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0 pointscsmuk12y ago0 comments

You really need an EE or CompSci degree these days. That's the first point of call.

I don't have either but it was a little different when I started. I managed to build a reputation up on the side and go from there. Eventually people stop asking about qualifications.

EE is probably more important than a comp sci education for embedded work. Its a fairly complicated field which deals with things far below the abstraction of a machine.

If anyone mentions the word Arduino though, stop listening there and find someone else. They're assumed to be like the real world but are faaaar from it.

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kristoffer12y ago· 2 in thread

I think that was pretty bad advice. If someone wants to start doing embedded you tell them to go get a CompSci degree (i.e. studying algorithms and logic).

And disrespecting Arduino like that does not seem good either. Doing Arduino will actually teach you about both microcontrollers and electronics and there's a lot of nice modules available. Of course it is not like writing your own OS but it's a start, and you can always use the hardware and ignore the Arduino software.

The best way to get started in embedded is to begin on a project where you actually build something that you want to build. That will help you with requirements on the platform you choose, be it Arduino, Raspberry Pi, FPGA or whatever.

csmukOP12y ago

I disagree. CompSci is mainly userland.

Most EE courses these days have the majority of a comp sci course built in. MIT actually blur the line between both. Pure comp sci will not help you understand why your RS485 bus drops have noise, why your serial wont sync and how to get stuff off an SPI bus by bit banging. It's all analogue at the bottom of the stack as well which is why embedded systems people still have scopes on their benches.

Comp sci only people shit a brick when you lug the scope onto the bench and crack out the probes.

The Arduino teaches you to do so many things wrong that its almost dangerous and requires a lot of unlearning. Build an AVR programmer and use gcc fine but lose all the arduino crap over the top and gain JTAG debugging, single step, more memory (!), full IRQ control, timers etc that aren't under a layer of crud. Oh an ISR that runs in under an hour as well, CMT. I could go on for a week.

For ref, you won't find a job writing software for or using an Arduino or a Pi either. FPGA yes, ARM SoC yes, AVR maybe, PIC maybe, x86/PC104 yes.

kristoffer12y ago

You misunderstood me completely. I was not saying one should study CompSci, that was you (even though you said EE was preferable).

I was merely saying that for someone wanting to _start_ doing embedded work saying "go get a ___ degree" is certainly not a very helpful answer.

I'm an EE doing both embedded HW (FPGA/ASIC) and SW for a living. I still have no problem saying to a beginner that they can play around with Arduino to get a feel for things.

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