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Core needed skills for embedded system engineer

 

There are three main skills you need to get your hands dirty to become a master in this field:

Soldering, Programming, and Electrical Prototyping



1. Core Skill: Soldering

This skill defines how difficult the soldering is on a particular product. It might be a couple simple solder joints, or require special reflow tools.

1 Noob

Noob - Some basic soldering is required, but it is limited to a just a few pins, basic through-hole soldering, and couple (if any) polarized components. A basic soldering iron is all you should need.

2 Rookie

Rookie - The number of pins increases, and you will have to determine polarity of components and some of the components might be a bit trickier or close together. You might need solder wick or flux.

3 Competent

Competent - You will encounter surface mount components and basic SMD soldering techniques are required.

4 Experienced

Experienced - You might be required to do some reflow or basic rework with SMD components. A heat gun, Heaterizer or other tools might be required, and a good understanding of SMD soldering as well as PTH soldering are required.

5 Expert

Expert - You will be required to have a firm understanding of both SMD and PTH soldering and are comfortable with rework as well. You are required to solder difficult packages like a BGA.


2. Core Skill: Programming

If a board needs code or communicates somehow, you're going to need to know how to program or interface with it. The programming skill is all about communication and code.

1 Noob

Noob - Programming will be limited to basic drag and drop interfaces like ModKit or Scratch. You won't be writing code, but you will still need to understand some basics of interfacing with hardware. If you?re just using a sensor, it's output is analog.

2 Rookie

Rookie - You will need a better fundamental understand of what code is, and how it works. You will be using beginner-level software and development tools like Arduino. You will be dealing directly with code, but numerous examples and libraries are available. Sensors or shields will communicate with serial or TTL.

3 Competent

Competent - The toolchain for programming is a bit more complex and will examples may not be explicitly provided for you. You will be required to have a fundamental knowledge of programming and be required to provide your own code. You may need to modify existing libraries or code to work with your specific hardware. Sensor and hardware interfaces will be SPI or I2C.

4 Experienced

Experienced - You will require a firm understanding of programming, the programming toolchain, and may have to make decisions on programming software or language. You may need to decipher a proprietary or specialized communication protocol. A logic analyzer might be necessary.

5 Expert

Expert - You should be extremely comfortable programming on various hardware in several languages.


3. Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping

If it requires power, you need to know how much, what all the pins do, and how to hook it up. You may need to reference datasheets, schematics, and know the ins and outs of electronics.

1 Noob

Noob - You don't need to reference a datasheet, but you will need to know basic power requirements.

2 Rookie

Rookie - You may be required to know a bit more about the component, such as orientation, or how to hook it up, in addition to power requirements. You will need to understand polarized components.

3 Competent

Competent - You will be required to reference a datasheet or schematic to know how to use a component. Your knowledge of a datasheet will only require basic features like power requirements, pinouts, or communications type. Also, you may need a power supply that?s greater than 12V or more than 1A worth of current.

4 Experienced

Experienced - You will need to consult a datasheet for calculations to determine a components output format, linearity, and do a little math to get what you need. You will be using a datasheet or schematic beyond basic pinouts.

5 Expert

Expert - You will need a solid understanding of datasheets and electrical theory. You may be dealing with high voltage, dangerous current, AC line voltage. You may be required to use an oscilloscope, perform waveform analysis, or perform RF calculations.


Want to advance your skill levels? Check out the Tutorials Section over at learn.sparkfun.com!

References:

https://www.sparkfun.com/skills/1

https://www.sparkfun.com/skills/17

https://www.sparkfun.com/skills/23



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