The arduino is pretty good due to the amount of resources available. If you want to learn the hardware side if things, then a beginners bundle from Adafruit mig

The arduino is pretty good due to the amount of resources available. If you want to learn the hardware side if things, then a beginners bundle from Adafruit might be good. You can also buy a bunch of sensors from one of the major web stores. It really all depends on what you will be working on. Also look into what brand microcontroller you will be working on. The Atmel side is a bit different from the PIC in terms of tools and learning curve. Also, is it an ARM focused position? Then you might look into something like the mini2440 board. It is affordable and has good support. The andahammer.com people have some good data on it. You can contact me if yo like. I do embedded. email on profile.