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Should I start thinking about moving away from embedded software development?

8 points by moonboon ↗ HN
Hi, i have been an embedded software developer for about 5 years now, and i had a constant feeling that my skillset has plateaued over the last 18 months, i feel like I'm not learning anything new. My job is a constant cycle of a)get some data sheet b)do some research c)write a driver.

I've gotten to the point where i don't think i can read anymore books about coding in C, i love the language and the thrill of playing around hardware, but I'm honestly not sure how i can further my career while maintaining technical roles instead of moving into management/architect type roles.

Would love some insight from fellow embedded devs.

5 comments

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jepler
Hi! As someone moving from 20 years of application development towards embedded software development, let me share my thoughts.

First, examine your reasons not to move into management or architecture roles and make sure they are valid, and not knee jerks. This is a whole big discussion in its own right.

Second, within your current organization, look for mentoring opportunities as a mentor or a mentee. Either way, you may find your knowledge and skillset expanded in an unexpected way.

Also, are there ways you can move horizontally within your organization? Maybe there's a tooling team, or a testing team.

Finally, just understand your own goals. Do you want to maximize income or savings over time? Do you want to maximize something else (fun? knowledge? recognition?) while reaching a minimum income or savings amount? Then, over time, reevaluate those goals and make sensible plans to reach them. Expecting excitement from doing the same kind of thing over a 40 year career is probably not a fair expectation.

moonboon
I have had management opportunities where i was managing 4-8 person projects and I absolutely didn't enjoy it, most of the time i felt like i could do a better job, and i sucked at giving back criticism. and the main reason was i just couldn't go to work for a day where i could just sit in peace, put on headphones and lose my self coding im always distracted by people and assigning tasks.

I think part of my current motivation to move away might be my lack of ambition and outlook for what i want to do future career wise, im still relatively young with only 5 years of experience. Money is nice, but it's never been the main issue for me. I do find myself feeling jealous of my friends who are full stack developers because their jobs always drive them into new technologies, whereas i spent the last 3 weeks writing a driver for an SPI flash controller.

Thanks for the pointers though, you might be right, there might be other factors that are driving me into this thought process that i need to reflect on.

vcarnogu
I used to be in a very similar situation but have spent even more years of C coding and PCB design, working for multiple companies. I originally studied electronics. I decided however to move to server software development, web, UIs. Java, Python, Perl, JS and never looked back. Much better tooling, higher productivity, double salary and more fun.
doyoulikeworms
Software engineering is broad and deep. If you want to explore, go explore. You may make less money, but you may make more. You may like something else less, but you may like it more. I think it’s up to you!

That said, I never stayed put very long in any particular programming job. Embedded systems were fun, but I was curious to learn about the cloud, so I went to Salesforce. YMMV

roland35
Honestly, this post has made me question staying in embedded software too. Unless you are in a few major tech cities (Boston, San Francisco, etc) it is harder to find opportunities locally and/or remotely. Other types of software development seems more common.

One nice thing about embedded development is that it is very easy to do it as a hobby now! Making a project robot or something like that may be a fun diversion after working 9-5 at a web-dev job!