are less than ideal but the equipment can't fail in. These are the problems that I spend my time on.

Education

MASc Engineering Physics (incomplete) — McMaster University
Thesis focus: Single-pass SPDC in nonlinear PPLN material

Currently

Farmhand at Metro Farms, Hamilton ON — operating and maintaining heavy equipment through full crop cycles.

Where I've worked.

Farmhand Sep 2023 — Present
Metro Farms · Hamilton, ON
  • Operate tractors, skid steers, and sprayers across all phases of corn, wheat, and soybean production.
  • Troubleshoot and repair mechanical failures on farm equipment, minimizing operational downtime.
  • Perform preventative maintenance on a range of machinery and implements.
  • Adhere to safety protocols in environments with heavy machinery, chemicals, and seasonal time pressure.
Instructional Assistant Jan 2023 — Aug 2023
McMaster University · Hamilton, ON
  • Developed, set up, and facilitated undergraduate practical labs for engineering physics students.
  • Managed a Class 10,000 cleanroom — oversight, facilitation, and equipment functionality.
  • Led weekly classroom and tutorial sessions with groups of 30 students.
  • Diagnosed and resolved technical issues with lab equipment, 3D printers, laser cutters, and servers.
Lab Assistant Sep 2018 — Dec 2019
McMaster University · Hamilton, ON
  • Designed and fabricated modular Bluetooth tag tracking devices from scratch.
  • Programmed device firmware in Arduino (C++) and networked units using Raspberry Pi and Linux.
  • Sourced components, managed procurement, and presented progress reports at lab meetings.
FRC Robotics Mentor 2017 — 2019
Team 6878 · FIRST Canada (Volunteer)
  • Mentored high school students in robot design, fabrication, and software development.
  • Supported custom part fabrication and control system development for annual competition.
  • Traveled with the team to competitions, providing technical support on-site.

Things I've built.

Robotics Control PCB

Designed and assembled a PCB for a robotic system integrating arm control, LiDAR, and motion systems. Led the full pipeline from circuit design to layout to soldering.

PCB Design Embedded LiDAR

Plant Monitoring System

Developed a PCB to track humidity, temperature, light, and soil moisture. Integrated data upload to a web server for remote monitoring.

PCB Design IoT Sensors

Bluetooth Tracking System

Designed modular devices to monitor the movement of Bluetooth tags through a building. Networked units using Raspberry Pi and Linux.

Arduino Raspberry Pi Linux

NHL Scoreboard

Built a networked scoreboard running on Raspberry Pi with a 3D-printed case. Maintained the NHL API integration including library updates and unit tests.

Python API 3D Printing

Undergraduate Lab Design

Designed a complete practical lab experience from scratch — equipment procurement, experiment design, and full student manual — to demonstrate real-world applications of physics theory.

Instrumentation Lab Design Documentation

Current Or Future Projects

Universe Simulator

Implementing a vulkan renderer pipeline to accurately simulate a galaxy. Currently using the DearIMGui framework but will be changed in the future

Vulkan C++

Indie Game Design

Exploring the basics of game design with the goal of producing a marketable indie game at the end using the Godot engine. This also includes learning Blender to make the models

C# Godot Blender

What I work with.

Programming

  • C++ / Arduino
  • Python
  • MATLAB
  • LaTeX

Electronics

  • PCB Design
  • Circuit Design & Debug
  • Soldering
  • Embedded Systems

Systems & OS

  • Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Gentoo)
  • Raspberry Pi
  • macOS / Windows
  • Networking

Fabrication

  • MIG Welding
  • 3D Printing & Design
  • Laser Cutting
  • Cleanroom Operations

Field & Equipment

  • Tractor Operation
  • Skid Steer
  • Mechanical Troubleshooting
  • Preventative Maintenance

Research.

A. Naber, J. Chaykowski, J. Jimmy, and W. Nahm — "Diffuse reflectance Monte Carlo simulation to assess the transit time error in intraoperative fluorescence angiography," pp. 40–40, Apr. 2020. doi:10.1117/12.2555430

Get in touch.

Open to opportunities in hands-on engineering, instrumentation, and applied R&D — especially in roles where the work has to function in real-world conditions.