I will have to learn everything in any job they give me
Im not good at anything really
In the end I havent bothered mentioning it
I will just mention it in the interview if I ever get one
One thing I do know is that every time I have programmed I always start getting it to do the smallest possible thing - like switch an LED on and off and then work gradually in small steps from there.
Don't know if that is how it is done in the real world but that is how I have always done it.
I programmed that Arduino for the remote control and reciever of the Quadrotor in about 10 days - starting from knowing literally nothing and getting the Arduino to print 'Hello world' and then flash an LED. That is how every project has gone for me. I am not sure if this sort of process is acceptable in a real job though
Do any of you have any ideas how I can make myself more employable while not being able to advance any of these skills in my current job?
HiQuoteDo any of you have any ideas how I can make myself more employable while not being able to advance any of these skills in my current job?You could do what some of my ex-colleagues did :
when working on a project, divert the project so that it uses what ever you are interested learning.
So for you, start doing projects which require control by micro controllers, such as Atmel, PICs and ARM Cortex M0, M3 or M4.
(I do not like doing that, the engineer in me wants to pick the right solution for the problem)
I said before that mentioning Arduino work is not going to get you noticed
You mentioned that you have worked on 8051, PICs and DSPs - these are the things that are going to get you noticed.
The way recruitment works today is that it is out sourced to Recruitment Agencies. All they do is play match the job spec key words to the CV key words. So, if you put the right keywords on your CV, you will get lots of interest from the agents. Sad but true
What are the keywords?
Embedded, Driver, SPI, I2C, UART, Real Time, some popluar RTOS such as VxWorks or FreeRTOS
I have only had 1 job in telecoms which I am no longer in. I am affraid I am not familiar with what keywords are good for embedded telecomms.
Once again, Good Luck
There is not much room to list buzzwords that I am not really good at anyway
I suppose I could leave out the jobs I had in civil engineering and in finance in London and change it to put some keywords on like from projects I did at university from 2007-2011 like the 8051, PICs, embedded C, TI DSPs etc, Altium designer
I barely have any idea how to start a program but is it worth mentioning in a cover letter for example that I have programmed microcontrollers before? Ill be applying for any job they will give me in these companies.
When I hire an engineer I always look for people who learn on their own and work on their own projects. It tell me they can figure out what they need to learn, learn it, and implement that knowledge. In general, I'm less interested in people who have only ever done work for their school program or for a job.
If I were looking at two otherwise interchangeable candidates, I would always choose the person who has the internal drive to learn a bit of programming and make a helicopter. Put it on your resume.
When I hire an engineer I always look for people who learn on their own and work on their own projects. It tell me they can figure out what they need to learn, learn it, and implement that knowledge. In general, I'm less interested in people who have only ever done work for their school program or for a job.
If I were looking at two otherwise interchangeable candidates, I would always choose the person who has the internal drive to learn a bit of programming and make a helicopter. Put it on your resume.
Me too. No academic credential represents internal drive and it seems to be a rare personality trait these days.
Rather than specifically saying Arduino in an interview...(some like to look down their nose at hobbyists), simply mention that you have experience developing hardware and software solutions on small micro-controllers... if they ask (or know), you can elaborate with PIC, 8051, and Atmel 8-bit processors.
Don't commit too hard, if you understand their questions, you'll have a chance of dealing with them.
The biggest challenge after the actual languages is the choice of toolchains, and their internal 'processes'.
Rather than specifically saying Arduino in an interview...(some like to look down their nose at hobbyists), simply mention that you have experience developing hardware and software solutions on small micro-controllers... if they ask (or know), you can elaborate with PIC, 8051, and Atmel 8-bit processors.
Don't commit too hard, if you understand their questions, you'll have a chance of dealing with them.
The biggest challenge after the actual languages is the choice of toolchains, and their internal 'processes'.
The problem with all we have said (all of us) is that, sooner or later, they're going to sit the OP at a desk with a development board and a toolchain and expect results. Like right now! If you haven't programmed an NVIC, you simply do not know how to do it. But you're expected to know how. "Hey, is FreeRTOS running yet?" "How many tasks?"
In the end, you can't fake experience. You either have it or you don't and most employers expect results. They're not usually in business to provide training. The only way to get that experience is to sit down with a couple of development boards for various incantations of hardware, presumably ARM, and write code. Lots and lots of code.
One reason I keep pointing to http://www.jcwren.com/arm/ is that his demo code, for the ARM7, demonstrates the use of every peripheral on the chip. Now, this particular platform is trivial compared to something like the STM32F4 and there is no CSMIS or company provided obfuscation of the hardare but it is complete. It would be useful to port the ideas to a more fully featured ARM Cortex Mx avoiding all the code provided by others.
It's all about writing a ton of code!
Rather than specifically saying Arduino in an interview...(some like to look down their nose at hobbyists), simply mention that you have experience developing hardware and software solutions on small micro-controllers... if they ask (or know), you can elaborate with PIC, 8051, and Atmel 8-bit processors.
Don't commit too hard, if you understand their questions, you'll have a chance of dealing with them.
The biggest challenge after the actual languages is the choice of toolchains, and their internal 'processes'.
The problem with all we have said (all of us) is that, sooner or later, they're going to sit the OP at a desk with a development board and a toolchain and expect results. Like right now! If you haven't programmed an NVIC, you simply do not know how to do it. But you're expected to know how. "Hey, is FreeRTOS running yet?" "How many tasks?"
In the end, you can't fake experience. You either have it or you don't and most employers expect results. They're not usually in business to provide training. The only way to get that experience is to sit down with a couple of development boards for various incantations of hardware, presumably ARM, and write code. Lots and lots of code.
One reason I keep pointing to http://www.jcwren.com/arm/ is that his demo code, for the ARM7, demonstrates the use of every peripheral on the chip. Now, this particular platform is trivial compared to something like the STM32F4 and there is no CSMIS or company provided obfuscation of the hardare but it is complete. It would be useful to port the ideas to a more fully featured ARM Cortex Mx avoiding all the code provided by others.
It's all about writing a ton of code!
Were this strictly true virtually no one could get a first job. What you are describing is the experience and knowledge required for a top paying lead position, or a consultant or sole programmer at a small shop or similar. Folks with the skills you describe generally have no trouble finding employment, but are in short supply. Thus the openings for lesser talents that may eventually become one of the artists.
(just my opinion)
Not really, since the "hard work" has all been done for you already. <snip>
I need to get a new job
I live in a town where there are loads of jobs available in the Wireless/Telecomms sector
There are loads of jobs for embedded software programming and presumably all the technical jobs in these companies require some ability to program
...
I barely have any idea how to start a program but is it worth mentioning in a cover letter for example that I have programmed microcontrollers before? Ill be applying for any job they will give me in these companies.
(just my opinion)
Not really, since the "hard work" has all been done for you already. <snip>
Programming in Linux or Windows platform using the Posix libraries or Qt framework, or creating an application running on the FreeRTOS and using its services and device drivers, are not real programming in similar criteria? I see.
That's on a different scale - judge it based on whether it's commonly marketed towards kids & noobs!