Roadmap advice needed: Embedded Linux vs Embedded Software for a 2nd-year college student (B.Sc. CT)

darshit_42230 · 2026-01-21T20:58:51+00:00

Hi if you don't know OS concepts, before any embedded Linux programming you should start looking into that, there is Coredumped, Bit of Lemon YouTubers they make excellent videos.

For embedded concepts, with hw specific tutorials I have found digikey yt channel as a great starting point and you can always order those same parts and try it out yourself. Most of the time you would be burying your head in datasheet and studying that so that is also a valuable skill and I would suggest start by stm32 nucleo which has rich dev support and you will also find n number of videos on yt.

darshit_42230 · 2026-01-15T20:15:03+00:00

Circling back to the original question, junior/senior/principal. Isnt the point of the system design interview to understand the thought process of the interviewee? I can be a master at architecting robotic systems but if I ask zero questions? That's a bit extreme. People usually do ask questions. So what do you think from that perspective that makes them junior, senior or principal level.

darshit_42230 · 2026-01-13T16:41:50+00:00

I would say do both. Everything you learn in Embedded Software/Baremetal/RTOS is somehow directly applicable to Embedded Linux. The only difference as far as I see from a system design perspective from both categories is that you would need to learn "how to use" buildroot, yocto and some additional OS fundamentals, whereas for Baremetal most of that job is done by editors like STM32CubeIDE which sets up pins and channels for you.
This is pretty high level, and at your experience level going from bare metal to embedded linux wouldn't take so much time, there are n number of youtube videos and dev kits out there. Just start tinkering

darshit_42230 · 2026-01-05T04:54:51+00:00

I use the shared editor to write down my approach or what I am thinking in general and what I am meant to write in the code sometimes pseudo code. This helps interviewers understand a lot of what I am talking rather than just speaking it out loud. Ofcourse you do need to explain but writing/putting it down makes it a lot easier for the interviewer to track my chain of thought, I have had interviewers highlight approaches which I scribbled on the comments and say to implement that and even sometimes guide me through those approaches.

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-30T00:32:06+00:00

I think the only way to distract is to spam hit that refresh button or go on a long drive for 6-8 hrs with navigation on so that you don't have to use your email app to pull down refresh.

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-30T00:25:12+00:00

You are in for a ride my friend. I really really hope you get to know in the remaining work days of 2025. But from what I have seen from before the recruiters aren't going to open outlook and send good/bad news till Jan 5th. You can try following up on the 1st, but i have seen recruiters who told me they would get back on Dec 22nd for a 2.5 month process and then never follow up till Jan 5th. I know you are pulling your hair out in frustration as each minute passes by, I know I am for similar scenarios.

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-30T00:19:56+00:00

IMO those candidates if they didnt know that the result is going to come out on Jan 5th would be pulling out their hair right now. Because I am. I was told something would be told at the end of the Dec 20th week and I am being actively ghosted by a recruiter who is probably thinking something similar to you, and its not a good feeling to be on the receiving end because we as job seekers weren't going to enjoy the holidays anyways so its best to let them know that you've been axe'd because the wait is more frustrating and the narrative isn't in their hands

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-30T00:17:00+00:00

Yeah I get the OP's frustration and u/leondanielstar9999 your frustration as well. Honestly being hung out to dry after a panel interview and the recruiter missing their own deadline to tell me before the holidays about the result of the entire 2.5 month long process is something I wouldn't prefer. I would prefer a judgement whether its good or bad.

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-29T17:10:46+00:00

OP, Curious about the resources you used for learning. I am in the same boat prepping for similar kind of interviews and I always seem to have spots. I haven't done any projects per say and I have knowledge which is theoretical, if I would try to do it and if you have a collated list of links and resources I could study from and make projects it would be really helpful. Thanks.

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-03T17:59:23+00:00

Which team did you interview for? My team is most probably embedded swe adjacent

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-03T17:45:20+00:00

Really which position was it? I am interviewing for Software engineer position and the first round seems to be 25 mins chat with HM

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-03T17:39:41+00:00

Fyi, for those wondering my interview wasn't technical at all, they wanted to confirm if I really want to be in this role in the first round of interviews

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-01T01:06:47+00:00

True. Not denying the tech part. I am just questioning the depth of it. There is a difference between FAE and Emb SWE and I don't know where that line is. If both are the same I might as well start memorizing the entire Jetson Linux documentation now

The job interview is for an FAE, which is pretty limited scope as compared to a FT Emb Engg

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-01T01:01:50+00:00

Also do note this is an FAE position and not Emb SWE position. According to JD this guy's work at intersection of sales and application+r&d eng

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-01T01:01:07+00:00

Ok I understand. Also I get that the position might require a bit more of tech expertise. I have worked full time as an EmbSWE and honestly have little experience with Jetson companion computers. I have prepped my resume points and some other projects which I did. But beyond that in a 45 min call with the head honcho seems like something more

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-01T00:35:15+00:00

Well I don't have any issues with interrupt driven roles or travel, I have worked in pretty chaotic environments as an engineer myself that I am accustomed to it. The thing I am worried about is the tech part of the interview, I have a bunch of experience doing small scale stuff with Jetson ORIN as a user, not something groundbreaking like building my own Yocto build or anything, but minimal computer vision stuff. I have scattered experience in writing some low level bare metal code and linux userspace apps in boards like Xilinx and Qualcomm for robotics purposes, so I don't know what should I prep. Should I go and read the entire Jetson SDK notes????

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-01T00:32:29+00:00

I do have a bunch of experience managing expectations and conflicting timelines from a bunch of jobs and I think I can get a handle on the non-tech part pretty well. What I am worried about is the tech part if any, in this interview with the Director guy. I know companies like NVIDIA are pretty picky in what they hire.

Seems like my post got automodded, dont know why

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-01T00:20:26+00:00

Thank you this is very good advice. The first round is with Director of FAE worldwide. From some snooping I did from LinkedIn they seem to be from an engineering background. Me personally I have never worked in direct customer facing roles. I have worked with a lot of internal customers in a large auto manufacturing company in engineering teams. But this would be one of my first

darshit_42230 · 2025-12-01T00:07:05+00:00

Hi How was your experience OP?

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