Buy Now
Scoring
  • Total Score
  • Product Performed to Expectations
  • Specifications were sufficient to design with
  • Demo Software was of good quality
  • Product was easy to use
  • Support materials were available
  • The price to performance ratio was good
Review - Details
Group Actions
  • Author Author: shattered97
  • Views 615 views
  • Likes 0 likes
  • Comments 3 comments

Online Course: Microcontrollers and C Programming - Review

shattered97

Table of contents

RoadTest: Online Course: Microcontrollers and C Programming

Author: shattered97

Creation date:

Evaluation Type: Independent Products

Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True

What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?:

What were the biggest problems encountered?: No major issues

Detailed Review:

I am working on changing careers and I asked to be part of this road test to help me with my transition to a Software Engineer.  Due to work related issues I have not completed the full course yet but I am 70% done as of today, so in order to close this road test out I will post my overview to the course.  I have a blog set up at Udemy - Microcontrollers and the C Programming Language that provides details of each section as I move through the course.  My goal is to finish the course in the next couple of weeks.  This review will provide just an overview so if you would like more detail about the course please visit my blog on the Element 14 site.

 

Summary:  The course is outstanding and the instructor does a very good job of covering how everything works.  I have some experience with microcontrollers and I have a strong programming background.  The code was very easy to pick up and the few sections that I had issues with the course material and videos helped a lot.  My opinion is that anyone with Arduino programming experience can take this course and come out with a much better understanding of how microcontrollers work.  The material in the course is geared to a novice but if you want to learn the MSP430 family of microcontrollers this course will help with this.  The biggest advantage is reference code I will have for future use.  I have taken the time to document my code and I plan on saving the course hands to use in the future.  The time it would take to compile a reference library from the web would take forever.  This course provided very good documentation that I will use for the rest of my career.  If nothing else, it is worth taking the course for the documentation that comes with the course.

 

My personnel experience:  As I move through my job search as a Software Engineer I have found most companies are looking for experience with Code Composer Studio.  This course has forced me to learn CCS.  I have always used visual studio in the past.  This alone has be the biggest advantage for me.  Learning the MSP430 family of microcontrollers has be the second biggest advantage.  I have confirmed that all microcontrollers are very similiar in how they act, the only major difference is the syntax of how to interact with them is different.  This has changed my focus to learning one or two types of microcontrollers with the goal of learning to read the data sheets.  With this base knowledge I should be able to take any microcontroller's datasheet and figure out how to use it.  I have been shocked how easy it was to learn the basics of using TI microcontrollers are.  The hardest part is the syntax and the course documentation has made this very easy.

 

My goal for the course was to help build up my resume to aid me in my career change.  I have not completed the course yet but the course has already helped me with this.  I am changing careers so my formal work experience is non-existent and this course has given me one more thing I add to my tool belt.  It is very hard changing to a new career mid life and Element 14 and Udemy have provided some great resources to help with this task.  I have talked with the instructor and he has told me that he is planning on added more advance courses in the same topic area and I can not wait until they are posted so I can enroll in them.

Anonymous
  • in reply to DAB

    Thank you

     

    Finally caught up at work.  The biggest issue I have had moving up from Arduino was documentation.  I started with Atmel products and played with some Microchip with limited success.  The biggest issue was hardware then trying to figure out how to access the parts and pieces outside of the Arduino IDE.  The documentation is written for someone who knows the industry not people starting out.   TI just made sense and the dev boards are cheap.  I am working my way through the interview process with a company now as a software engineer for embedded systems.  This course was not the do all, end all but it has opened up my world to another manufacture and it is helping me through the technical parts of my job hunt.  I am going to upgrade my lab to support TI products after completing the course and maybe change my go to board to the MSP430 family.  I just need to keep figure out how to keep the cost down.  Arduino clones are $3.00 if you buy direct from China and that is hard to beat.

     

    As I progress in my job hunt I will definitely use the dev board from the class for testing to become more fimialar with TI products. 

  • in reply to DAB

    To: BW:

    Thx for the review. I too am registered for the Udemy/Valparaiso Intro to MicroController & C course. I like udemy.com courses b/c they combine H/W & S/W, and Even IF they charge $$. Their (the instructors) Business-Model is hard to figure out. I may have overpaid for "intro to MicroContoller"($59), but I feel it is worth it. I paid ($10) for RaspPi: Full Stack which was the Upper Limit set by myself. I have signed-up for/have -videos-of Many MOOCs. Quantum Mechanics, Thermo, Python, Intro-to-Pwr Electronics  from coursera.org  in addition to the udemy.com previously mention. I have also bought a Student version of MatLab/Simulink. I like the open-ended nature of these MOOC's, I am Not taking any courses for Certification.

  • Nice review.

     

    I agree, TI does a wonderful job of describing their products and showing engineers how to use them effectively.

     

    If it was not for my current problems with ADD, I would have taken this course as well.

     

    DAB