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Serious question: How does one get into this C embedded stuff? I'm addicted to low-level "embedded" type work. But all I hear back from are Django, RoR, $HOT_J

Serious question: How does one get into this C embedded stuff? I'm addicted to low-level "embedded" type work. But all I hear back from are Django, RoR, $HOT_JS_FRAMEWORK, DevOps teams/recruiters. Is there some buzzword or special topic to know and do a project in? Any suggestions for projects to display on GitHub, topics to know through and through (domain specific knowledge)? I sit at work thinking all day about RasbPi sensor projects sitting on my workbench collecting dust due to job+young kids.

alfalfasprout 10y ago
Look by industry. In the financial sector, knowing VHDL/Verilog is becoming popular (given the rise of FGPAs everwhere). In sectors like robots, defense, aerospace, etc. you'll find a lot of traditional embedded roles. These aren't "sexy" areas so don't expect to get recruited. Like, mainframe programmers, these positions are in demand but just aren't widely advertised at all.
ereyes01 10y ago
Search for companies that need to design sophisticated hardware at very low cost. This pretty much guarantees they need to hack microcontrollers, which are usually programmed in C. One I've worked with in my past life as an embedded developer is TI MSP430 (costs pennies), but there's many others. Another route to code in C close to the hardware is to find work writing Linux kernel device drivers. Of course, you have to know the Linux kernel fairly well in addition to being a good C programmer to land that sort of job. Companies that need this skill include server manufacturers that design their own network interfaces and such, and perhaps phone manufacturers, or companies that design their own SoC's (Qualcomm, TI, etc). Maybe some IoT startups need this skill as well. Yet another way to code in C is to work in a place that needs to program DSPs. Usually, this also requires knowledge in video/audio engineering. Companies that need this skill design and sell devices that do some sort of video / audio encoding (like video conferencing devices, etc). I'm sure there's many others I'm not thinking of. I hope this helps...
- ryandrake 10y ago
  +1 for device driver writing. That's how I got my start over a decade ago.
LVB 10y ago
Being familiar with RTOS's is certainly useful, since there's a decent chance that your future automotive/aero/industrial job uses one. For a reference of stuff to learn about, go grab the manuals (usually massive) for a recent embedded CPU and see what common topics are foreign to you. Just reading the TOC should prompt some ideas. You may not be applying for one of the lower level "board bring-up" type jobs, but that team will be delivering you libraries that assumes familiarity with IRQs, timers, memory paging, processor modes, DMA, lots of I/O types, etc.
fnj 10y ago
I would get a Teensy 3.2 and start programming bare metal with Arduino. You could also start with Arduino on AVR, but the Teensy gives you a lot more headroom and performance and a very small physical size for very small $. Arduino is just g++ under the covers, and you can use as much or as little C++ as you want. You can stick to straight C if you like just by not using any C++ features.

alfalfasprout 10y ago

Look by industry. In the financial sector, knowing VHDL/Verilog is becoming popular (given the rise of FGPAs everwhere). In sectors like robots, defense, aerospace, etc. you'll find a lot of traditional embedded roles. These aren't "sexy" areas so don't expect to get recruited. Like, mainframe programmers, these positions are in demand but just aren't widely advertised at all.

ereyes01 10y ago

Search for companies that need to design sophisticated hardware at very low cost. This pretty much guarantees they need to hack microcontrollers, which are usually programmed in C. One I've worked with in my past life as an embedded developer is TI MSP430 (costs pennies), but there's many others. Another route to code in C close to the hardware is to find work writing Linux kernel device drivers. Of course, you have to know the Linux kernel fairly well in addition to being a good C programmer to land that sort of job. Companies that need this skill include server manufacturers that design their own network interfaces and such, and perhaps phone manufacturers, or companies that design their own SoC's (Qualcomm, TI, etc). Maybe some IoT startups need this skill as well. Yet another way to code in C is to work in a place that needs to program DSPs. Usually, this also requires knowledge in video/audio engineering. Companies that need this skill design and sell devices that do some sort of video / audio encoding (like video conferencing devices, etc). I'm sure there's many others I'm not thinking of. I hope this helps...

ryandrake 10y ago
+1 for device driver writing. That's how I got my start over a decade ago.

LVB 10y ago

Being familiar with RTOS's is certainly useful, since there's a decent chance that your future automotive/aero/industrial job uses one. For a reference of stuff to learn about, go grab the manuals (usually massive) for a recent embedded CPU and see what common topics are foreign to you. Just reading the TOC should prompt some ideas. You may not be applying for one of the lower level "board bring-up" type jobs, but that team will be delivering you libraries that assumes familiarity with IRQs, timers, memory paging, processor modes, DMA, lots of I/O types, etc.

fnj 10y ago

I would get a Teensy 3.2 and start programming bare metal with Arduino. You could also start with Arduino on AVR, but the Teensy gives you a lot more headroom and performance and a very small physical size for very small $. Arduino is just g++ under the covers, and you can use as much or as little C++ as you want. You can stick to straight C if you like just by not using any C++ features.