1. Home
  2. Embedded Programming
  3. Embedded job market?

Embedded job market?

I geared my education towards embedded design because I discovered that it was something I enjoyed doing. I enjoyed the challenge, and I enjoyed building neat little MCU based devices. I did my final year design project in embedded, desiging and building an embedded device that incorporated wireless 802.11 TCP/IP communication.

Now, not only can I not find a job, I can barely find any jobs to apply to. The only guy I do know in the industry works at Mitsubishi and says they laid off a bunch of people when they merged with Hitachi and are not hiring (so there goes any inside tracks). Public entry-level positions don't seem to exist anymore.

I hear all of the talk about jobs moving to India and whatnot, but I don't see a lot of posts by grads complaining they can't find work, which makes me wonder if I'm just incompetent at finding a job. I'm just wondering what you guys actually working inside the industry think the situation is like. Any grads find work in the past few months?

Reply to
SoL
Loading thread data ...

You in SoCal? (appear to be)..

Reply to
C Wood

I was laid off due to outsourcing my embedded job to India. Been out of work over 9 months. None of my fellow laid off engineers have found permanent work yet.

Silicon Valley unemployment rate just dropped from 8.4% to 7.9% but that was only because people have given up and quit looking for work. I've read there are 300 applications per job in Silicon Valley right now.

San Diego is the hub for embedded wireless companies.

National unemployment slightly improved last month due to increased military spending. Consider military companies; Lockheed, Raytheon, Boeing.

Reply to
techie

You might try looking around at places like monster.com or dice.com. I've seen job listings for embedded programmers. My advice is that even though jobs are listed requiring experienced programmers, send your resume in anyway. Mention your project with 802.11 and TCP/IP as I've seen quite a few postings looking for people who have done this (at least here in Silicon Valley). Also mention any RTOS you used.

Try looking at websites for places that do networking stuff like Cisco or PDA folk like Palm (or whoever makes Blackberry).

Reply to
Gary Kato

article , SoL writes

YEs... in India. This is an international NG you don't say where in the world you are.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/ snipped-for-privacy@phaedsys.org

formatting link
\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Reply to
Chris Hills

First question is what qaulifications and experience do you have?

Ian

Reply to
Ian Bell

If you're a recent grad, go through the university career fairs (and career and employment services) to find a job. Out side of college, employers expect at least 5 years experience. When I graduated in '97, it took at least a dozen interviews to become "good" at them. Go to seminars and read books on interviewing. Gear your resume towards the specific job you are applying for. Yes, there are tons of ppl who cannot find jobs. 'hope this helps

Reply to
matt

802.11 and TCP/IP are actually reasonably hot now. Add WinCE and you're set. ;-)

When I graduated in 96 I had 3 offers, but recently, I was unemployed for a year. Finding a good job is a lot more difficult nowadays.

A very good advice. Some employers always look for college grads (they're a lot cheaper ;-) but those jobs hardly ever get advertised in the same way as jobs for experienced people, especially now.

Reply to
aurgathor

WinCE? I hardly see any ads in Silicon Valley for WinCE jobs. Is there a big demand elsewhere in the nation?

I see more Linux or some RTOS experience listed with the 802.11 and TCP/IP.

To study up on Linux, there's probably all sorts of stuff on the Internet. You might want to check out the O'Reilly books "Understanding the Linux Kernel" and "Writing Linux Device Drivers". For RTOS knowledge, there's the book "MicroC/OS-II: The Real-Time Kernel" from CMP Books. Comes with a CDROM with source for the RTOS as well as ports for the PC.

Reply to
Gary Kato

big

Come up to Seattle and you'll see some.... (this isn't an erndorsement of WinCE, BTW)

Reply to
aurgathor

Wince is frequently on Toronto job listings, but those tend to be a dumping ground for every buzzword around. It's hard to tell who's actually using it or just covering themselves for possible future directions. (With the current supply/demand situation, why not ask for the Moon?)

--
Ron Sharp.
Interview tomorrow, mild woohoo!
Reply to
Android Cat

The soon (?!) to be released product I'm testing is based on Wince, and IMHO it's worse than anything I've worked so far. One of the hottest issue hinges on a bugfix from M$.... there's a couple of openings to become a perm (I'm a contractor) and what I'm seeing so far is kinda depressing.

Reply to
aurgathor

OP was in 2004. How has this changed in 2009? (I'm in Canada)

Reply to
Patrick EE

Given the lack of context in your post, all I can say is: it's about 5 years later.

Bob

Reply to
Bob

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.