This article (auto-translated from Portuguese to English) has a good overview of developing a career as a developer of embedded software. Note: The original is http://www.sergioprado.org/2010/02/24/como-se-tornar-um-desenvolvedor-de-software-embarcado/here.
It begins by outlining the spheres of knowledge you must develop:
Knowledge: You must know the theory involved in embedded systems. This means hardware and software. It is impossible to be a competent developer of embedded software without getting to know the hardware architecture which is working.
Skill: You need to get experience in the area. Needs practice. You can decorate all the PIC assembler mnemonics, but it is no use if you can not drive a LED with this knowledge.
Attitude: Above all, you need to attitudes that will make you grow in this area. It is a very dynamic with frequent changes and developments. You need to always be motivated (a) be self-taught, enjoy learning, "tweak" and understand how things work. Without such attitudes will give you soon. Because this area you need to be very, very persistent.
It then gives the following tips for mastering these areas (Portugueseand develops them with further text, these are just the headings):
- What you need to learn hardware (at least)
- What you need to learn the software (at least)
- In addition, study operating systems
- You need a training
- Do not stop, keep learning and developing your networking!
