#Transitioning from EE (some embedded) to SWE

28 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

midnight apex
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I know it's a bit of a weird time to look into all of this with the hiring freezes going on, but it's recently hit me that I hate electrical engineering. I've been an EE for nearly 5 years and over that time haven't had a single thing I've worked on that I've liked doing... Other than when random little coding projects come up. I genuinely find them to be so fun to solve. They've mostly been little things (designing a serial communicator w/ a GUI to talk to a power system and issue it some set commands to control it, writing scripts to automate processes, etc).

The last 3 years at my current job I've spent about half of that time working embedded designing some power system controls software in C running on an RTOS on an FPGA platform. That stuff has been okay, but embedded feels bad to do in a lot of ways. It's less like my brainpower solving a problem and more me looking at a datasheet of which registers I need to map where. It's just largely uninteresting work.

So I'm looking to swap from EE to SWE. I know some python but don't have a formal education in it. I took several C classes in college so it's the language I'm the most familiar with but obviously want to pick up other languages so in the future I don't have to interview in C.

Just wanted to see if there's anyone here who has made this transition and knows what it was like and could give me some tips on doing it.

I'm working through MIT's 6.0001 Intro to Python right now just to "formalize" my Python education. Really that's just for me to make sure I have good fundamentals. I then plan to complete a data structures and algorithms class in Python, complete The Odin Project and pick up some JS along the way, and then really hit the neetcode 150 to make sure I can handle DS&A for interviews. Oh and I'm going to work some personal projects as well for my resume. Not sure what to do there yet but hopefully I'll come up with something.

Is there anything I'm missing?

plush pier
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I mean what SWE domain do you enjoy? Embedded is way more than just mapping- and you'll have an incredibly easy time transitioning to it. I'd argue EE to SWE transition is only second to CompE to SWE. Even in job descriptions they say "CS, CompE, EE or similar"

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Languages you need to learn will be based on what you want to do exactly. Can almost never go wrong with C++ and Python tho

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Also the best advice I can give to someone who isn't in a rush is to go through job listings, pick something you think you'll enjoy and if you already think you fit that description then cater your resume towards it, if not, then you know what you should get better at

royal kayak
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I have a background in CE. But I am just having a hard time getting a job in CE. I would love to work as an embedded engineer -i think-.or Is that boring.

midnight apex
# plush pier I mean what SWE domain do you enjoy? Embedded is way more than just mapping- and...

I think the easiest transition for me would be in to backend development? But I do want to just dabble in some other areas of SWE over the next little bit just to see what I like. Ideally it'd be great to try and get on at a bigger company so that at least if I hate whatever role it is I start out as there will be other opportunities for me to transition.. Sucks the industry is on such a lull at the moment. But at least it gives me time to rough my skills up more and tackle some projects to make that happen.

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But yeah you're absolutely right I'm being a bit reductive about embedded. It's definitely more than that. I'm just having a hard time enjoying what it is.. Or at least what I do with it at my current company.

midnight apex
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But I could probably help you out there if you wanted.

royal kayak
midnight apex
errant flicker
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for your “projects” section, it’s possible some of your embedded work could be put there

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seems like you’ll be fine, maybe only thing is don’t stretch yourself too thin when there are only a few things you need to get a job (namely a good application/resume/etc and leetcode skills)

midnight apex
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yeah I double majored EE/physics. I have some of my embedded work listed under my job experience. Always feels a bit lackluster to talk about though since I get to read all the SWE resumes that mention all of these technologies they've leveraged and really the embedded work I've done is fairly simple? It's just some C code running on an RTOS.

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But either way

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Yeah you're right. I'm going to keep grinding leetcode and work a project, I'd like to build an API of some sort and put it through its paces (unit testing, documentation, error messaging, logging, that kind of thing)

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Hard to beat the imposter syndrome telling you you don't know anything sometimes.

errant flicker
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if you are clever with your wording you can definitely sell the embedded work well

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90% of those student/self-taught/bootcamp grad projects are not that complex and have lots of "technologies" they use but in a very handheld way

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not that there's anything wrong with that either

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not saying you shouldn't also do more projects if you want but embedded work is definitely worth putting on

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It's just some C code running on an RTOS.

the ability to write C code even remotely competently is already indicative of a skill level lots of entry level applicants wouldn't have lmao

midnight apex
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yeah it's imposter syndrome. I should be proud of what I've been able to do tbh.

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Guess I have a little bit of time before I should expect any interviews to open up w/ things slowing down from all the hire freezes and layoffs.

royal kayak