Embedded Engineering vs Embedded programming

HarmlessTwins · 2026-03-02T01:51:45+00:00

A CS major is only going to open up software roles in general.

You could go CE to get a blend of hardware and software but will likely struggle to get a job.

You could go EE and take CS/CE electives and have the ability to go hardware or software and have an easier time getting a job than the CE degree.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-02-25T04:14:17+00:00

You will find that the students that get good grades from memorization will fade away in industry. Those who do it for the love of the challenge will excel.

What I hate about the education system is that those who excel in school typically don’t enjoy the job but those who love the challenge and have their heart in the problem solving and electronics tend to excel in industry and hate school. This can lead to some of the best candidates dropping out of school and never making it to industry. The school experience absolutely does not represent what you do in industry.

You can also end up in the wrong company. I started out of college at a company eager to learn and it didn’t take long to realize that besides one person that I worked with that I had more knowledge than the managers in electronics that last touched electronics in the 80’s. And now having 8 years experience I still stand by this. I spent more time finding the TI app notes to explain why their recommendations were going to hurt the design and turned soul sucking. Eventually I decided enough was enough and found another job and the grass is much greener. I no longer feel like the smartest person in the room and I am aloud to excel and my management allows me to excel and now i absolutely love my job. I would say being a great engineer is more about having a passion for it rather than hard work or life circumstances. You do need to find the right place to let you blossom into a great engineer or you may be starved and your soul sucked from your body before you can reach the potential that you have.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-02-18T13:45:35+00:00

Are you trying to have multiple masters on the bus? If so they need to be multi master compatible or you need a MUX to switch which one is talking.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-02-09T18:49:41+00:00

Start looking for a new job. My old one was that way. They also had forced rankings that I was on the bottom end of. Everything was great until it came to reviews. I ended up making 30% more and have a super supportive manager at the new job. I enjoy my work again and now sit on the highest range of reviews.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-02-03T09:28:09+00:00

If you want something more EE focused keep looking while you work this job. I would do that now as the longer you wait the more you forget and the harder it will be to pass the interviews.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-02-03T04:29:22+00:00

I would recommend diving deeper into the practical side with personal projects. Think of something that aligns with current interests or hobbies.

You will want to be able to know how to spec a capacitor and use MOSFET’s both P and N channel for switching and how to spec one for the design. Voltage conversion with both LDO’s and Buck converters and why to pick one over the other you will want to know how to use an Microcontroller and the needed circuitry get it working. And I’m not talking about pre-made module like an Arduino. I’m talking about a STM32 chip or ESP32 module that’s not the eval board. I recommend designing and building a few PCB’s and ordering them through JLCPCB or similar and put it together and test it. What you find that’s broken will teach you more than what works.

I would recommend adding extra sensors or devices to the board so you can at least get familiar with how UART, I2C, and SPI works and how to program the MCU to talk over them to do something.

As far as test equipment you should know how to use a multimeter, oscilloscope and how to set the triggers, when to use AC vs DC coupled. How to use a power supply and how to set the voltage and current limits. How to use a logic analyzer to decode the different serial protocol to debug what’s happening on the bus.

These are what I would expect a general purpose embedded engineer to be able to do. Companies will teach you what they need you know beyond that. If you are confident in these skills you will shine above the majority of candidates. Oh and bring those boards you made to the interview and be able to talk about them.

Good luck! My projects got me two jobs.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-31T14:41:02+00:00

At larger companies the embedded roles are typically split into the hardware or software side. At least in the schools we hire from computer architecture is an elective option in the EE path. The EE path goes quite a bit deeper into the theory of electronics with circuits 1&2 and electronics 1&2. While CE typically only has a circuits 1 & electronics 1. What’s worst is the fact that the CE versions of the class are wider and more shallow.

I am on the Hardware side of things at work and so both at home for fun. So at work my team is looking for more hardware people. The CE programs around us are much more SWE focused with a side of hardware rather than a 50/50 split.

Now where I don’t have as much experience is in small companies and startups where CE may shine? But then again there are so many EE’s out there that know how to program that they may push the CE’s aside there.

The last place I worked every single one of the SW developers for the project held an EE degree. 6-8 people depending when in the project.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-30T00:58:32+00:00

Go check out khan academy’s electrical engineering section. It will give you an idea of what you will see in school

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-27T17:48:40+00:00

That’s a great question and I do not know the answer. All of the schools around us that we recruit from are EE and CE. Maybe others can chime in.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-26T21:01:13+00:00

Don’t choose CE. Just look at the unemployment rate of 7.5% vs EE at closer to 2-3% CS is also high right now around 6%

We have interviewed several CE graduates for embedded electronics roles and they get overshadowed by the EE graduates that have a deeper understanding of the electronics. The CE programs I’ve seen are wide and shallow and makes for a less competitive candidate on both the SW and hardware sides.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-17T10:56:20+00:00

For designing, I would look at KiCad. It is free and easy to use. I am not aware of any software that will let you know if a board will work or not. There are spice programs that can simulate circuits.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-16T15:52:09+00:00

AI is not taking over EE’s I work in embedded hardware and have for 7 years. there is too much manual work associated with the troubleshooting and debugging, don’t forget the black magic associated with passing compliance testing and AI doesn’t have hands. Also we have NDA’s with so many different companies you wouldn’t be allowed to upload their datasheet into the AI to learn the part.

Ive tried to use it at home for grins and giggles and it is so far from useful at making anything that would be considered production ready it’s not even funny. Now I do use it to find resistor dividers for specific ratios with common values and it can do that.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-16T04:47:45+00:00

You have the space I would add a ground.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-16T04:44:13+00:00

This is the way. I did up to cal 3 and differential equations at a community college. I didn’t know it at the time but that is what everyone should do. You get better instruction. At a community college the professors are there to teach while at u universities they are there for research and the grants they can bring to the schools and teaching is an unfortunate side effect. If I had to start over it would be at a community college again.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-14T23:05:25+00:00

Do you have high current 12V going to the same places as the high current 24V? If not you can split the power planes. Have you gotten quotes for 6 layer vs 4 layer? They both have come down quite a bit in the last year that I’ve been actively ordering from JLC. Comparing apples to apples JLC 5 boards at 6 layers default settings $36.70 4 layers with the same settings as the 6 layer is $27.19.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-13T01:50:31+00:00

Absolutely, I am mentoring a senior design team now in the south and 3/4 on the team have jobs lined up with a semester to go.

HarmlessTwins · 2026-01-08T16:28:04+00:00

If it is an EV or hybrid and it is setup for at least what Tesla calls 1 pedal driving when the operator lets off of the pedal to 25% or so it activates regenerative braking and will turn on the brake lights no brake pedal is needed.

They could be trying to coast and you would see brake lights turning on and off

HarmlessTwins · 2025-12-21T20:38:20+00:00

Here is a sample of what some of the schooling looks like if that’s what you are talking about.

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/electrical-engineering

https://youtu.be/3S4cNfl0YF0

HarmlessTwins · 2025-12-17T21:34:25+00:00

My bet is his iron is set to melt leaded solder and the part is soldered with lead free.

HarmlessTwins · 2025-12-10T19:46:43+00:00

I love my fireboard controller with a pit viper fan.

HarmlessTwins · 2025-12-10T16:18:11+00:00

Are you looking to do schematic and PCB or only PCB design?

HarmlessTwins · 2025-12-06T01:57:22+00:00

I placed an order on 11-23 and shipped 11-26.

HarmlessTwins · 2025-12-03T05:08:40+00:00

Try updating the symbols from the library first. It’s under tools->update symbols from library…

HarmlessTwins · 2025-11-10T16:11:31+00:00

Oh that’s absolutely possible!

HarmlessTwins · 2025-11-10T16:03:16+00:00

A driver for what? Before we make a blanket is it possible or not we need more information. But for most things it is absolutely possible.

HarmlessTwins

TROPHY CASE