I tried to answer this here: http://boldport.club/faq

It's not a great answer, but it's the best I can do without much information ;)

Perhaps you could have an introductory set of projects for beginners to get up to speed? Like 1 - make an led blink 2 - a simple timer 3 - learn to solder 4 - firmware with a photon 5 - a burglar alarm

Etc. then the user can join the monthly club with more confidence.

There are many 'getting started' kits out there that would be suitable for this. I'm not necessarily aiming for that.

Hello. I run Boldport. (Thanks to whoever posted this.) A better link for that board / reference is http://boldport.com/bp2 (it was Boldport Club Project #1)

Thanks @dc352 for posting to my work!

Hello. Thanks mafuyu for posting this! I run Boldport, and I could use all the business and advice I can get. So head over to http://boldport.com and tell me what you think ;)

So, is there a need for formalizing this kind of role?

My golden rule: "people’s time is precious"

https://www.boldport.com/blog/?p=234

Thanks! What did you like about it?

Yes, thanks, that's in the works.

Yup, the architecture of boldport is generic and can adapt to (almost) any software stack. I'm an FPGA design expert so that's where I started.