Welcome, fellow young embedded developer!

Learn in detail. How a computer works. You should be able to draw a detailed block diagram of one. Even if you have no interest in the hardware, it’s impossible to understand assembly language and other important aspects of creating firmware without understanding program counters, registers, busses and the like.

Learn an assembly language. Write real programs in it, and make them work. Absent a grounding in assembly much of the operation of a computer will be mysterious. In real life you’ll have to delve into the assembly at least occasionally, at least to work on the startup code, and to find some classes of bugs.

Master C, pointers and all. A recent article in IEEE Spectrum surveyed language use and C didn’t even make the cut. Java, Javascript, HMTL and Python were ranked as the most in-demand languages in the USA. Yet around 70% of firmware people work in C. C++ makes up another 20%. For better or worse, all of the other embedded languages are in the noise.

Do learn some other languages. Python can be useful for scripting. Ada gives a discipline I wish more had. Rust is increasingly popular, yet, despite the hype, has under a 1% share in the embedded space.

Work in a cross-development environment with an embedded target board. It’s very different from using Visual Studio.

Get comfortable with a Linux shell. With sed, awk, and a hundred other tools you can do incredible things without writing any code.

Take the time to think through what you’re building. It’s tempting to start coding early. Design is critically important. Remember the old saying: “if you think good design is expensive, consider the cost of bad design.”

Monitor your bug rates. Forever. Skip this and you’ll never know two things: if you’re improving, and how you compare to the industry. We all think we’re great developers, but metrics can be a cold shower.

Always be on the prowl for tools. Some are free, others expensive, but great tools will make you more productive and less error-prone. These change all the time so figure on constantly refining your toolbox.

Read a book. Did you know the average firmware person reads one technical book a year? Yet this field evolves at the pace of Moore’s Law. Constantly study software engineering. We do have a Body of Knowledge. Every year new ideas appear. Some are brilliant, others whacky, but they all make you think.

Learn about the hardware. At least get a general understanding. An engineer who can use an oscilloscope and logic analyzer for troubleshooting code is a valuable addition to a software team. Digital and analog hardware is cool and fascinating. …”