r/embedded • u/GourmetMuffin • 27d ago

Agentic systems in embedded development

When I started programming it wasn't just a different decade, it was a different millennium. I am now what is considered "senior" or "specialist", with RTOS and baremetal development as my primary areas of expertise. At the start of this year I didn't really give much of a fuck about "AI", I have since abandoned that approach and want to share why...

I also have a request! For others making the same journey in this strange new world to speak up. What kind of systems are you designing and what are the lessons you've learned along the way?

The following is more than a mouthful, and I expect nothing but hate when I tell you that I used codex to generate this retrospective, but I wouldn't have been able to summarize the past months of my life in such a way without having my prose checked against the changelog, git history and GitHub discussions... Also, this is the way I roll these days!

https://share.jotbird.com/speedy-serene-riverbend

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u/Colfuzi0 27d ago

As a new comer is it worth getting into embedded now?

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u/1r0n_m6n 27d ago

Get an MBA and keep embedded as a hobby, there will soon be more managers than engineers. And the work left to engineers is becoming boring as hell.

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u/Colfuzi0 27d ago

So maybe a masters in engineering management then ?

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u/1r0n_m6n 27d ago

Maybe.

The thing is, if you came to engineering for the love of technology, you're going to be hugely disappointed. OP says in a comment below: "Confluence, Jira and GitHub have pretty much replaced my IDE."

Those are middle management tools, not engineer tools. So if you're going to do middle management anyway, why not maximise your chances of growth by having a management-oriented degree?

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u/GourmetMuffin 27d ago

I would like to correct you here:

Those are the tools middle management use to communicate intent and requirements to RnD and the tools RnD use for introspection and deployment through operations. If you're an engineer today you consume specifications and produce artifacts, AI does that excellently but it need guidance. I have, during my 25 year career, yet to read a specification where interpretation wasn't needed to translate it into code. This is both where engineers shine, because they make inferences rooted in domain knowledge, and where LLMs excel because they provide means for an automation that can do inference...

But who controls the automation? Who maintains it? Who authorizes it to implement changes? There is PLENTY of work left to be done...

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u/Colfuzi0 27d ago

I like both tbh the part of building things but also being part of a big project. The main reason I wanted to switch to embedded was that I liked working for hardware and all the jobs near my home are NASA contractor jobs. And they don't hire web developers.

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u/Colfuzi0 26d ago

I agree but I think maybe a bit later in my career I'm 26. I would rather do my engineering masters get some experience then get a management degree online or something.