Do internships exist in this field, if you don't have any degrees?

I have too much of a degree, but I do not have a direct experience. I am unemployable by the electronics industry either.

Look for a general or non-technical position in a company that does use embedded systems programmers. Express your career goals to the interviewers. If you can get "any" job there, you will be at least building time in the company, becoming known (hopefully in a positive light) and should learn about entry level positions that show up as your education increases. Just remember to try and be an asset, not a pain in the butt!

You may find positions that border on the technical where you can learn such as an aid in an IT group, documentation groups, product release groups, etc. These may offer positions that rely more on your grasp of English (assuming that's the local language), attention to detail, etc.

I work in a smaller company, so there are not as many opportunities here, but people from larger companies may follow up on this and give you some more specific ideas.

Scott

Having an interest in a subject is one thing; demonstrating experience is another. Hiring an inexperienced employee is a terrific drain on resources as they are oriented and this draws time from other employees

- anything you can do be productive faster will make you more viable to a prospective employer.

In other words, dabble on your own and get some experience under your belt. Pick a microcontroller, buy their dev kit, and create a project (or find one to contribute to) - this can often be done for under US$100.

If you search here, there will be several threads on "how do I get started in microcontrollers" that recommend vendors and dev kits.

Cheers, Richard

Thanks for all the replies thus far. I do understand that, me, being an inexperienced person who just expresses interest in a particular field does not make me "attractive" to an entity involved in the field. I started learning x86 asm in 1997 and almost built an OS, that was until I got a job in

Are there any good publications (soft or hardcopy) that anyone would recommend?

O great CB. Our leading light.

Where would we be without your endless wisdom.

Ther are several open source projects you can study and/or contribute to

-

Here are a few links from my files that may also be of interest:

Also, if you have background in Windows GUIs, consider breaking in through that vantage point - interface and control apps for embedded systems, then move down to the microcontroller side. If you can build on existing experience, you may warrant more income during the transition.

Cheers, Richard

"I'm currently in a community college. So I take basic general-education classes. Future 4-year university major will be computer engineering (I want ot be an embedded sysstems programmer).

However, in searching for job/internship (since I technically know nothing about the field) except what I read on a computer screen (& don't possess any degree), is the reason why I limit myself to "general" jobs like working at a pizza factory or in sales.

How can a future computer engineering major get a jump on how to be an intern (in other words, what would an intern do?)"

Good luck to you. It can be unnecessarily difficult to get such a job as recruiters think that people who have not been through much university yet could not possibly do anything.

I can say that before I started a degree, I was fortunate enough that BT in the UK had a very good policy for recruiting pupils. I do not know whether this is still the case. Glancing at

Good luck, it is good to have ambition!

I can't..that's what an internship is gonna change! But I thought since you don't get paid, that it's not much of a drain on the company.

Never heard of BT, but took a look at the site. None of the job descriptions actually interest me though.

Yeah...better use it while it lasts I guess...