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embedded.com
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about:reader?url=http://www.embedded.com/print/4438618
In many big companies that is still the case. But the pendulum
appears to be swinging back, as more and more companies are
consolidating engineering roles, looking for developers who are
fluent in both hardware and software, and trying to accomplish
more with less. Certainly a bigger percent of engineers say they
work on both hardware software, as compared to the group that
only does one or the other.
Given that its not possible to keep up with everything
embedded, how do you make sure that the new skills you acquire
are the most relevant?
EE Times turned to nine embedded professionals and a recruiter
and asked them to tell us what they think are the most important
things engineers should learn now.
Though opinions differed on the specific skills that are most
important, they all agreed on one thing all engineers should do:
Never stop learning.
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Page 6
5. Diversify your skills and move up the stack.
If you are still working barebones or on smaller MCUs, I advise
taking a Linux driver class. It will make it easier to move to Android
later. Andalthough there is possibly less value--if you are used to
working on large systems, try working barebones.
Move up the stack: Make a mobile app or learn some back-end
server stuff. It will give you a new vocabulary and perspective.
And become familiar with open source hardware. The projects I did
8 years ago required me to spin my own HW and so on, so I could
not focus on the algorithm development. Today, there are plenty of
off-the-shelf boards that allow me to focus on the hard, unique stuff.
Sure, it can make me feel like my whole existence of firmware has
been nullified and in many ways the fun of board bring up has been
taken away from me, but sometimes, we have to focus on the end
game. Unfortunately, this means I meet fewer and fewer people
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with those particular skills, and those who do are literally a dying
breed.
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In the end, you should acquire lots of shallow breadth and a few
areas of deep depth. Keeping current is important but learning all
you can about a few areas makes you an expert.
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Page 10
9. Become skilled at expressing yourself (both in words and
graphics).
Engineers of all types need to be able to effectively express
thoughts and ideas and often the best way to do that is graphically.
Too often I have asked junior engineers to explain a concept, only
to cringe as they ramble on without being able to focus on exactly
what it is that they are trying to explain.
We used to use flow charts to explain concepts. Maybe those are
somewhat obsolete today, but every engineer should have as a
fundamental skill the ability to use block diagrams, state machine
diagrams, pictures or clouds or light boxes or whatever tool can aid
in conveying concepts. Particularly if they are trying to explain how
something works.
Can you imagine trying to explain to a developer who is writing the
software for a controller how the machine works using a text-based
document?
Mindmapping is one of my favorite techniques for capturing and
visually organizing my idea and thoughts. I use iThoughts, a
mindmapping app for the iPad, almost every day.
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Page 11
10. Learn wireless connectivity.
The one thing I would recommend embedded engineers learn in
the next 1-3 years is wireless connectivity, specifically wifi and/or
Bluetooth low energy (BLE).
The primary (and sometimes only) way to interact with embedded
devices is moving to the end user's smart phones, at least in
consumer electronics. Consumer electronics companies know that
a smart phone is a much better user experience than most
embedded systems can hope to provide on their own. And other
industries and product categories are figuring it out too.
Our embedded systems are going to need to to talk to an app on a
smart phone or an internet-based service in order to do anything communicate with the user, get firmware updates, troubleshoot
problems, etc.
It might be going a bit too far to say that wifi and BLE will soon be
as common as the UART is today, but it's not too far fetched, and
it's a good tool to have in your toolbox.
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