So You Wanna Be an Embedded Engineer: The Guide to Embedded Engineering, From Consultancy to the Corporate Ladder

Description

In this new, highly practical guide, expert embedded designer and manager Lewin Edwards answers the question, ?How do I become an embedded engineer?? Embedded professionals agree that there is a treacherous gap between graduating from school and becoming an effective engineer in the workplace, and that there are few resources available for newbies to turn to when in need of advice and direction. This book provides that much-needed guidance for engineers fresh out of school, and for the thousands of experienced engineers now migrating into the popular embedded arena. This book helps new embedded engineers to get ahead quickly by preparing them for the technical and professional challenges they will face. Detailed instructions on how to achieve successful designs using a broad spectrum of different microcontrollers and scripting languages are provided. The author shares insights from a lifetime of experience spent in-the-trenches, covering everything from small vs. large companies, and consultancy work vs. salaried positions, to which types of training will prove to be the most lucrative investments. This book provides an expert's authoritative answers to questions that pop up constantly on Usenet newgroups and in break rooms all over the world.

 

1. Introduction -About This Book 2. Education -Traditional Education Paths into Embedded Engineering -Getting into the Field Without Traditional Education -How Much Electronics Must I Learn? -Educational Traps, Dead-Ends and Scams to Avoid -Practical Skills You'll Want To Acquire 3. Teaching Yourself, Bottom-Up (Small Embedded Systems) -Target Audience -8051 -Atmel AVR -Texas Instruments MSP430 -C vs. Assembly Language in Small Embedded Systems 4. Teaching Yourself, Top-Down (Large Embedded Systems) -Target Audience -Embedded x86 Solutions -ARM -PowerPC -Linux -eCos 5. Working For Yourself -Is Self-Employment for You? Risks and Benefits -From Moonlighting to Fulltime Consultant Status – Bookkeeping, Taxes and Workload -Ways to Find Customers -Iterative Projects: Never-Ending Horror? -Pricing Your Services Appropriately -Establishing Your Own Working Best Practices -Business Has No Friends: The Importance of Contracts 6. Working in a Small Company -Analyze your Goals: Benefits and Downsides of the Small Company -How to Get the Job -Responsibilities and Stresses in a Small Company -Personal Dynamics in Small Companies -Managing Tightly-Limited Resources -Task Breakdown: A Typical Week 7. Working in a Larger Company -Analyze your Goals: Benefits and Downsides of the Large Company -How to Get the Job -Globalization: Outsourcing and Temporary Worker Visas -Procedures and You: Keeping Your Head Above Water -Task Breakdown: A Typical Week