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Hello everyone, I am Hardcore Wang. Recently, I have been sharing embedded knowledge for free to help those interested in embedded systems learn, work on projects, and find jobs!
This consultant is a microcontroller engineer with two and a half years of experience, who recently submitted his resignation, but the company hopes he will stay and has agreed to some of his requests. Now he is unsure whether he should remain at the company. Below, I will share our conversation, hoping it can help others.
Consultation original link: https://www.zhihu.com/consult/people/1164262656000655360
Consultant – Grilled Chicken Leg Burger:“It’s me again, the one who was considering transitioning to Linux driver development. My current company reacted to my resignation suggestion by hiring a senior embedded engineer to convert the main projects to RTOS. The new engineer thinks I have the capability and wants to keep me on for the refactoring. So now I’m a bit conflicted; it feels like an opportunity to enhance my project experience, but I lack the power electronics background to contribute significantly in the new energy sector, only being able to participate in some low-level driver and RTOS architecture logic work.
This senior engineer has promised to train me, and the boss has also committed to the refactoring.Do you think this opportunity is worth staying for a while longer?
”Responder – Hardcore Wang:“I remember you. After our last conversation, I thought you had made up your mind to transition to Linux driver development. Now the company leadership doesn’t want you to leave, and it seems you feel you aren’t getting any advancement, which is why they agreed to the project refactoring and a senior engineer has promised to train you. To answer your question, you can stay for a while.However, during this time, you need to observe and think about three questions:First, what are your true needs? Do you want to work in Linux driver development for personal satisfaction; or is it about salary, wanting better material living conditions; or is it about a good industry direction, with comprehensive development in technology and salary in the future?Second, does the company’s training align with your goals? If it aligns, then stay; if not, you can still seek stability while learning independently, working on Linux projects, and then consider switching jobs.
Third, try looking for other job opportunities to see if there are better options. Regardless of whether your current company meets your goals, you should periodically explore the job market to understand future industry directions, salary structures, technology trends, etc., which will help you decide whether to stay at the company.
”Consultant – Grilled Chicken Leg Burger:“I still want to transition to Linux development, but I haven’t seen many job opportunities in the market lately. Especially since my project experience isn’t outstanding, lacking sufficient RTOS project experience, this is the main reason I’m considering whether to stay at the company. I want to work in Linux driver development because I believe that without a background in power electronics and electric drive technology, the pure software architecture skills on microcontrollers won’t support my future career development.
I’m also quite troubled by the new energy sector, which should be a good industry right now, but honestly, I always feel that I lack a technical moat in this field, which means I won’t go far. After all, the key to the new energy industry is power electronics technology, while software architecture seems to be overlooked. Linux is complex enough to provide a broader platform.
”Responder – Hardcore Wang:“Let me share some thoughts from three perspectives. I actually don’t think it’s wise for you to stay at this company. 1. If the project isn’t at a point where it can’t be used, it won’t be refactored. It would require a lot of time, manpower, etc., and it might not even achieve the current code’s stability. Even if a new project is started, they wouldn’t want to refactor. So, refactoring is just talk.2. If the senior engineer promises to train you, will he get a raise? Training you might just add to his workload. Even if he trains you, do you think his guidance will provide more substantial improvement than taking a course or working on a real project?
3. You still haven’t clarified the relationship between project experience, technical direction, and industry development.Technology serves the industry; if your industry needs certain technologies, you must learn those technologies. What is valuable is industry experience. If you want to use technology as a moat in the industry, that idea is wrong. You can treat technology as a moat for work, so the more you learn, the deeper you go, and technology must be systematic, structured, and include various debugging and optimization experiences. This is unavoidable and will be necessary for decades to come.
Project experience is merely a proof needed for job switching; it is your practical report card. The type of projects you work on determines which industry you can enter, and the difficulty of the projects equals your technical value. For beginners, it’s about modifying functions and optimizing bugs; for intermediates, it’s about designing systems from scratch, like redesigning a smart lock with domestic chips to improve performance and optimize costs; for advanced: solving industry challenges, such as making autonomous driving lidar work at -40°C.
”Responder – Hardcore Wang:“The industry is fine. If you are struggling with a lack of deeper technology, you can self-learn Linux and other technologies. When the time comes to use them at work, you won’t fear being replaced. If you want to find a job directly related to Linux platform projects and industries, you can start interviewing now.”Responder – Hardcore Wang:“
If you really enjoy working in areas like Linux low-level drivers, the risks may be higher, and systematic training will be required, but the future development prospects are broader. Compared to more complex MCU platforms, if you successfully switch jobs, you will need to delve deeply into a specific direction to see good salary growth. So it still depends on which industry you prefer. After working for a long time, if you don’t like this industry, you will want to switch to another direction, leading to no accumulation and stagnant salary, resulting in being eliminated in mid-career.
”
Responder – Hardcore Wang:
“If the salary offered is satisfactory and you can still learn something, staying for a while longer is a good choice.”Consultant – Grilled Chicken Leg Burger:“Thank you very much for your guidance!”
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