Embedded Software / Firmware Career Advice Request

[jsquared]

[US] I have about 6.5 YoE writing very niche firmware and I have a bachelor's degree that is not CS/CE/EE. Quite frankly, my work experience is not great (limited scope , siloed). I have been doing a BSEE degree part-time and it will take me at least 2.5 years to finish this program while working at the same time (assuming I keep my job).

However, my financial situation changed recently where its going to take me at least an additional $26k just to get this bachelor's degree. I'm not sure on the ROI. I was considering doing a MSEE anyways ( i do qualify for some programs with my 1st bachelor's degree) but the reason I opted for the bachelors first was because a few people were suggesting doing it to be considered a more "rounded" engineer. Even though I am doing well in my classes and I enjoy the stuff I'm learning, I am a bit worried because I don't have extra time to be spending on developing more technical skills directly relevant to my job and field.

Getting the degree is to satisfy the HR filter. But the problem is that i end up with just two bachelor's degrees and 8.5 of limited work experience at the end of this road. Looking around at what MSEE programs I'd be eligible to apply for, seems like the specializations and course offerings are not necessarily in-line with what I want to do which is to hopefully continue developing firmware. I honestly need to put more time to developing my firmware skills.

I'm honestly not sure where to pivot so any advice is welcome. Thank you.

[Kjelt]

Is there a possibility that your employer can pick up part of the bill for additional education?
In the Netherlands it is not uncommon if the study is adding value to the current or next job.
This will bring mutual benefit, but probably in the US not practiced?
With the uprise of AI , I am not sure what is wise. Around me jobs are starting to change slowly.
The part of the job I always loved: creatively finding programming solutions for a problem, is shifting to code reviewing AI generated code. Think of what you wouldlike to do the coming decade realisticly.

[voltsandjolts]

With over 6 years experience of writing firmware, it would be nice to capitalise on that, if you enjoy that kind of work. AI will upend that occupation a great deal but people will still be required to manage creation of the end product - could be good if you can ride that wave end enjoy it.

ROI for education courses is tricky to judge, in terms of both the time and the money invested. Perhaps there is a compromise to be had with a shorter course; are there any one year CS/CE style courses? Something that combined with your firmware experience would get you to the interviews.

[jsquared]

Is there a possibility that your employer can pick up part of the bill for additional education?
In the Netherlands it is not uncommon if the study is adding value to the current or next job.
This will bring mutual benefit, but probably in the US not practiced?
With the uprise of AI , I am not sure what is wise. Around me jobs are starting to change slowly.
The part of the job I always loved: creatively finding programming solutions for a problem, is shifting to code reviewing AI generated code. Think of what you wouldlike to do the coming decade realisticly.

In the U.S., its not widely practiced that way.  Certain big companies are willing to help fund educational advancement for their talent.  But in my case, I lost funding due to budget cuts at my company. 

[jsquared]

 

With over 6 years experience of writing firmware, it would be nice to capitalise on that, if you enjoy that kind of work. AI will upend that occupation a great deal but people will still be required to manage creation of the end product - could be good if you can ride that wave end enjoy it.

ROI for education courses is tricky to judge, in terms of both the time and the money invested. Perhaps there is a compromise to be had with a shorter course; are there any one year CS/CE style courses? Something that combined with your firmware experience would get you to the interviews.

Honestly, I'm probably operating on old views (pre-AI) of the embedded space.  I do want to stick to firmware development but in today's world, I don't know what the job market will look like by the time I get that degree.  But I highly doubt it would take over highly regulated industries.  Who knows.

In terms of the ROI, I honestly have no sense of it either.  The coursework is still operating on pre-AI curriculum.  I've tried hard to cater my electives towards DSP cause there frankly are not much CE/CS course offerings in my program available to me (its actually quite rare for U.S. schools to allow students to pursue a 2nd bachelor's degree as its own separate program).  In terms of coursework, I've taken the following:

- Circuits 1 (analysis of circuits with passive components)
- Intro to Digital Circuits
- Signals and Systems 1 (basic intro to LTI systems, sampling, frequency spectrum analysis, etc)
- Intro HDL and programmable logic (FPGA programming to build more complicated digital circuits)
- Electromagnetics 1

And this upcoming year, I will take

- Circuits 2 (transistors, mixed signal circuit analysis)
- Circuits 3 (amplifiers, sequential digital circuits, timing analysis, etc).
- DSP (FIR & IIR digital filter design, FFT, etc)
- DSP applications (actually mcu programming, so its most relevant)
- Computer Controlled Systems (involves mcu programming)

I figure if I finish this BSEE, it would open more opportunities to study whatever adjacent grad school programs.

[voltsandjolts]

It's already impressive that you have the personal drive to both work and complete your studies at the same time. IMO that makes you a good candidate for interview, even although you haven't attained the actual degree yet.

Success also depends on suitability of the other applicants - you don't have to beat every engineer out there, just the ones that applied for the role