Are the Stack Overflow Dev Days relevant to embedded software engineers?

Question

It's the nature of Stack Overflow, its blog and the Dev Days that a lot of their content is geared towards topics that appear of limited relevance to embedded software engineers.

That said, I'm a big fan of SO, as topics seemingly unrelated to our work can be very interesting - and it does still provide a forum to discuss embedded-related issue as well.

Now, that's fine when it comes to scouring a website; but it's a different matter when it comes to spending a day at a conference. Looking at the list of topics:

• May be relevant: python, mercurial, dvcs, fogbugz
• Not relevant: android, objective c, iphonesdk, google-app engine, jquery, asp.net-mvc, javascript

I think attending a Dev Day will be fun regardless, and will of course have the added bonus of meeting Joel Spolsky and Jon Skeet :-)

So my question is: regardless of the fun aspect, are the Dev Days relevant to embedded software engineers?

Answer 1

I think it they are. I think it is important for every type of software engineer to get an idea what is going on in other parts of the trade. You might not get immediate payback from any of the things listed in the "not relevant" section above but, who knows, maybe a higher-level concept will spark an idea translatable into the embedded world.

Answer 2

It's a good question. I don't think SO Dev Days will help someone understand how to harness the full power of a logical analyzer or understand the details of ARM's Cortex M3 core, but the older I get, the more I find myself preaching fundamentals that have nothing to do with embedded (and I work at every level in the embedded world).

Things like the importance of good requirements, unit testing, encapsulation, good interfaces, version control, nightly builds, code reviews, coding standards, solid architecture, etc...

For some reason it seems like many in the embedded world have gotten by for a long time without these things [even within that list, I'd have a prioritized list, some are more important than others].

Organizations that look at firmware as a "necessary evil" or a means to an end (as opposed to a competitive advantage) probably practice very few (if any) of the above. And they'll usually be also-rans in their respective industries.

That's a long-winded way of answering your question with a "yes" :-)