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Embedded and Microcontrollers
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Embedded and Microcontrollers
Embedded Forum what key skills required for a beginner as Embedded Engineer?
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  • State Suggested Answer
  • Replies 16 replies
  • Answers 2 answers
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  • engineer
  • embedded
  • electronics
  • beginner
Related

what key skills required for a beginner as Embedded Engineer?

shadababe04
shadababe04 over 11 years ago

I m completed my engineering in Electronics & comm..I want to developed my carrier in embedded field.what key skill required?

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  • johnbeetem
    johnbeetem over 11 years ago in reply to DAB +2
    DAB wrote: Shahab, you have identified the one key element I forgot. Learn good communication skills, reading, writing and most importantly, public speaking. Many brilliant engineers fail because…
  • Former Member
    Former Member over 11 years ago +1
    I have worked more than 8 years in this field and personally -for the sake of your career - suggest that it is better not to start this field anyway if you are stubborn and want to start kind of a job…
  • kas.lewis
    kas.lewis over 11 years ago in reply to bluescreen +1
    When I was taking EE at University of Waterloo, we had co-op. Basically after every semester of class we had a semester of work, we therefore got a good deal of real world experience. We had to go through…
  • vsluiter
    0 vsluiter over 11 years ago

    * Programming

    * Basics of analog electronics

    * Communication with colleagues, as you're on the hardware / software boundary

     

    ... Experience....

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  • DAB
    0 DAB over 11 years ago

    You probably already have the basic skills.

    I would get one of the entry level MCUs and just start playing.

    You can start with the Arduino, TI MSP430, PSOC4, or any one of the many basic devices out there.

    If you need inspiration for projects, go through the PSOC 100 projects in 100 days.  It is an excellent tutorial on using an MCU for many projects.

     

    The key to success is to understand the tools you plan to use, learn the terminology, and by all means have a portfolio of projects that you can show off.

    Doers get jobs.

     

    DAB

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  • michaelwylie
    0 michaelwylie over 11 years ago

    Let's note a few things.

    - You finished an engineering degree, therefore you have the ability to learn whatever you want, so long as you are motivated.

    - You were probably introduced to some form of programming during your degree.

    - Embedded systems are just programming hardware.

    Get a development kit or evaluation kit. There is a road test going on right now for a Texas Instruments eval kit worth about 200 dollars. Apply to road test it; you could offer a review of the product for customers without previous experience.

    You have an education and the internet already, so all you need is a dev/eval kit. You will develop the skills you need while using the kit.

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  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 11 years ago

    Really, playing around with the low-cost eval boards (like the Freescale Freedom series) and doing something you find interesting with them would be the best way. Then you'll improve your programming, electronics, and debugging skills all at the same time, and while doing something fun. And you'll also have something to talk about in job interviews.

     

    Debugging is definitely one of those things where getting more experience helps, and being able to do "smart" debugging can save a lot of time and a LOT of frustration.

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  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 11 years ago

    Experience is the biggest skill - employers in the usa at least, don't seem to want to train people, you are expected to already know everything so to speak.

    Start looking at job ad's where you are - what are prospective employers looking for in an employee? 

    That may help you focus on what to learn/study and which eval/dev kits to play around.

     

    Good luck!

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  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 11 years ago

    I have worked more than 8 years in this field and personally -for the sake of your career -  suggest that it is better not to start this field

    anyway if you are stubborn and want to start kind of a job with low income and lots of effort here you go:

    - programming C

    - analog a little bit (some filters and resistor capacitor circuits)

    - digital circuit as I assume you already had it in university

    - basic math

    - and the most important one: ENGLISH for READING and understanding datasheets

    wish you the bests

    PS:a taste of java and C# programming would be ideal for your next steps

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  • DAB
    0 DAB over 11 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Shahab, you have identified the one key element I forgot.

     

    Learn good communication skills, reading, writing and most importantly, public speaking.

    Many brilliant engineers fail because they cannot communicate effectively.  Having those skills will quickly place you at the top of your peers.

     

    DAB

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  • johnbeetem
    0 johnbeetem over 11 years ago in reply to DAB

    DAB wrote:

     

    Shahab, you have identified the one key element I forgot.

     

    Learn good communication skills, reading, writing and most importantly, public speaking.

    Many brilliant engineers fail because they cannot communicate effectively.  Having those skills will quickly place you at the top of your peers.

    This is a big irony of engineering education.  The fundamentals of engineering are mostly mathematical, so students who are good at math but hate writing are drawn to engineering programs where they spend almost all their classes doing applied math and never have to write anything.

     

    Then they hit the Real World, where effective writing and oral communication are extremely important.  Some engineering programs have tried to increase the amount of writing, but it's usually contrived because the reality remains that the fundamentals are still largely mathematical.  Some programs require engineering students to take more humanities classes so they get more writing, but those classes usually do not speak to the condition of young engineers who haven't lived enough to appreciate Tom Jones or Moby ***.

     

    No, I don't have a solution other than to tell Industry that if they want engineers who are able to write, hire PhDs.  After writing a dissertation, throwing together a good hardware spec is trivial.

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  • DAB
    0 DAB over 11 years ago in reply to johnbeetem

    Hi John,

     

    I learned this lesson very early in my career.  It turned out that my drawing skills were very useful on my very first project.

    After that I found that I could make inroads with management by documenting failed engineering projects and make them work.

    I was soon the goto guy for fixing projects.

     

    Luckily, I was always into reading, and so the move to writing better was just a matter of practice.

    Public speaking was the hard one, being a basic geek introvert, but I worked on my skills and became good at that also.

    So contrary to the opponents of adding liberal arts courses to the technical curricula, I think they just need to be better crafted to the reading, writing and speaking skills that all technical people really need.

     

    DAB

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  • bprewit
    0 bprewit over 11 years ago

    I've done things like setting aside ten or fifteen minutes during weekly staff meeting to have one of the team members present a topic of interest to them.  I allowed them to pick the topic, but asked them to make it a professional presentation.

     

    It's kind of a fun way to develop those skills.

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