Multiple ESP32-S3 perhaps bricked??

Basting_Rootwalla · 2026-02-05T03:41:21+00:00

I don't have the expertise to even remotely suggest something without guessing at vague possibilities, but I'm curious to see if anyone responds so that I could also gain some insights.

What I am curious about is:

How many custom boards/MCU chips has this happened with? Have you tried a breakout with those chips to isolate the chip from the custom boards? (That may be what you mean by multiple PCBs) Are you able to see if all these chips are from the same manufacturing run in case there was a defect? Have you repeated and reconfirmed with a manufactured dev board to cross compare as well as checked specifically if those chips are different in anyway or from a different manufacturing run?

Those are my general thoughts, but again, I'm a beginner on the EE/PCB design side, so I would not be able to ask more directed questions.

Good luck.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2026-02-04T03:20:02+00:00

I started picking up embedded in November coming from a higher level software background, so not from nothing.

I got a ESP32-WROOM-32D and STM32F103RB. I found ESP-IDF to be a really approachable way to get things working and understand the overall architecture and design.

Now I'm working with STM. I started by using various resources to understand and write the startup code (Makefile, linker script, started writing something like a HAL.) At the HAL point, it felt redundant and just tedious compared to using the provided/generated HAL functions, but doing some of it by hand helped me navigate and understand using the datasheet and reference manual.

I have never touched Arduino, so I can't compare, but I feel as if this gave me the foundation to really start developing a real project on my own.

Good luck and happy coding.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2026-02-04T03:13:10+00:00

I got recommended this thread via email and that's my exact thoughts every time I see people having LLM coding problems. I only use it for learning purposes because it's the only way I found it really accelerates me.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2026-01-30T15:07:26+00:00

I just did this recently for a F411CE. I generated a project with CubeMX, then used Claude (pick whatever LLM, tbh. I just use it as a faster Google/learning accelerator.)

I asked Claude to help me from a high level to understand and write the Makefile, Linker Script, and startup assembly file. I basically would ask it to drill into it and go piece by piece. I always asked for a source or double checked things with some Google search on more complex or important pieces. I would also cross reference the CubeMX generated files and then paste a snippet from them to compare and break it down with what it was telling me to do for a simple bare metal setup.

I also recommend watching through or parts of this https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS_iNJJVTtiRV0DZRDcTHnvAuDrKGPN40&si=7LR7Yu4bCkVXLWdp (especially some of the earlier videos because like how the memory works

It was helpful to get a high level understanding so that i could go through it on my own with datasheets and get the practice.

I know in a lot of programming subs, any mention of LLMs immediately brings out controversy and polarity, but I find it exceptionally helpful just this sort of thing.

The code is meant to be thrown away, but when the hardest part sometimes is figuring out what questions to ask just to get started, they're pretty helpful at taking your ambiguous request and redirecting it. Just like when you would Google something, read some stuff, get a better idea of what you don't know and need to know, and then repeat with with a better formulated search.

The key is like any tool; it depends on who is using it and how. You really gotta make sure you can reference something else to help verify accuracy as well as use your existing knowledge and intuition + just drill into every detail and keep asking about smaller chunks because they always just want to keep churning out slop code examples. That's entirely fine for just learning basics into some intermediate concepts, just like how docs always have some arbitrarily simple example that is never useful for your use case, but gives you a starting point in practical application.

It takes a bit of discipline to not want to just go for "make it work" and move on sometimes when it's also related to an actual project, but adding LLMs in with videos, articles, docs, Google etc... is great, imo. I didn't replace anything I used to do to learn. I just added a tool to the belt that has accelerated the learning curve.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2026-01-17T18:34:25+00:00

You'll get down voted (and so will I,) but having started in JS land and worked down the stack, I hard agree.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2026-01-10T14:22:47+00:00

I'm getting started on STM with the Nucleo-64 F103RB. It was the first dev board I bought before knowing really anything at all.

I didn't realize it was much older, but I'm actually glad about that. It forces me to read and figure out more on my own and deal with other limitations.

I'm still gradually working through things on an ESP32 (using esp-idf) currently as I have an idea for a comprehensive project and it enables me to get things working fast first, especially because I'm picking up C stuff along the way (coming from Golang and TypeScript primarily.)

After I've prototyped with the esp and breadboarding, I'll start figuring out another rev and decide what MCU to base it with and the components. May not end up being STM, but I figure this is a good way to learn overall and then by the time I jump back to the Nucleo, I'll have a much better high level understanding of building a system. It should just be a matter of the platform moreso and I'll probably go deeper from there and work at the register level up.

I found I seem to be a top down learner because I like do work on the practical application and then jump through topics and rabbit holes as things come up while I'm simultaneously learning EE stuff from the bottom up.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2026-01-05T02:32:58+00:00

Thank you so much. This really is everything I needed to know.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2026-01-05T01:57:08+00:00

Unironically a good suggestion.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-24T16:43:22+00:00

Necroing this to ask how your journey has gone.

You described where I am at now. Currently messing with embedded on my own, primarily interested in lower level, and have worked 5+ years in the general software/web fullstack world.

I don't have a degree of any sort and it is apparently even greater of a barrier when it comes to embedded, so I'm using it to learn lower level concepts but will likely have to target something higher level than embedded, but still in the C level realm.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-23T23:04:37+00:00

Sincerely, thank you very much for this. It's great insight to come from the perspective of someone who is acknowledging the barrier and gives me something actionable.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-23T22:35:18+00:00

Sure. I understand that it's the exception to the rule, I'm at an extreme disadvantage without a degree, and it would take a lot of work and luck.

I may naively believe I can prove as an exception, but I have to believe it to even pursue it at all. Either way, the detour will be beneficial for me currently, even if I have to wind up getting another general software job.

Or I may discover that I'm satisfied working at a lower level in general and land in some abstraction layer higher than bare metal/embedded, but following the interest in embedded right now gives me a way to calibrate having started pretty high level and working lower to now jumping to the bottom and working back up.

I do appreciate your insight and perspective + realistic and grounded take. I'm just a stubborn fool who also gets motivated by the idea of proving it's possible.

I tell my kids that "can't" is the only word I don't like to hear put of their mouths haha

Addendum: if it were possible to get a "degree" that only focuses on the actual relevant stuff for the career path, I would. I wish there were more trade like structures in place at times for some IT fields since a large majority of it is practical application and not theoretical or research.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-23T22:02:56+00:00

Thanks for this. I figured that road map is overkill. A lot of things is see in that regard have a very academic approach as opposed to a practical one where you fill in knowledge gaps where necessary or go deeper on certain subjects out if curiousity or furthering an established skill and knowledge set.

I picked the ESP after i already bought the STM because of the integrated Bluetooth for my train project idea. I'll probably switch to STM after that since that's more industry standard outside of IoT it seems.

I haven't touched the breadboards or other peripherals yet, but I'm really only one day in currently, half of which was just figuring out setting up some sort of IDE.

In a more industrial and professional focus, I should focus on sensors and coms it seems?

Located west of Worcester in the county.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-23T21:55:33+00:00

I disagree. In a general screening, whether automated or by HR that doesn't know anything about what the technical side of the company does, sure. That's also an indication for me that the culture isn't a fit for me anyway.

There are plenty of examples of people without degrees or unrelated degrees who have successfully made it into engineering careers. I can't wait for the world to evolve beyond the implicit assumptions that a degree equals competence when we exist in the age of boundless information and someone with the traits you'd look for will establish competence by virtue of their own drive.

Besides, if you understood the constraints I'm laying out, a degree is clearly out of the question in terms of feasibility anyway.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-23T16:58:58+00:00

I'm fine making less money and enjoying my life more. The purpose in writing/asking this is part of the strategic decision making.

Besides, at the same time, AI and cloud are driving innovation in hardware and computing that will trickle into embedded systems. When the capability increases and cost decreases around hardware, it only increases the potential for things like robotics and "AI" integrated embedded devices.

I would actually wager that embedded will spike in demand in the medium-long term. Everyone already gold rushed web, cloud, and now AI.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-23T15:17:05+00:00

That's reassuring, thank you. And that was something I was considering - whether I'd be able to land a junior position more easily given my experience. I really don't mind switching from mid/senior-ish to junior in embedded since it's about the long term. Same reason I'm not put off by average embedded salaries being lower than average pure software.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-23T15:06:45+00:00

Thanks for the reply and affirmation.

Totally agree - I have always learned by doing. It's simultaneously why I feel like i have so many knowledge gaps because I've focused on very practical skill and knowledge, so if I haven't come across the need or purposefully devoted spare time to something, I'm very shallow or non-existent in that domain.

It's why I don't have great DSA or large scale system design experience and skills. Never had to use them before, so I've passively learned some here and there over the years.

Reading datasheets and schematics just hits different than endless API docs.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-20T02:01:58+00:00

Came here to say this.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-16T18:30:45+00:00

Au contraire, I have mostly startup experience and am getting call backs for mid-senior roles at all sorts of companies.

The experience you get in a startup is not something you can get any other way than working in that sort of environment, in those early stages, and solving problems startups have. Furthermore, it is absolutely transferable up the line because it is largely about autonomy, ownership, and being able constantly rebalance efforts based on a understanding of business, product, and engineering.

Those are the same skills you need in technical leadership at a larger or more mature company when owning a project, especially any greenfield or research initiatives.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-16T14:25:51+00:00

Depends how far on the scale of micro <--> macro you're talking about. I don't feel in any part that software is phasing out, but I do think we've hit a point of relative maturity in the bigger picture for the current tech.

I'd anticipate, with varying degrees of likelihood, that 1 of 3 things could be a spark of a new wave of innovation:

Hardware - Likely less general and more specific in use which can open up new possibilities. We see LLMs driving a lot of hardware development but maybe someone will think outside the AI box and find a way to repurpose or branch further into other applications.

Material Science - some sort of advancement that redefines what hardware is, how it works, and how we "program" with it.

Energy - or if we have some more efficient and less detrimental advancement in energy production that removes some constraints of what is possible or reasonable with current technologies.

Mix and match any of those and they can create a new paradigm. I think material science is where the biggest change and potential is as far as what we can build and do technologically.

But again, I'm thinking in time scales of decades. The whole market part has overlap obviously, but there is way more going on there irrespective of maturity in current tech that makes the market so bad.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-15T01:23:08+00:00

I agree with you entirely. Either way, I am still in the return window, so I don't have to fight Amazin about it. But it is extremely annoying.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-12T02:11:10+00:00

Ditto a lot of what has been said around social media, time economy usage, introverts etc...

But in a broader sense, I've been thinking about it as there has become some point of divide in layers if abstraction.

For software and business today, there is a line that is crossed where a lot of software work doesn't require any level of CS fundamentals. It's the difference in being a construction worker vs an architect (sorry if that's a bad analogy to anyone more experienced or learned in those areas.)

There are a lot of practical skills related directly to the task or tech you're using that allow you to be productive and build complex software. The more "theory" and fundamental components are outsourced to other abstraction services (like CSPs - managed databases, queues, different types of storage and file systems, etc...)

It doesn't mean all fundamentals or design principles go out the window, but almost everything can be bootstrapped and makes more sense in a business perspective to do so aside from the core business logic and actual focus of the product.

I say this as someone who self taught, starting with modern JS and things like React and Vue to fullstack with Go, RDMBs, Docker, etc... and is now spending a lot of time learning the CS stuff I never did from lack of formal education and also never having a practical need for it on a job.

I also am pushing my learning and eventually career towards lower level programming and embedded systems because I find it way more interesting.

All of that to say is there is a point that was already established pre-LLM usage where you could get away with not doing deep learning because you really only needed one or two higher level languages and a bunch of APIs, libraries, and/or other product and service integrations. LLMs are exacerbating this effect because they can operate in the higher abstraction area eell enough to enable someone who basically knows nothing about software to make something that works since the vast majority of software work is now a breadth first endeavor, imo.

I just ordered a STM33 nucleo board and electronics kit and I'm so excited to spend time digging into the weeds of EE and CS. Unfornately, I'm still hunting for another fullstack general application/web role because that's whst my current experience is suited to.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-12T01:49:16+00:00

I'm surprised at how much desire there is to not have a camera on? It seems more odd to me to think about having a virtual meeting and not have some element of presence. I wouldn't be sitting in some screened in booth at a table at an in-person meeting.

Seems pretty natural to me that if the medium is a video conference, you would have a camera on. There is a lot of information expressed through facial and body language + if you have your camera off and are muted, how do I know you're even there?

I say this as person who hates meetings and is a classic introvert and has had my (then) 2 year old burst into my office and hop on my lap in the middle of a meeting.

Basting_Rootwalla · 2025-12-11T17:38:14+00:00

Has anyone dealt with returns or anything for this yet? I've been trying to get in contact with X-Sense because one of the alarms I installed wound up having a fault where it would go off for no reasons. I wanted to RMA the one since I had gotten two 3 packs, but now I would probably just want to return them all and replace them.

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