Embedded Systems Engineering Roadmap

This roadmap is designed to assist beginners aspiring to build a career as an Embedded Engineer / Developer. To provide comprehensive guidance, I have carefully selected the topics based on current open job requirements and organized them according to my personal experience.

Becoming an embedded engineer requires a broad understanding of both software and hardware. If you are starting on this journey, you must be highly motivated and passionate to pursue this path. The field of embedded systems demands a solid understanding of hardware functionality. But, as the well-known saying goes, "Hardware is hard!". So, patience and passion are the essential qualities that will help you overcome the various challenges encountered along this journey.

Roadmap

Learning Resources

⭐️ Featured Material

🔎 Google

• Searching is Your Super Power!

🎥 Courses and Youtube Channels

• Fastbit Embedded Brain Academy
• Quantum Leaps, LLC YouTube Channel
• Modern Embedded Systems Programming Course
• DigiKey YouTube Channel
• element14 presents YouTube Channel
• Ben Eater YouTube Channel
• Phil’s Lab YouTube Channel

🤡 Simulation

• Wokwi - Online ESP32, STM32, Arduino Simulator
• QEMU

🕹️ Arduino

If you do not have any background in programming embedded systems, Arduino boards and libraries are the best choice for you to start and learn the basics. Just keep in mind that most of the Arduino libraries are developed only for learning purposes and are not are not optimized to be used in industry. If you want to become a professional embedded developer, you should have the ability to utilize industry-compliant APIs and frameworks provided and qualified by microcontroller vendors such as STM32Cube for STM32 microcontrollers or ESP-IDF for Espressif microcontrollers.

• Getting Started with Arduino
• New Arduino Tutorials
• Arduino in a commercial product?

🐜 PlatformIO

PlatformIO is a cross-platform, cross-architecture, multiple framework, professional tool for embedded systems engineers and for software developers who write applications for embedded products.

• PlatformIO - A professional collaborative platform for embedded development

👨‍🏫 Educational Websites

• DeepBlueMbedded
• Microchip University
• SparkFun Learn: Learn at SparkFun Electronics
• Adafruit Learning System
• Random Nerd Tutorials | Learn ESP32, ESP8266, Arduino, and Raspberry Pi
• ControllersTech

⚒️ Projects

• STM32 Firmware
• STM32 : Internet Of Things with 4G LTE Modem - Hardware

Note: It is not necessary to read or watch all of the following materials, but it is important to study enough to have at least a basic understanding of each topic. Of course, the more you study and practice, the deeper and wider your knowledge will become. This will ultimately improve your skills as an engineer.

Some the resources mentioned here will only be used as references. Refer to them only when you need them.

Electronics Fundamentals

Basic Math & Calculus

• Khan Academy - Calculus 1
• Calculus - Robert T Smith, Roland Minton

Electrical Circuits Basics

• Lessons in Electric Circuits
• Fundamentals of Electric Circuits - Charles K. Alexander, Matthew Sadiku
• Grob’s Basic Electronics - Mitchel E. Schultz
• Make: Electronics: Learning by Discovery - Charles Platt
• The Art of Electronics - Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill

Electronic Components

• Encyclopedia of Electronic Components - Charles Platt

Digital Circuits & Logic Design

• Digital Design - Morris Mano

Computer Architecture

• Build an 8-bit computer from scratch
• Computer Organization and Design: ARM Edition - David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy
• Digital Design and Computer Architecture: ARM Edition - Sarah Harris, David Harris
• Embedded Systems Architecture - Tammy Noergaard

Using Test Equipment

Multimeter

• Learn How to Use a Multimeter!
• How to Use a Multimeter

Logic Analyzer

• Instrument Basics: Logic Analyzer

Oscilloscope

• What’s an OSCILLOSCOPE?
• How to Use an Oscilloscope
• How to use an oscilloscope / What is an oscilloscope / Oscilloscope tutorial

Prototyping Skills

Using Breadboards

• Everything You Need to Know about Breadboards
• How to Use a Breadboard

Hardware Design Basics

• Electronic Circuit Design - IFE - TU Graz
• Hardware Design - Phil’s Lab
• Microcontroller-Based Hardware Design With Altium Designer

PCB Design

• How To Learn PCB Design (My Thoughts, Journey, and Resources) - Phil's Lab #87
• KiCad 6 STM32 PCB Design Full Tutorial - Phil's Lab #65
• Intro to KiCad
• Altium Academy YouTube Channel
• Robert Feranec YouTube Channel
• PCB Design for EMI & SI - Phil's Lab #64
• PCB Design for Advanced Users

Soldering

• How To Solder - Electronics with Becky Stern | Digi-Key Electronics
• HOW TO SOLDER! (Beginner's Guide)
• Soldering Crash Course: Basic Techniques, Tips and Advice!
• How to Solder Through-Hole Components - Another Teaching Moment | DigiKey Electronics
• How to Solder QFN MLF Package by Hand (Using a Hot Air Rework Station) | Digi-Key Electronics
• From Solderless Breadboard to Soldered Circuit - Electronics with Becky Stern | Digi-Key Electronics

FPGA Design

• Introduction to FPGA
• FPGA Fundamentals
• FPGA Embedded Design, Part 1 - Verilog
• FPGA Embedded Design, Part 2 - Basic FPGA Training
• FPGA Embedded Design, Part 3 - EDA Tools
• FPGA Embedded Design, Part 4 - Microprocessor Design

Programming Fundamentals

Algorithms & Data Structures

• Grokking Algorithms - Aditya Y. Bhargava
• Introduction to Algorithms - Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest and Clifford Stein
• Data Structures in C
• Data Structures - Full Course Using C and C++

Design Patterns

• Embedded Systems State Machines & Data Structures
• Design Patterns for Embedded Systems in C - Bruce Powel Douglass

State Machines / UML

• State Machines
• Event-Driven Programming
• Embedded System Design using UML State Machines

Memory Allocation

• Understanding the C runtime memory model
• Dynamic Memory Allocation | C Programming Tutorial

Programming Languages

C

• W3Schools C Tutorial
• The C Programming Language - Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie
• C How to Program - Paul Deitel, Harvey Deitel
• Effective C - An Introduction to Professional C Programming - Robert C. Seacord

C++

• C++ Tutorial for Beginners - Full Course
• C++ YouTube Playlist by The Cherno
• C++ Concurrency in Action - Anthony Williams

Assembly

• Assembly Language Programming with ARM – Full Tutorial for Beginners

Python

• Real Python: Python Tutorials
• Python Crash Course - Eric Matthes
• MicroPython - Python for microcontrollers
• CircuitPython

Rust

• The Embedded Rust Book
• Community Rust support projects for STM32 microcontrollers
• Rust on ESP Community

Build System

GCC

Makefile

• GCC and Make - Compiling, Linking and Building C/C++ Applications

CMake

• How to CMake Good

Bash Script

• Bash scripting cheatsheet
• Bash Scripting Tutorial for Beginners

Docker

• Introduction to Docker for the Embedded Developer

Version Control

Git

• Git Tutorial for Beginners: Learn Git in 1 Hour
• Git for Professionals Tutorial - Tools & Concepts for Mastering Version Control with Git

SVN (Subversion)

• Apache® Subversion®

Microcontrollers

• Make: AVR Programming - Elliot Williams
• Mastering STM32 - Carmine Noviello
• Getting Started with STM32 and Nucleo
• Microcontroller Embedded C Programming: Absolute Beginners
• Embedded Systems STM32 Low-Layer APIs(LL) Driver Development
• Embedded Systems STM32 HAL APIs Driver Development

GPIO

• Tutorial 5: Peripheral 1 - General purpose Input Output (GPIO) Configuration in STM32

ADC

• How Do ADCs Work? - The Learning Circuit
• Tutorial 13: ADC in STM32F4
• Tutorial 14: ADC by Polling

DAC

• How Do DACs Work? - The Learning Circuit
• DAC in STM32 || Sine wave || HAL || CubeIDE

Timers

• STM32 TIMERS

PWM

• What is PWM?
• STM32 Guide #3: PWM + Timers

Interrupts

• Polling/Interrupt/DMA differences explained easily
• Level Up Your Arduino Code: External Interrupts
• Tutorial 10: Peripheral 2 - Nested Vector Interrupt controller (NVIC) in STM32
• Tutorial 11: LAB - External Interrupt ( EXTI ) Interfacing in STM32 using STM32CUBEMX
• Tutorial 12: Interrupt Priorities in STM32

Watchdog

• The Watchdog Timer on Arduino
• WATCHDOGS in STM32 || IWDG and WWDG || CubeIDE

DMA

• STM32 DMA PT 1
• STM32 DMA PT 2
• Getting Started With STM32 & Nucleo Part 4: Working with ADC and DMA - Maker.io
• STM32 UART DMA and IDLE LINE || Receive unknown length DATA

Bootloader

• How to Create a Super Simple Bootloader
• STM32Fx Microcontroller Custom Bootloader Development

Power Management

• SLEEP Mode in STM32F103 || CubeIDE || Low Power Mode || Current Consumption
• STOP MODE in STM32 || CubeIDE || Low Power Mode

GUI Design

• LVGL
• TouchGFX

Functional Safety

• Functional Safety According to ISO 26262 - Crash Course

Interfaces & Protocols

Common

• PROTOCOLS: UART - I2C - SPI - Serial communications #001

UART

• Understanding UART
• how does UART work??? (explained clearly)
• Basics of UART Communication | UART Frame Structure | RS 232 Basics | Part1
• Understanding UART Communication Programming | UART Peripherals | Part 2

I2C

• STM32 I2C SLAVE

SPI

• Getting Started with STM32 and Nucleo Part 5: How to Use SPI | Digi-Key Electronics

Wireless

• Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals - Nordic Semiconductor

Industrial

High-Speed

Automotive

• CAN Bus: Serial Communication - How It Works?
• CAN Bus: A Beginners Guide Part 1
• CAN Bus: A Beginners Guide Part 2
• CAN Bus, OBD2 & J1939 Explained

Network

• Hands-On Network Programming with C - Lewis Van Winkle

Cellular

• Cellular IoT Fundamentals - Nordic Semiconductor

Memories

NOR / NAND Flash

eMMC

EEPROM

• Using EEPROM with Arduino - Internal & External

SRAM / DRAM

Sensors & Actuators

• Getting Started With STM32 and Nucleo Part 2: How to Use I2C to Read Temperature Sensor TMP102
• GPS Module and STM32 || NEO 6M || Get coordinates, Date, Time, Speed, etc.
• Interface MPU6050/GY-521 with STM32 || LCD 20x4 || CubeMx || HAL || SW4STM
• DC Motor Speed Controller PWM With Potentiometer Using STM32

Operating Systems

Operating System Fundamentals

• Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces - Remzi H Arpaci-Dusseau, Andrea C Arpaci-Dusseau

Embedded Linux

• Introduction to Embedded Linux

Linux Kernel

• The Linux Programming Interface - Michael Kerrisk

Linux Device Drivers

• Linux Device Drivers - Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, Greg Kroah-Hartman
• Mastering Linux Device Driver Development - John Madieu

U-Boot

• The U-Boot Documentation

BuildRoot

• Introduction to Embedded Linux Part 1 - Buildroot | Digi-Key Electronics

Yocto

• Introduction to Embedded Linux Part 2 - Yocto Project | Digi-Key Electronics
• Yocto Project Tutorial Series (Basic to Advance)
• Embedded Linux using Yocto

Qt

• Qt Documentation
• Introduction to Qt / QML
• Multi-Threading and IPC with Qt 5 C++

Real-Time OS

• RTOS
• Beyond the RTOS

FreeRTOS

• FreeRTOS - Market leading RTOS
• Introduction to RTOS
• Getting Started With STM32 and Nucleo Part 3: FreeRTOS - How To Run Multiple Threads w/ CMSIS-RTOS

Zephyr

• Zephyr® Project
• nRF Connect SDK
• ESP32 on Zephyr OS

NuttX

• NuttX - The Apache Software Foundation!
• Getting Started to NuttX

RT-Thread

• RT-Thread | An Open Source Embedded Real-time Operating System
• RT-Thread Beginners Guide

QNX

• BlackBerry QNX: Embedded OS, Support, and Services

VxWorks

• VxWorks | Industry Leading RTOS for Embedded Systems

Digital Signal Processing

DSP Fundamentals & Filter Design

• FIR Filter Design and Software Implementation - Phil's Lab #17
• IIR Filters - Theory and Implementation (STM32) - Phil's Lab #32
• Digital Signal Processing (ECSE-4530) Lectures, Fall 2014
• Digital Signal Processing (DSP) From Ground Up in C
• Real-Time Digital Signal Processing: Fundamentals, Implementations and Applications - Sen M. Kuo, Bob H. Lee, Wenshun Tian
• Real-Time Digital Signal Processing from MATLAB to C with the TMS320C6x DSPs - Thad B. Welch, Cameron H.G. Wright, Michael G. Morrow
• Digital Signal Processing - John G. Proakis, Dimitris K. Manolakis
• Schaum's Outline of Signals and Systems - Hwei P. Hsu

Discrete Fourier Transform / FFT

• Discrete Fourier Transform - Simple Step by Step
• The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT): Most Ingenious Algorithm Ever?
• The FFT Algorithm - Simple Step by Step
• STM32 Fast Fourier Transform (CMSIS DSP FFT) - Phil's Lab #111

Controls Systems / PID Control

• Understanding Control Systems
• PID Controller Explained
• Understanding PID Control
• PID Controller Implementation in Software - Phil's Lab #6
• Control Systems Engineering - Norman S. Nise
• Modern Control Systems - Richard C. Dorf, Robert H. Bishop

MATLAB / Simulink

• MATLAB Tutorials: Getting Started with MATLAB
• Getting Started with Simulink
• MATLAB/SIMULINK Bible|Go From Zero to Hero!

Debugging

JTAG / SWD

• everyone needs to stop using print debugging (do THIS instead)
• Guide: Connecting your debugger
• STM32 + SWD + ST-Link + CubeIDE | Debugging on Custom Hardware Tutorial - Phil's Lab #4

GDB

• GDB is REALLY easy! Find Bugs in Your Code with Only A Few Commands

OpenOCD

• This Is 100% How You Should Be Debugging | How to Use OpenOCD to Debug Embedded Software with GDB

Testing

• Intro to CI/CD

Unit Testing

• Embedded C/C++ Unit Testing with Mocks

Integration Testing

SIL / HIL Testing

• Embedded CI/CD with HIL Testing

Embedded AI

• Intro to Edge AI: Machine Learning + IoT – Maker.io Tutorial | Digi-Key Electronics

AI/ML Basics

• Getting Started with Embedded AI | Edge AI

TensorFlow

• Getting Started with TensorFlow and Keras – Maker.io | Digi-Key Electronics
• Intro to TensorFlow Lite Part 1: Wake Word Feature Extraction – Maker.io | Digi-Key Electronics
• Intro to TensorFlow Lite Part 2: Speech Recognition Model Training – Maker.io | Digi-Key Electronics

tinyML

• Intro to TinyML Part 1: Training a Neural Network for Arduino in TensorFlow | Digi-Key Electronics
• Intro to TinyML Part 2: Deploying a TensorFlow Lite Model to Arduino | Digi-Key Electronics

Embedded Security

Cryptography

• Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice - William Stallings
• Serious Cryptography: A Practical Introduction to Modern Encryption - Jean-Philippe Aumasson
• MOOC - Security Part2: Basics of cryptography
• MOOC - Security Part3 : STM32 security features

Secure Boot & Secure Firmware Update

• MOOC - Security Part4 : STM32 security in practice
• MOOC - Security Part5 : How to define your security needs
• MOOC - Security Part6: STM32 security ecosystem, from theory to practice

History

The idea of creating this roadmap came from vazeri / Embedded-Engineering-RoadMap-2018 which was well designed but had some flaws and not updated for years. I took that idea, changed the structure of the roadmap and tried to improve it. The initial results can be accessed in m3y54m / Embedded-Engineering-Roadmap-Archived which is now archived. Early versions of the roadmap were created using Balsamiq Wireframes which is not suitable for these types of diagrams. So I decided to use Microsoft Visio instead and redrew the whole diagram.

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License which means that you are free to share or adapt this work under the following terms:

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to my friends in the community of Iranian Embedded Engineers in Twitter and r/embedded subreddit for their suggestions that helped in improving this roadmap.

Contribution

If you think that this map can be improved in anyway, please start an issue or pull request. I’ll be maintaining and updating this repository frequently.

The source file is created using Microsoft Visio in .vsdx format and included in this repository for your contributions. If you do not have Microsoft Visio or you want to use free software, you can use draw.io which can import and export .vsdx files.