School to career path suggestions?

Question

What would be the best degree to obtain if you wanted to start a career in embedded design, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or something else all together? A student recently asked me this question, and as far as a current perspective is concerned, I was unable to help guide them. Since most everything is modular now, off the shelf parts, I am thinking embedded programming or computer science would be the best option. But on the other hand, one should never be in the dark about the hardware driving the system, so perhaps Electrical Engineering is the best degree.

The current job climate demands years of experience, but what if one can't get experience, or an internship, what is a good alternative? So you have to assume this student leaves college with no real world experience, what would the best degree that will give them their best chance in getting a job?

Your advice will be passed on to this student, and they will greatly appreciate it. You just may change a life.

Cabe

mikef@signalscape.com · Answer

Embedded development covers a lot of technology areas - everything from microcontrollers to microprocessors, FPGAs, embedded operating systems (e.g. Linux), C/C++, Java, various wired and wireless physical layers (cellular, WiFi/802.11, Zigbee/802.15.4, Ethernet/802.3).

Embedded development typically stays close to the hardware and in order to be effective, a strong understanding of the underlying hardware is key, whether you are doing hardware development (board-level design, FPGA) or doing embedded firmware. For that reason, I would say a focus in Computer Engineering (or Electrical Engineering with some latitude to pick up digital classes and C/C++) would be best - I may be a little biased here since I have a BS-CompEngr and an MS-EE (digital signal processing focus).

Computer Science is a worthy endeavor as well, but a graduate with this type of background will tend to stay at the application layer (think Windows .NET/C# or Linux application programming) and doesn't typically talk directly to the hardware, but through a device driver (which likely was written by an embedded developer). I've done hardware, firmware, and software development and (no matter what others may say) they are all similar if you consider them at a high level = you have/create implementations of functional blocks and have/create interfaces to those blocks which you have to put together to do something useful.

To stand out in the embedded design field, I would recommend the following:

Computer Engineering curriculum, with classes in:
- computer architecture (caches, virtual/physical memory).
- microcontroller and microprocessor based systems, including peripherals
- digital control theory - not a strong requirement, but would make someone stand-out in the eyes of a potential employer.
- C/C++. I would say 2 semesters at a minimum.
- embedded operating systems, like Linux and other RTOSs (real-time operating systems) - understanding of threads, processes, memory management.
- networking (TCP/IP, Ethernet, routing, bridging, network components).
"Extra" stuff - can be done by self-study or potentially by classes if offered.
- other physical layers (USB, UART, SPI, I2C, wireless such as 802.11/WiFi, 802.15.4/Zigbee, PCI-Express, 802.3/Ethernet).
- communication theory - There is a lot of wireless in the world these days . Understanding of basic concepts (bit error rate, amplitude, phase, signal-to-noise, Eb/N0, Nyquist, Shannon limit, etc.) as well as modulation techniquest (FSK, PSK, QAM, OFDM).
- Get some development boards and "play around" with them after the student has a few classes completed. Great learning experience (Arduino, Microchip, Beagle board, Gumstix).
- Master's Degree - not a necessity, but will help a student stand out from others.

Lastly, the final trade-off: a student can be a generalist or a specialist. Often, with an undergrad degree (BS) you tend to be more of a generalist. There are exceptions, mind you - like someone who just loves FPGAs or control theory and wants to focus on that particular area undergrad. With a grad degree (MS) you tend to be more specialized in one area but do have some depth in others (i.e. specialist with generalist tendencies).

As a generalist, you'll be able to apply for more positions due to the broad background, but (in my opinion) your probability of landing a particular position is lower. As a specialist, you won't be able to apply for as many positions (due to your more focused background), but the probability of landing the position is higher - just a rough guideline based on my experiences.

awinning · Answer

I think Michael nailed it, especially in the present tense.

What I would add is that we also need to look to the future, how will embedded design look in 10 - 20 years. Embedded processors are getting more powerful, look at ARM and Intel Atom powered netbooks available now. These are the same or similar processors to those use in embedded applications. In my opinion the main difference between embedded systems and computer systems is the overheads available. With 32-bit ARM MCUs available for under a dollar and memory very cheap, the resource argument doesn't hold as much water as it used to.

In the future I can see the hardware/sofware breakdown taking place later in the design cycle, with FPGAs playing a much lager part. I also think a lot of programming will be done at a higher layer of abstraction using graphical and modelling tools and code generated automatically. This code may even include the drivers and middleware Michael mentions. I've seen a lot of these tools demonstrated at exhibitions, and I think their day is coming. I've also talked a lot to pure IT companies like MKS who are trying to break into the embedded market with project management/versioning tools. When code is no longer limited to what can fit in a 32-bit ROM, it tends to expand to fit the memory available and these IT companies are looking to expand into the embedded market.

Of course many embedded applications will continue as they are today, even at under a dollar, nobody needs a 32-bit processor and 1 million lines of code in a kettle.

In summary, I think there will be a smaller embedded market doing much the same as today, and also a large "middle" market that sits between traditional embedded and IT.