What to learn to become a good embedded design engineer?
I have a personal blog on Instagram and a few weeks back many of my followers expressed interest in understanding, how one could become a good embedded design engineer, so here is a short recipe :)
Start with basics, have patience while learning, be consistent in putting in time every single day, work hard.
Embedded is all about hardware [&] software, so you need to have a good foundation in both, even if you want to focus on one side more in the later part of your career.
Embedded Hardware
- Learn the basics of electronics, about electronics components - different types, how do they work, application circuits.
- Learn schematic symbols of the components, see pictures (Google search) of all the components to know how they look like if possible see them physically also.
- Go to Google image search, type embedded boards, download [10] embedded boards image you like, take [print out] and try to [label each component] you can identify. Learn how to search for components/ICs details/datasheet by its part number. Don’t worry if couldn't identify all the components. Try to learn about these components on the Internet.
- Learn how to read datasheets - important sections for different electronics components.
- Learn about power supply: what is it, it’s need, types, application circuits.
- Learn to solder.
- Learn to make small circuits on general purpose PCB (printed circuit board). Make two small projects, don’t worry even if you are just copying someone’s project. One of my suggestion would be to make a power supply circuit which could also be used later in your min home lab :)
- Learn basic schematic design / PCB design using freely available software like KiCad(my opinion), CircuitMaker, Designspark PCB, Express PCB, etc. I have used Protel / Altium my whole life and done a little experiment with Kicad & some other free software.
- Go through some of the tear-down articles or videos to understand how others are making hardware, what all electronic components they use, what’s rational. I recommend eevblog.
- Learn what is protection, why it’s important, some basic protection circuits.
- Learn about test and measurement equipment like Multimeter, Logic Analyzer, Oscilloscope, Frequency Generator, etc. Go to YouTube and watch relevant videos to learn.
- Learn to debug, There is no formulae per say. When you will start building projects, you will face issues and then you will also learn how to identify (the difficult part) the problem and then how to solve (relatively easy) it. Debugging or troubleshooting most of the time needs more patience than intelligence. Some basic hints in my article “How to debug an electronic circuit”.
Embedded Software
- Learn programming in C. It is still one of the most used programming languages for building Embedded Systems.
- Learn about microcontrollers, commonly used components, and applications circuits like interfacing LED, Seven Segments display, Character displays, key, relay, EEPROM, RTC, potentiometer, buzzer, etc. Read my article for more details. Write some programs using MCU development boards of your choice.
- Learn about Operating System(OS), Real-Time Operating System (RTOS), what are the advantages. Maybe FreeRTOS (my opinion) as it is one of the most used embedded OS in the world and its free. Write a few programs using MCU development boards of your choice.
- Learn Embedded Linux, start with small things, most useful commands, scripting, few application examples using common peripherals. Raspberry Pi could be a good platform.
Practice above for a few months & years, by making circuits/projects you love. Document all your projects nicely with pictures, videos to show off when going for an interview ;)
For your further help, there are two very useful websites, one is Google & other one is YouTube.
If you liked my article, please support me with your claps and share with your friends so they can read it too.
Some more useful articles on embedded system design are available here.
Thank you for reading. Happy Learning to you!
