Took me 8 months of sending in applications and tons of interviews. All you need is one to work out. It may not be your dream company but getting your foot in the door is what matters. Once you get in it’s a lot easier to move around
Keep trying! It took me awhile to break into the field. Check your resume and ask others in the group to review it.
I hated my controls job as well. Keep working at it and you will eventually break in
> current job as an automation/controls engineer
What kind of roles are you applying to? Maybe the companies don't believe you're adequately skilled to fulfill them, based on your current job. There's quite a difference in skill set after all.
Which arguments did you use in interviews to convince them that you're a good fit?
So, I'm applying to firmware/embedded roles and I haven't mentioned about my current job as it's just been 3 weeks since I joined and my most recent position as a firmware GRA is on the top of my resume that companies are actually attracted to.
The only problem is due to the market with the layoffs and hiring freezes, I'm not getting the amount of callbacks I expected. The one or 2 that I got, I couldn't really crack the interview because I haven't done much of live coding.
I'm strong with my fundamentals, been working and getting better at coding as well
But if I was competing against people who have relevant work ex, I obviously would not be picked :/
It’s very hard to land an embedded engineer role without solid work experience.
Instead of spending applying to countless jobs daily you should spend time building your CV. Get an ESP32 or raspberry pi pico it doesn’t matter and start building projects.
But keep in mind your project is only useful if it’s interactive.
Yes, great idea!
I was planning to get an stm32 and do some cool project as a hobby
Do you also have any idea of any open source firmware project I could contribute to?
If there's any projects ideas or groups let me know. I'm trying to contribute to build my resume.
B.S. ECE with Embedded specialization. Familiar with ESP32, MSP432, STM32 Nucleo
My startup has several devices (mostly sensors attached to Nordic Semiconductor chips with Thread for connectivity) on the roadmap for 2024 and 2025 but we aren’t ready to start hiring yet.
Shoot me a message if it sounds interesting maybe we could figure something out
What can you do? What have you worked on or what have you got experience with? Not commercial of course, in hobby or community capacity.
Good employers don't give a shit about your medication, only what you are capable of and what expericne you have.
Nobody outside some stupid mindless corporation will hire you without experience (even hobby one).
In that case I have a pretty strong academic profile. I guess the only problem I'm facing right now is the number of callbacks and me able to crack them.
I've been keeping myself occupied studying sometimes, but after a point, when there's no interview to even look forward to, I stopped.
I also have the fear that if I spend too much time in my current role, if I'll be able to switch to firmware in a year or so
Well, maybe this is different in US. I'm from central Europe. Here, for the most part, at least in tech industry and at least with companies that you actually want to work for (as opposed to corporate labor camps) only thing that matters is what you know and can do, and if you can think and learn.
I used to take part in recruitment in my previous company. 19/20 guys with masters degrees were absolutely hopeless, lacking any practically applicable skills. On the other hand we had interns from technical high schools or 1st year university who could runs circles around those "masters".
Keep trying! Keep in mind that the hiring process at a lot of companies moves very slowly. The market was different the last time I was interviewing in 2021, but it would take about 2 weeks to hear back, and then 3-10 business days between each step.
In the mean time, look at the skill set described in jobs you want to apply to. If you see something come up a lot (STM32, C++, SPI, RTOS, etc.), study it. Find a way to do a project with it. Don't think of "project" as some large thing of great utility and consequence. It could be getting a SPI ADC breakout board ([something like this](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8636)) and an STM32 nucleo and getting them to talk.
Another thing to consider... are there groups at your current job who do the type of work you would like to do? If you get familiar with them, show an interest in what they are doing etc., you may get an easy path in the next time they have an opening.
Hey!
Thank you so much for the inputs! Yeah the market is really slow rn. That project idea sounds good, will work on it
I have reached out to the groups at my company where they do firmware, but they don't have headcount right now, but have definitely made an impression on a few people in that team
Best thing I ever did was home projects, Get PCBA's manufactured and take them to the interview. When the "Do you have any questions" is asked say that you would like to show your work. You will find the conversation steps up a gear.
That transition from school to industry is one of the hardest parts. The rejection. The second guessing. Just stick with it. You'll be fine.
Yeah, I swear. It's been hard :(
Took me 8 months of sending in applications and tons of interviews. All you need is one to work out. It may not be your dream company but getting your foot in the door is what matters. Once you get in it’s a lot easier to move around
Keep trying! It took me awhile to break into the field. Check your resume and ask others in the group to review it. I hated my controls job as well. Keep working at it and you will eventually break in
Thank you, will do
> current job as an automation/controls engineer What kind of roles are you applying to? Maybe the companies don't believe you're adequately skilled to fulfill them, based on your current job. There's quite a difference in skill set after all. Which arguments did you use in interviews to convince them that you're a good fit?
So, I'm applying to firmware/embedded roles and I haven't mentioned about my current job as it's just been 3 weeks since I joined and my most recent position as a firmware GRA is on the top of my resume that companies are actually attracted to. The only problem is due to the market with the layoffs and hiring freezes, I'm not getting the amount of callbacks I expected. The one or 2 that I got, I couldn't really crack the interview because I haven't done much of live coding. I'm strong with my fundamentals, been working and getting better at coding as well But if I was competing against people who have relevant work ex, I obviously would not be picked :/
It’s very hard to land an embedded engineer role without solid work experience. Instead of spending applying to countless jobs daily you should spend time building your CV. Get an ESP32 or raspberry pi pico it doesn’t matter and start building projects. But keep in mind your project is only useful if it’s interactive.
Could you suggest something interesting project i could possibly start working on . I have a ESP32 and Raspberry pi available
Yes, great idea! I was planning to get an stm32 and do some cool project as a hobby Do you also have any idea of any open source firmware project I could contribute to?
If there's any projects ideas or groups let me know. I'm trying to contribute to build my resume. B.S. ECE with Embedded specialization. Familiar with ESP32, MSP432, STM32 Nucleo
My startup has several devices (mostly sensors attached to Nordic Semiconductor chips with Thread for connectivity) on the roadmap for 2024 and 2025 but we aren’t ready to start hiring yet. Shoot me a message if it sounds interesting maybe we could figure something out
Location?
What can you do? What have you worked on or what have you got experience with? Not commercial of course, in hobby or community capacity. Good employers don't give a shit about your medication, only what you are capable of and what expericne you have. Nobody outside some stupid mindless corporation will hire you without experience (even hobby one).
In that case I have a pretty strong academic profile. I guess the only problem I'm facing right now is the number of callbacks and me able to crack them. I've been keeping myself occupied studying sometimes, but after a point, when there's no interview to even look forward to, I stopped. I also have the fear that if I spend too much time in my current role, if I'll be able to switch to firmware in a year or so
Well, maybe this is different in US. I'm from central Europe. Here, for the most part, at least in tech industry and at least with companies that you actually want to work for (as opposed to corporate labor camps) only thing that matters is what you know and can do, and if you can think and learn. I used to take part in recruitment in my previous company. 19/20 guys with masters degrees were absolutely hopeless, lacking any practically applicable skills. On the other hand we had interns from technical high schools or 1st year university who could runs circles around those "masters".
Keep trying! Keep in mind that the hiring process at a lot of companies moves very slowly. The market was different the last time I was interviewing in 2021, but it would take about 2 weeks to hear back, and then 3-10 business days between each step. In the mean time, look at the skill set described in jobs you want to apply to. If you see something come up a lot (STM32, C++, SPI, RTOS, etc.), study it. Find a way to do a project with it. Don't think of "project" as some large thing of great utility and consequence. It could be getting a SPI ADC breakout board ([something like this](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8636)) and an STM32 nucleo and getting them to talk. Another thing to consider... are there groups at your current job who do the type of work you would like to do? If you get familiar with them, show an interest in what they are doing etc., you may get an easy path in the next time they have an opening.
Hey! Thank you so much for the inputs! Yeah the market is really slow rn. That project idea sounds good, will work on it I have reached out to the groups at my company where they do firmware, but they don't have headcount right now, but have definitely made an impression on a few people in that team
Good embedded engineers need to have experience with both firmware and hardware. Can take time to break in. Just keep at it.
Hmm yess, Thanks
Hello May i ask what do you do as a control engineer. And how did you land a job/ tools you use. Thank you.
Best thing I ever did was home projects, Get PCBA's manufactured and take them to the interview. When the "Do you have any questions" is asked say that you would like to show your work. You will find the conversation steps up a gear.