Clay Eickemeyer

Thanks for visiting my profile!

I was born and raised just over the grade in humble Atascadero. I went to high school there before transitioning to Cuesta to receive AS transfer degrees in Mathematics and Physics. These subjects run in the family, and I hope to contribute to them in my lifetime.

I sought out the role of a technical writer at iFixit in hopes of working to my strengths of teaching, curiosity, and technical efficacy. The start of it all was September 19th, 2022, and brought purpose and excitement to my professional and personal life. All of my friends and family were thrilled to hear what I get to do every day.

What I hope to bring to iFixit is my experience in at-home repairs of obscure electronics, and large-scale repairs and fabrications. Starting from my childhood, where I would prefer the thinnest graphite available in my mechanical pencil as to fit the most detail into my sci-fi drawings, I have consistently focused on intricacy and detail. This matured into something of a unique skill set, including repairing home electronics, swapping motors and boards in appliances, building and maintaining bikes, and creating furniture and gifts out of wood from lumberyards. I like to balance these hands-on tasks with computer work—namely web development. I created and manage a showcase website for my mother's glass sculptures, and many web and graphic related projects yet to be deployed. These projects are all done by-hand, with no frameworks and few to no external dependencies.

Pictured to the left: a new bike rim, freshly spoked using the old spokes and hub, following a crash that cracked the old rim.

In the long run, I hope to contribute to some field of frontier science. I have a burning desire to make a lasting and positive influence on humankind, all living things, and the world as a whole. If I ended up helping to build a fusion reactor, or if I studied and taught lessons on sustainability into the far future, or anything in-between, I would rest easy knowing I fulfilled my purpose.

Left: my California King bed frame in all of its glory—after 3 months of work.

In my leisure, I enjoy a plethora of physical and social activities. I practiced parkour for many years. To answer the question that often follows: Yes, I can do a backflip. I have also skateboarded for nearly two decades, which is the source for many of my scars and injuries. Cliff jumping is an absolute treat, given somewhere where drought-stricken California yields a pool deep enough to jump into. Rock climbing—either rope or bouldering—are my favorite for some adrenaline and strength building. Mountain biking is now a part of my identity. I rock a somewhat new "super-enduro" bike I named Icarus, and seek jumps and flow more than biking for the workout. Icarus is a zombie bike, being a definite stretch of creativity when it comes to bike building. I recently picked up surfing, and hope I to show some prowess on the water and prove myself a true local on the water eventually. Video games, movies, board games, and online content are all my outlets when it's time to relax. The glue between all of this is the relationships between me and my friends. They are all very dear to me. I am never as happy as after a wholesome adventure with one or ten people. Little fun facts about my life: I live with many farm animals, including dwarf goats, alpacas, ducks, chickens, and sheep; I've never broken a bone; I was raised vegetarian; I invested in GameStop during the short-squeeze movement of 2020.

Left: hitting a nice double at The Eucs on the Cuesta Ridge.

TL;DR I am eager to learn more about the world and experience as many lives as I can. I love people, moving, and creating. Come talk to me about something philosophical or existential!