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[–] • 0 pt

avoid tinkering with arduino UNLESS targeting a very low volume run and can afford 22 dollar specs.

I always assumed arduino was used as a stand in until they developed their own boards, and possibly rewrote the whole thing in C, is that not the case? I didn't realise commercial projects actually used entire arduino boards in their production.

I made a little breakout board for an Atmega32u2 and messed around with programming for that in C. I figure a job involving that kind of thing (maybe embedded product development) would be fun and keep me away from the arty lefty types you tend to find in things like game dev or web dev.

you can learn ARM using a color game boy emulator and a set of free compiler tools. no hardware, no cables, but not impressive.

That sounds like a good project, thanks for the tip. Any particular language, or does it matter? I assume most work is done in C but I'm not really sure.

To impress a person hiring , you need to build a few hobby fun arm projects, (gyrosope, sound, led control, screen draw, fonts, battery management, etc). lots of "EVIL GENIUS" style robotics books exist and some are ARM based.

If you just want systems level ARM tinkering and daughtercard addon consider many cool projects for a powerful linux computer : https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/

50 bucks and you are set, then buy the cards to snap onto it to do DA, AD, relay button, 3d gryro , etc.

So to be in hireable territory, would I need to write the driver libraries for those cards, or just prove I can read the manual and interface with them?

you cannot of course ever expect to use that proprietary shit firmware in a raspberrypi in a SERIOUS mass market ARM product.

Serious mass market products are final builds with just a 2 to 5 dollar ARM CPU, sometimes additional flashrom, and minimalist board. 2 to 5 dollars... not 45 dollars.

Oh definitely, I assumed they'd strip out everything they didn't need and condense it all down to a single board. I've played around with that before too: Made my board in eagle and got it shipped out from china. I even did all the SMD stuff by hand and used a hotplate to flow it. Board didn't work in the end and I realised I had taken waaaaay too much on and there were so many potential problems I couldn't possible hope to diagnose any of them. Could be a fuckup in the circuit design, heat stress from my dodgy hotplate soldering, bad components... it was a mess. It was a great project though and I'm glad I did it in hindsight.

if self teaching, perhaps find free online collegiate courseware for DIGITAL ELECTRONICS. A couple years ago lots of universities allowed video of courses online.

books and even some textbooks can come from searching : https://booksc.org/

Thanks. Currently I'm in a crappy CS course, but there's an online ElEng masters I have my eye on. In the meantime you've given me a bit to chew on.

To get hired, start on a small contract LOCALLY and underbid and work at your own pace as a contractor, but its better to get hired fulltime and learn on the job because a mentor can unstuck you.

What kind of projects would you recommend? The only hardware guy I know does chip design for intel and that's obviously miles out of my league.

>avoid tinkering with arduino UNLESS targeting a very low volume run and can afford 22 dollar specs. I always assumed arduino was used as a stand in until they developed their own boards, and possibly rewrote the whole thing in C, is that not the case? I didn't realise commercial projects actually used entire arduino boards in their production. I made a little breakout board for an Atmega32u2 and messed around with programming for that in C. I figure a job involving that kind of thing (maybe embedded product development) would be fun and keep me away from the arty lefty types you tend to find in things like game dev or web dev. >you can learn ARM using a color game boy emulator and a set of free compiler tools. no hardware, no cables, but not impressive. That sounds like a good project, thanks for the tip. Any particular language, or does it matter? I assume most work is done in C but I'm not really sure. >To impress a person hiring , you need to build a few hobby fun arm projects, (gyrosope, sound, led control, screen draw, fonts, battery management, etc). lots of "EVIL GENIUS" style robotics books exist and some are ARM based. >If you just want systems level ARM tinkering and daughtercard addon consider many cool projects for a powerful linux computer : https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/ >50 bucks and you are set, then buy the cards to snap onto it to do DA, AD, relay button, 3d gryro , etc. So to be in hireable territory, would I need to write the driver libraries for those cards, or just prove I can read the manual and interface with them? >you cannot of course ever expect to use that proprietary shit firmware in a raspberrypi in a SERIOUS mass market ARM product. >Serious mass market products are final builds with just a 2 to 5 dollar ARM CPU, sometimes additional flashrom, and minimalist board. 2 to 5 dollars... not 45 dollars. Oh definitely, I assumed they'd strip out everything they didn't need and condense it all down to a single board. I've played around with that before too: Made my board in eagle and got it shipped out from china. I even did all the SMD stuff by hand and used a hotplate to flow it. Board didn't work in the end and I realised I had taken waaaaay too much on and there were so many potential problems I couldn't possible hope to diagnose any of them. Could be a fuckup in the circuit design, heat stress from my dodgy hotplate soldering, bad components... it was a mess. It was a great project though and I'm glad I did it in hindsight. >if self teaching, perhaps find free online collegiate courseware for DIGITAL ELECTRONICS. A couple years ago lots of universities allowed video of courses online. >books and even some textbooks can come from searching : https://booksc.org/ Thanks. Currently I'm in a crappy CS course, but there's an online ElEng masters I have my eye on. In the meantime you've given me a bit to chew on. >To get hired, start on a small contract LOCALLY and underbid and work at your own pace as a contractor, but its better to get hired fulltime and learn on the job because a mentor can unstuck you. What kind of projects would you recommend? The only hardware guy I know does chip design for intel and that's obviously miles out of my league.

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[–] • 0 pt

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What kind of projects would you recommend

I would say to RIP OFF finished projects working designs and not mention to interviewers the inspiration source (magazine, web, book) and use phrases : "my sister wanted a XXXX so i thought about it and ZZZZ", "a guy at a small store wanted a XXXX so i thought about it and ZZZZ", "My mom wanted a better way to do XXX so i thought about it and ZZZZ", I wanted to impress friends with a cool creation so I made ZZZ.

hackaday.com is unread by many interviewers, and has years of stuff for you to copy

I am positive that few would know about hackaday.com, though straight up arm-32 exposure with some C should still be your main goal, not PIC, not arduino, not 8 or 16 bit stuff.

Then put the pile of your james bond gadgets in plastic housings with some visibility to the insides for some, and carry them in briefcase to your interview.

hopefully you pick some amusing projects they did not know were in Nuts and Volts style magazines. https://www.nutsvolts.com or did not know about ODROID magazines (big solutions) https://magazine.odroid.com/

odroid and Nuts and Volts both ceased publication MOMENTARILY about a year ago.

20 years ago there were 15 electronics magazines, now probably 4

also...

As for game boy, I misspoke and should have typed "GAME BOY ADVANCE", and C with very very little assembly is what you want to learn.

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[–] • 0 pt

I would say to RIP OFF finished projects working designs and not mention to interviewers the insiration source (magazine, web, book) and use phrasse : "my sister wanted a XXXX so i thought about it and ZZZZ", "a guy at a small store wanted a XXXX so i thought about it and ZZZZ", "My mom wanted a better way to do XXX so i thought about it and ZZZZ", I wanted to impress friends with a cool creation so I made ZZZ.

hackaday.com is unread by many interviewers, and has years of stuff for you to copy Then put the pile of them in plastic housings with some visibility to the insides for some, and carry them in briefcase to your interview.

hopefully you pick some amusing projects they did not know were in Nuts and Volts style magazines. https://www.nutsvolts.com or did not know about ODROID magazines (big solutions) https://magazine.odroid.com/

odroid and Nuts and Volts both ceased publication MOMENTARILY about a year ago.

20 years ago there were 15 electronics magazines, now probably 4

Hmmm, plagerising like that would be a bit scummy, also if I copied someone else's project I'd risk being hired for a job I'm woefully unprepared for. I do like hackaday though so those give me a good idea of the kind of thing I should be making.

As for game boy, I misspoke and should have typed "GAME BOY ADVANCE", and C with very very little assembly is what you want to learn.

Got it. That actually sounds like a really fun project, I'll give it a go.

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[–] • 0 pt

So to be in hireable territory, would I need to write the driver libraries for those cards, or just prove I can read the manual and interface with them?

mainly companies hire IQ and problem solvers. writing drivers is a great ambition, and can make you wealthy as a contractor, but maybe just interface with REFERENCE DESIGN hardware layouts and of course writing firmware is harder than most driver writing anyways.

just be a good problem solver and smile in interview, and speak confidently and show SOME arrogance if needed.

get a pile of cool stuff built.

Board didn't work in the end and I realised I had taken waaaaay too much on

you are ambitious and that story of failure can help you win a job if it is portrayed as an earlier effort. better are stories of failures you overcame and solved eventually.

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[–] • 0 pt

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it.

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