I always use the term “arduino” when I describe any of the MCU “space” to somebody not in the field. Odds are much better that a person heard of “those arduino

I always use the term “arduino” when I describe any of the MCU “space” to somebody not in the field. Odds are much better that a person heard of “those arduino thinks you can use to program your lights” than “esp32s3” even though the s3 is my goto microcontroller. The second the conversation steers towards actual product selection… that is the time to introduce the MCU space and steer them to the right fit. You do always have to remember that most of those arduino MCU’s have a 5 volt logic level that is more compatible with “LEGO part style electronics” than things like the ESP chips.