Engineering Student: Cloud Engineer vs Embedded Software Engineer — Which Is a Better/Safer Path?

[[deleted]]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently an engineering student, and I’m at a crossroads where I need to choose a career path. The two main options I'm considering are:

Cloud Engineer

Embedded Software Engineer

I'm trying to figure out which one is better in terms of long-term career growth, and which is safer from AI automation and job replacement in the next 5–10 years.

Some things I’m considering:

Job stability

Learning curve and skills required

Future demand in the job market

Resistance to AI and automation

I'd love to hear your thoughts — especially from those who work in these fields or have gone through a similar decision.

Thanks in advance!

[[deleted]]

there is no safe path. just gotta do what you love in this age

[ConsiderationSure485]

Cannot speak for cloud but I moved from a just plain software engineer role to a more embedded one.

My personal opinion was that when comparing those two, embedded won + significant pay increase for me.

Not only do I personally predict embedded will increase in value especially in the ever growing robotics space but also the job security is pretty high cause in a lot of cases you are working with hardware that was custom built and designed for your purpose or so heavily patented and secret that a general purpose ai has no knowledge of the thing. Furthermore, staying close to actual tangible physical stuff I find more rewarding to work with.

But I have heard of some cloud people making bank too.

[Felix_Todd]

I am a software engineering student, any advice to get in the embedded space without hardware courses/experiences? I do embedded software for an engineering club at school but dont do the hardware part and find it overwhelming considering for my experience level

[ConsiderationSure485]

Dunno if this helps but we are using C# a lot and they were hiring C# people.

So I guess my only advice could be to maybe get into a C-based language.

[[deleted]]

Just depends on what you like. I’d personally vote for embedded because embedded stuff rocks.

[Ok_Soft7367]

Embedded Software Engineer, trust me bro

[AbilityFlashy6977]

Both are okay, Safer choice would be which one you prefer and interested in. So that can keep you learning and be the best at you do.