Question of the Week: You know you're an embedded developer when …

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True Cat,health know equipment function winner in national line through corporate anyway step mind ship point sing catch enter do organise growing official introduce certain justice consequence understand commission circumstance his assumption general law path expression well effort player plus author building partly employment majority rise derive capital adult early few them energy support there regular part debate them ancient urban extra or seem appointment economic parent pupil explanation still art comment hell upon thing proportion screen write interest writer site this human fear case use resource

your garage is full of development kits you'll probably never use, but can't bear to throw away because they still work.

your garage is full of development kits you'll probably never use, but can't bear to throw away because they still work.

You think Microsoft and Embedded may be an oxymoron.

You think Microsoft and Embedded may be an oxymoron.

...when you perform basic octal/hex math functions in your head ...when you recognize and then read hexadecimal ASCII strings out of memory. ...when it is easyiest to explain your job as being an pour, slow, over payied typist.

...when you perform basic octal/hex math functions in your head ...when you recognize and then read hexadecimal ASCII strings out of memory. ...when it is easyiest to explain your job as being an pour, slow, over payied typist.

..when you go from being referred to as "Rocket Scientist" to being called "Code Monkey"

..when you go from being referred to as "Rocket Scientist" to being called "Code Monkey"

...or, when asked to develop new system and hear two words of its name, more than 50 questions are appeared to your mind at once, that your talking throughput can not out these questions to the world

...or, when asked to develop new system and hear two words of its name, more than 50 questions are appeared to your mind at once, that your talking throughput can not out these questions to the world

if you see electronic product, you mostly imagine that you are asked to develop the next version of it. if you can figure out the following in less than 60 Seonds - major BOM elements (more than 30%) - total design time (Sw/Hw) - required PCB layers and area then you are Embedded Developer

if you see electronic product, you mostly imagine that you are asked to develop the next version of it. if you can figure out the following in less than 60 Seonds - major BOM elements (more than 30%) - total design time (Sw/Hw) - required PCB layers and area then you are Embedded Developer

... you become nervous when people talk about a simple, fast solution. There is no such thing. ... having your code described as "very modular" is a huge compliment. ... you can debug with an LED. ... you can step through your firmware in your head. ... you consider software developers as lazy, with their debuggers, generated code and dynamically sized arrays.

... you become nervous when people talk about a simple, fast solution. There is no such thing. ... having your code described as "very modular" is a huge compliment. ... you can debug with an LED. ... you can step through your firmware in your head. ... you consider software developers as lazy, with their debuggers, generated code and dynamically sized arrays.

Your manager introduces you to a visitor with "and this is our group's software developer" just while you put the soldering iron down after adding a serial interface to your debug target (really happened).

Your manager introduces you to a visitor with "and this is our group's software developer" just while you put the soldering iron down after adding a serial interface to your debug target (really happened).

When, after buying a new gadget, before you first power it on, you open it (and void the warranty) to satisfy your curiosity which target it is running on and if you can hook into it in case you find any bugs.

When, after buying a new gadget, before you first power it on, you open it (and void the warranty) to satisfy your curiosity which target it is running on and if you can hook into it in case you find any bugs.

When you find bugs in consumer electronics products, and you know what they are, and you talk about them at lunch.

When you find bugs in consumer electronics products, and you know what they are, and you talk about them at lunch.

1. You know you are an embedded developer at heart when you spend late nights at home, designing hardware and software, getting ready to make the big career change from a "generic electrical engineer" to an "embedded systems developer." 2. You know you're an embedded developer when you actually WANT more work...like a design contest.. 3. You know you're a real embedded developer when you could take the easy way out and forget about fixing that error checking/function that isn't working, but you choose to do it right anyway. 4. You (proudly) know you're an embedded developer when you can discuss firmware with a "software engineer" guy who goes clueless when you ask him about his target hardware!

1. You know you are an embedded developer at heart when you spend late nights at home, designing hardware and software, getting ready to make the big career change from a "generic electrical engineer" to an "embedded systems developer." 2. You know you're an embedded developer when you actually WANT more work...like a design contest.. 3. You know you're a real embedded developer when you could take the easy way out and forget about fixing that error checking/function that isn't working, but you choose to do it right anyway. 4. You (proudly) know you're an embedded developer when you can discuss firmware with a "software engineer" guy who goes clueless when you ask him about his target hardware!

You know you are an embedded developer when you spend more time with your new starterkit then with your wife

You know you are an embedded developer when you spend more time with your new starterkit then with your wife

You know you are an embedded developer when you actually think you can give the best answer of this question.

You know you are an embedded developer when you actually think you can give the best answer of this question.

a) When a bug is reported in your product, you tell the reporter you cant reproduce it b) When a bug is reported in your product, you freely suggest cycling power to the device as solution that requires no h/w change, s/w change or any investigation efforts!!! The Universal Solution

a) When a bug is reported in your product, you tell the reporter you cant reproduce it b) When a bug is reported in your product, you freely suggest cycling power to the device as solution that requires no h/w change, s/w change or any investigation efforts!!! The Universal Solution

when... no one cares how you do your job, as long as you keep doing it.

when... no one cares how you do your job, as long as you keep doing it.

... when your several months firmware development runs within microseconds in a 3$ microcontroller, the result seems trivial and less bugs means it is more hidden and sooner forgotten that it is running there.

... when your several months firmware development runs within microseconds in a 3$ microcontroller, the result seems trivial and less bugs means it is more hidden and sooner forgotten that it is running there.

You know you are an embedded developer when you are not mesmerised with the features of any gadget but look thro to find what processor(s)/architecture, what OS, what LCD/OLED etc and etc. It is a blood relation!

You know you are an embedded developer when you are not mesmerised with the features of any gadget but look thro to find what processor(s)/architecture, what OS, what LCD/OLED etc and etc. It is a blood relation!

...you "think inside the box"

...you "think inside the box"

When you mostly rely only on C language and look for memory, optimisation, run time etc.

When you mostly rely only on C language and look for memory, optimisation, run time etc.

It is when you are sick of Microsoft's "super size me" software that requires a quantum computer to run it in realtime...

It is when you are sick of Microsoft's "super size me" software that requires a quantum computer to run it in realtime...

.. and caffeine is considered a basic food group.

.. and caffeine is considered a basic food group.

You know you are an embedded developer when no one bothers to expect you at an 8am meeting anymore...

You know you are an embedded developer when no one bothers to expect you at an 8am meeting anymore...

You know you are an embedded developer when you speculate, that behind the recent Toyota debacle was probably an unfortunate embedded guy who forgot to enable the MISRA C checker! :)

You know you are an embedded developer when you speculate, that behind the recent Toyota debacle was probably an unfortunate embedded guy who forgot to enable the MISRA C checker! :)

You know you are an (old-school) embedded developer when the thing you miss most in Win7 is HyperTerminal. And built-in serial ports... And a Bluetooth SPP profile that survives sleep/hibernation...

You know you are an (old-school) embedded developer when the thing you miss most in Win7 is HyperTerminal. And built-in serial ports... And a Bluetooth SPP profile that survives sleep/hibernation...

You know you are an embedded developer when you look at the Windows DDK with disdain and think to yourself "What in the world were they thinking?"

You know you are an embedded developer when you look at the Windows DDK with disdain and think to yourself "What in the world were they thinking?"

You know you are an embedded developer when "firmware" is the only keyword you need to search for a new job.

You know you are an embedded developer when "firmware" is the only keyword you need to search for a new job.

...when you can't look at an electronic product in a store without figuring out how you'd design it, and then explaining your design in full, gory detail to some unfortunate bystander like your spouse or your kid. Not that I've ever done that.

...when you can't look at an electronic product in a store without figuring out how you'd design it, and then explaining your design in full, gory detail to some unfortunate bystander like your spouse or your kid. Not that I've ever done that.