DevTalk with Rich and Vin: Reverse Engineering

By Rich Nass

Executive Vice President

Embedded Computing Design

By Vin D'Agostino

Founder & Principal

D'Agostino Industries Group, Inc.

April 10, 2025

DevTalk with Rich and Vin: Reverse Engineering

Just about everybody in the engineering space has reverse-engineered a product at some point. It might have been for professional reasons, like seeing how a competitor is attacking a problem or simply seeing how they engineered a product. Or it could have been for personal reasons, because the product stopped working, or simply because they wanted to. 

Note: If you search for “Tear Down” on Embedded Computing Design, you can see the products we’ve reverse-engineered.

Then there are those people, like the folks at emproof, who get paid to reverse-engineer products, particularly on the software side. Tim Blazytko, the company’s Chief Scientist, Head of Engineering, and Co-Founder, joined us on this episode of DevTalk with Rich and Vin to share some of his experiences with reverse engineering.

Richard Nass’ key responsibilities include setting the direction for all aspects of OSM’s ECD portfolio, including digital, print, and live events. Previously, Nass was the Brand Director for Design News. Prior, he led the content team for UBM’s Medical Devices Group, and all custom properties and events. Nass has been in the engineering OEM industry for more than 30 years. In prior stints, he led the Content Team at EE Times, Embedded.com, and TechOnLine. Nass holds a BSEE degree from NJIT.

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I seek to lead, enable, and empower teams to realize their true greatness. I have an extensive career in product development, hardware and software embedded systems design, matching technology to market needs, leading engineering and business teams, and solving manufacturing problems. These skills enable me to build great teams that can grow personally while driving impact.

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