Why I’m Going All-In on Embedded Systems for the Long Run

Ever since I started exploring the world of technology, I’ve always been curious about how things actually work under the hood — not just software, but real hardware. And that’s what drew me to embedded systems.

As I start my career, I’ve made a decision: to go deep — *really deep* — into the embedded domain. Not just for a year or two, but as a long-term journey.

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## 🔍 Why Embedded?

- **Everything is getting smart** — from cars to toothbrushes.

- **Embedded systems power the real world** — they are the brains behind IoT devices, medical systems, drones, industrial automation, and more.

- **I love working close to hardware** — it’s challenging, satisfying, and feels like magic when things work.

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## 🔄 My Plan

I don’t just want to use embedded systems — I want to *master* them:

- Become fluent in low-level C and C++

- Go deep into bit manipulation and memory

- Understand how real-time operating systems work

- Interface with all kinds of sensors, peripherals, and networks

- Eventually explore **Edge AI**, **Automotive**, and **Secure Embedded Design**

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🧱 What This Blog Is About

This blog — ctrlbit — will be my way of documenting my journey:

• Simple, practical tutorials

• Real examples from boards I work on (like Renesas, STM32, etc.)

• My learnings, mistakes, and insights

• Interview experiences, project breakdowns, and bit-level tips

And… a curated path through the essential learning collections I follow 👇

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🎓 What I’ll Be Sharing Along the Way

Apart from hands-on examples and experiments, I’ll also be writing about key takeaways and insights from learning tracks that cover everything from basics to advanced embedded concepts:

• Essentials: Foundation of embedded software development — mastering C language and software-oriented thinking.

• Firmware: Deep dive into microcontroller-level development, especially on ARM Cortex-M. Covers assembly, C, and RTOS programming.

• System Software: For those exploring application-level CPUs (like ARM-A, RISC-V 64). Topics include Linux, system-level components, and low-level architecture programming.

• Hardware: Simplified hardware concepts for software engineers — to build mental models of how hardware behaves and write better, cleaner code.

• Advanced: Covers expert-level topics like memory/code placement, linker scripts, writing build systems from scratch, and making performance-critical design decisions.

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This journey won’t be easy — I’m still a beginner 🔰 in most of the areas I mentioned, and a lot of it is still in the exploration phase. It’s going to be a long road ahead…

Hopefully, I’ll figure most of it out before I retire 😅

🚀 Coming Up Next

My next post will be about Interrupts in Embedded C — how they work, how to write an ISR, and a simple button-LED example. Stay tuned!

Thanks for joining me on this journey! Feel free to drop thoughts, questions, or topic requests in the comments. Let’s grow together in the embedded world. 🌍🔧