Front line engineers tell you the real status and development prospects of embedded "suggestions collection"

Hello everyone , I meet you again , I'm your friend, Quan Jun .

Personal instructions ： I'm not a technical bull with an annual salary of millions , But I am a qualified embedded engineer , Now an enterprise is working as an embedded software engineer , The following views may be one-sided or incomplete , But it is the real feeling and income of a front-line enterprise embedded software developer , Hope to help those in need , I understand that it's not easy for young people to work hard .

Why write this article ？ Xiaosheng is also a person who came here , Step on the pit you have stepped on

Baidu search “ The embedded ”、“ Embedded development ”、“ Embedded development prospects ” Equal word , There are a lot of training institutions , What comes out is what they call the embedded industry “ opinion ”, Don't deny that its content is professional , But the “ Moisture ” I think you know better than me ,“ Sell guazangua ” Everyone knows the truth of ; Or it came out a few years ago “ Embedded condition ”, Compared with today's embedded environment , Whether the enterprise is developing 、 Of choose and employ persons 、 Content 、 Great changes have taken place in the market . therefore , As an embedded software engineer in front-line enterprises , I want to rationally comment on the real situation of today's embedded industry through my actual experience . This article is written in 2018 year 10 month 1 Japan , A mere child , I think it can reflect the real situation of today's embedded industry , And its scientific and cutting-edge nature can be 2018-2020 Definition of embedded during the year .

One . Definition and example analysis of embedded system

The official definition of ：

according to IEEE（ International Institute of electrical and Electronics Engineers ） The definition of , The embedded system is “ control 、 Monitoring or auxiliary equipment 、 Machines and plant running devices ”. This is mainly defined by application , It can be seen from this that embedded system is a combination of software and hardware , It can also cover accessories such as machinery .

At present, a commonly accepted definition in China is ： Application centric 、 Based on computer technology , Software and hardware can be tailored , Adapt application system to function 、 reliability 、 cost 、 Volume 、 A dedicated computer system with strict power requirements .

To put it bluntly, it is to design the hardware first , Then write the software that can run on the hardware according to the requirements , It's called “ Smart hardware ”.

Or it's not clear enough , That line , Let's talk about the specific embedded products , What does embedded do ：

Traditional embedded products ： Air conditioning main control module 、 Refrigerator main control module 、 Home remote control 、 A smart phone 、 Teaching projector 、 The sound system 、 Radar system 、 Routers and so on

Cutting edge embedded products ： Unmanned aerial vehicle (uav) 、 Smart sound 、 Robot control 、 Urban sky eye system 、 Smart furniture 、 Autopilot 、 Sweeping robot 、 Millet bracelet and so on

Let's look at some cutting-edge embedded products ：

The following is Dajiang UAV , It can be used for high-altitude shooting 、 Military investigation 、 Working at height 、 autopatrol 、 Agricultural work 、 Mining survey 、 Topographic mapping, etc

The following is tmall smart sound , It can be used for speech recognition 、 Interactive dialogue , Application and entertainment 、 life 、 shopping 、 Intelligent furniture control, etc , It belongs to a new generation of speakers

The following is Baidu robot , Through deep learning 、 Neural network and other algorithms , Realization “ Baidu brain ”, With self-learning ability 、 Self training ability , Such as the small robot with the strongest brain

Here is the autonomous vehicle , Automatic driving is a cutting-edge technology , It hasn't really been implemented in our country , Not just technical , It has to be supported and recognized by the government

The following is Haier sweeping robot , Can patrol automatically , Automatically draw indoor map , Automatic obstacle avoidance , Automatically clean the floor , Give you a clean environment

Here is Xiaomi bracelet 3, Wechat can be displayed 、 Message content such as incoming call , Vibrating alarm clock , Heart rate calculation , Steps statistics , Real time motion data query , Sleep quality monitoring, etc

After reading these cutting-edge scientific and technological products, you can find , These are all kinds of “ High-end products ” Embedded technology is indispensable , We can't do without sensor technology , You can't do without software programs . So I can tell you now , The work of embedded development is to develop the above series of products , This is embedded , I believe you have a good understanding of the embedded industry at the moment “ Metaphysics ” Understanding .

Two . The real content of embedded engineers working in enterprises

Embedded software development can be divided into three categories ：

Embedded driver engineer ： Write and transplant various chip drivers （ Such as audio chip ）, Optimize hardware device drivers （ Such as temperature and humidity sensor ）, Must be proficient in various hardware interface protocols （ Such as I2C agreement ）、 System scheduling 、 Semaphore 、 Lock mechanism and so on , The most difficult to develop . Such developers are generally comprehensive talents of software and hardware , General embedded driver engineer refers to Linux Driver development engineer on , Need to be proficient Linux Drive frame （platform frame 、input Subsystem framework, etc ）, Combine the chip itself to write the driver , The quality of driving largely determines the quality of a product . The definition of driving talents in the industry is that it takes three years to get started , It can be seen that the threshold is high .

Embedded Systems Engineer ： Mainly writing firmware , Transplant the operating system according to different platforms , Optimize the system according to the application scenario , Need to be familiar with the composition and scheduling of the whole operating system , The stability of firmware is very high , If the system is unstable , Drivers and applications are also for nothing .

Embedded application engineer ： Write business logic programs , Call the interface control equipment provided by the drive engineer , The software development process involves a wide range of contents , The main use of C Language development , But it often involves C++、Java、python、JavaScript、PHP And other languages, as well as various scripting languages 、 database 、 The front background 、 Various communication protocols 、 Even some agreements or concepts you've never heard of , It needs a lot of learning ability , This position is also the most needed position in major companies , commonly 10 Human development team , The proportion of development and application driven system development is 1：2：7.

According to my experience , There are two kinds of embedded engineers in the world , One is embedded engineers in large companies , The other is embedded engineers in small companies , I know this classification is inappropriate , But it's not unreasonable , Please listen to my Overview ：

A large company ： What are the characteristics of large companies ？ answer ： More people ！

What are the consequences of more people ？ answer ： The division of labor of the project is very detailed , All follow “ There are specialized skills ” This philosophical truth ;

For example, the position is embedded driver development , So big companies may also subdivide embedded display driver Engineers 、 Embedded audio driver engineer 、 Embedded power driver engineer, etc ; This is the consistent style of large companies , It hopes to cultivate talents in a certain field ; To put it bluntly, if you are assigned a display driver project , So it's possible that you've been developing display drivers all year , In a year's time, you'll be a little expert on display drivers ; In big companies, remember one thing , Everything you do is very “ fine ” Of ; meanwhile , The salary level and benefits of large companies are also considerable , There is a perfect promotion route , The turnover rate is generally not high .

A small company ： What are the characteristics of small companies ？ answer ： Fewer people ！

What are the consequences of fewer people ？ answer ： The division of labor of the project is not clear , Do everything , The thought it irrigates you is “ Xiao Chen , We train comprehensive talents , Here you are the engineer of the whole stack ”;

It's estimated that many people don't understand , It means that there are fewer people here and more people , You have to do everything . Small companies don't care whether you are an embedded driver engineer or an Embedded Application Engineer （ Some companies are still differentiated , It really can't be covered with pieces ）, Anyway, it's work, you have to do , You have to do it for me every minute , Don't tell me you haven't learned , If you haven't learned it, you can learn it . Another feature of small companies is ：“ fast ”, A project in a large company may take months or more , It doesn't exist in small companies , Leaders expect you to finish in a few days or two or three weeks , Then you can only say hehe . You bet , You can make rapid progress in small companies , Strong comprehensive skills , If you spend more time than others , Understand each project clearly , Instead of dealing with mentality . Stick to it , Two years later, I will be able to be alone . The salary offered by small companies to fresh students is lower than that offered by large companies , Its welfare is not perfect and the promotion route is generally vague , So the turnover rate of small companies will be relatively high , There are often three jumps in two years .

There is another experience to share with young people ： No matter what language , Just a simple tool , In the end, only the principle remains 、 agreement 、 frame 、 thinking .

3、 ... and . Embedded development prospect and current situation

At present, embedded development tends to be intelligent , That is what we call intelligent hardware （ Hardware + Software ）, From the perspective of various cutting-edge embedded products, this is indeed the case , A development trend of embedded products is more inclined to automatic control and human-computer interaction , Instead of emphasizing “ Algorithm ” This piece of , Distinguish between being an embedded engineer and not an algorithm engineer , What a lot “ Artificial intelligence ”、“ Alfa dog ”、“ Deep learning ”、“ neural network ” You don't need to understand , That's a graduate student 、 Doctoral students do , Xiaosheng doesn't mean that you are insufficient , It is “ There are specialized skills ”, This is not the workload of an embedded engineer , All you need to do is talk to them “ Cloud brain ” Docking , Call them API Just a matter of .

Because of AI 、 Deep learning 、 neural network 、 Blockchain 、 The rise of advanced disciplines such as big data , Many people question ：“ Is there any future for embedded system ”？ I can definitely tell you this question here ：“ Embedded has a good development prospect , Cutting edge embedded technology is about to rise , Or has risen ”. You bet , Artificial intelligence 、 The disciplines of big data will have an impact on embedded systems , For now , College students are more inclined to python programing language 、 Machine learning , Embedded scholars are indeed down from previous years , But the lack of scholars does not mean that his needs are less , It doesn't mean his salary has decreased , At present, an embedded technology tends to be combined with intelligent discipline , Take Baidu robot as an example , The core of a robot is the brain , That is “ Data and algorithms ”, But the robot brain wants the robot body to move like a human , have a glib , Walk freely , Then we must rely on Embedded Technology , This is what I call embedded + Intelligent subject application , In the long run , Embedded will only become more and more popular , The rise of intelligent discipline will certainly drive the development of new embedded technology .

For the development prospect , There is a more important parameter , That's the salary level of embedded software engineers today , Let me give you some rational data , It comes from the research of major recruitment platforms ：（ The data can only be used for reference , The specific salary still depends on personal accomplishments , Some can't reach the salary level , Some have already exceeded the salary level ）

Not 211、985 The average monthly salary of fresh graduates from colleges and Universities ：8k

yes 211、985 The average monthly salary of fresh graduates from colleges and Universities ：12k

The monthly salary of one year's working experience ：10k-15k

Two years working experience, monthly salary ：12k-18k

Three to five years working experience, monthly salary ：20k-30k

The above data is only for those “ Real effort ” Embedded engineer , Not suitable for “ Coping style work ” Embedded engineer , At the same time, it declares that it will not take any responsibility for the salary level .

Four . Looking forward to artificial intelligence driving cutting-edge embedded technology

The impact of artificial intelligence on embedded system , It's a blessing and a curse , The realization of artificial intelligence depends on Embedded Technology everywhere , The discipline of artificial intelligence unconsciously drives the innovation of Embedded Technology , From a range of smart products , Including drones 、 Smart sound 、 Robot control 、 Urban sky eye system 、 Smart furniture 、 Autopilot 、 Sweeping robot 、 Millet bracelet and so on , Which does not rely on embedded technology to achieve , did not , The more artificial intelligence wants to express its intelligence level to human beings , The more we rely on Embedded Technology , Therefore, cutting-edge embedded technology tends to be embedded + The development of intelligence , When the subject of intelligence really rises , Embedded must be another wave and technological innovation .

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