IC engineer or Embedded system software engineer?

Neither, pick something in the humanities and leave a job for the rest of us....

As company ? For which application ? As student ? Aiming at what ? Best salary, most chances, .. ?

Rene

Student. Want to search for a job and concentrate my study on it.Advice for me?Which one is more promising?

Advice: Don't plan your education with a "job" in mind. What do you like to do? What are you good at? A hardware designer vs a software engineer. While interrelated are very different fields and different aptitudes are going to be better suited to one or the other. Not to say that a person couldn't do one or not the other, but certain personalities and mannerisms make one more suitable over the other.

JW

Depends on what you mean by promising. If you meant which is more interesting, then pick the one that interests you.

If you meant which one pays better, then become a lawyer.

Or could it be that the reverse is true, that you develop your personality by doing one or the other?

You obviously need to have a general education in science as the embedded devices interact with the physical environment.

Mechanics, optics, control theory, statistics are as useful as techniques that you can acquire later.

Learning how to use tools such as an oscilloscope, a logic states analyser, an emulator are useful to both if you want to be able to investigate serious problems.

And now that compilers can implement algorithms in hardware or in software, is there a difference;)

Both are out of reach for a student. Embedded means knowing a lot about cpu architectures, ASM, software, communication, sensors, whatever, the IC stuff requires physics and such.

Rene

Perhaps. From personal experience, "good" HW guys have a certain personality. As do the "good" SW guys. As to what is cause or effect, I dont' have an answer. Personally, I can do HW design, but I am not good at it. I am much better at software, but I like it a lot better too.

Definitely

Useful, but these can be picked up pretty quick if you have an adequate background. Does pay to learn at least the basic functionality of each of these tools. Everyone you use will have it's own unique quirks, but the basics stay the same.

Fair enough. The line is getting blurry, but each has it's own core background that is uniquely different.

Thanks for your advices. I have some education background on both IC design and Embedded system design. I just want to put more time on one only and to be proficient at it.

If I like to become a system architect in the future, how do I make a choice?Want to make an efficient career path and don't want to waste time. I wasted some times before due to I am not sure what I will be and how I need to do.

Thanks,

If you want to become a real system engineer, that's quite challenging. Real system engineers must know about all the sub systems in a system, and that can be mechanical subsystems, hydraulic subsystems, electronics, software, and also data analysis.

You need to have a working knowledge in all the fields, if you want to be a competent one. You wouldn't work as one directly after the university. You would work in each field.

Now you may speak about a system architect as one who specifies and designs an electronics sub system both from the hardware and the software point of view. As before you would need to have a working knowledge of both fields. You have no choice but to learn both, at least at the university, and perhaps, after, you specialize more in one or the other.

Hello Lanarcam,

I got you. Thanks.

You have deep understanding on this field. What do you do ritht now?

Reading this interesting thread and also my best;)

You can find these information in any good book about system engineering. This does not mean you will become instantly a system engineer. I have met some and they were really competent.

Lanarcam,

I got the direct information about the real life from you. Sometimes there is a difference between books and the real life.:-) Thanks again.

Could you tell me how they can be really competent?Could you please tell me about them briefly?I want to try my best to follow them.:-)

Embedded was not out of reach for me and my KIM-1 when I was a student. With the AVR's, PIC's, and free assemblers and compilers, it's easier than ever.

Why, when I was in college I had to hand-assemble my own programs, and enter them byte-by-byte on a hexadecimal keypad. You don't even believe me!

Embedded can require some physics too.

Embedded is like being a nurse, it's not too hard to get started in, and it pays reasonably well. IC design is like being a doctor, it requires more schooling, but pays more.

But watch out for the competition - with "managed care" and HMO's and such, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of doctors are getting into IC design...

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