frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Ask HN: Changing Developer Career Specialty

10•Rick76•6mo ago
I'm a full-stack developer, .NET and React are my specialty. I've gotten really interested in lower level projects currently, especially the Linux development and embedded design.

I have multiple smaller Pico projects under my belt, but I understand that does not correlate 100% with the embedded field. Personally, from my perspective, it would feel like the equivalent to someone building a static HTML site and applying for a full-stack position, but I don't know how to fix that.

The Web Dev field and Embedded field feel extremely different, so I have the fear that with the current job market, even if I commit fully to ensuring my personal portfolio shows a lot of embedded programming, that I won't be trusted for professional projects.

Comments

helix90•6mo ago
If I were interviewing you for an Embedded position I would ask questions about how your skills with .NET and React applied to your embedded projects. I would review your github repo and ask about the embedded projects there and what lessons you learned, and how they were different than a .NET project.

Changing specialties is rough, but I have done it more than once. Embedded is a strange space, but you can break in.

embeng4096•6mo ago
You could try transitioning more gradually by using your full-stack skills to create a website that you send data to via an embedded device (e.g. Pico or bare-metal system), either over Ethernet or WiFi. Even a simple dashboard with a table that shows e.g. HTTP or MQTT updates. For example, hook a temperature sensor up to a Pico or ESP32 (built-in WiFi/BT support), code it to periodically HTTP POST a JSON body with a timestamp, temperature value. Display the data on your website, maybe add tables and sorting, a graph(s) even, etc. That would make use of your existing skills, let you dabble in C and bare-metal programming, and combine the two to have something easily shown to prospective employers. (And show a product that is similar to existing real-world embedded applications)

I'm an embedded guy, the advice above is a reverse of what I've done in the past for clients: I wrote the embedded device firmware and dabbled a little in using .NET to create a portal for the customer to view and manage data from a fleet of devices reporting things like timestamp, battery level, temperature, etc.

bruce511•6mo ago
I spent several years working on an embedded hardware project.

The key skill is C. Most everything else can be learned on the job, and will differ from project to project.

Obviously not all embedded programing is in C (although a lot is) but folks proficient in C are typically quick to pick up other languages.

So from a resume-bolstering point of view I'd suggest getting a Raspberry PI (or similar) and build some C projects on it. That would expose you to a lot of embedded skills. Bonus points if you choose a device either severe memory and/or cpu constraints.

austin-cheney•6mo ago
I switched development careers from fullstack to enterprise API management about two years ago. I specialize in software focused data transmission from personal projects so I had no problems with the interview. If you can do enough personal projects to become an expert of embedded systems design and architecture enough to speak to edge cases and measurements from various performance scenarios I am sure you won’t have any problem transitioning.
droidHZ•6mo ago
In the beginning, make something that you find interesting and cool, and then gradually challenge yourself to more complex embedded products. I believe that you will become more and more powerful in the process of practice.

Make a local open-source AI chatbot with access to Fedora documentation

https://fedoramagazine.org/how-to-make-a-local-open-source-ai-chatbot-who-has-access-to-fedora-do...
1•jadedtuna•1m ago•0 comments

Introduce the Vouch/Denouncement Contribution Model by Mitchellh

https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/pull/10559
1•samtrack2019•1m ago•0 comments

Software Factories and the Agentic Moment

https://factory.strongdm.ai/
1•mellosouls•2m ago•1 comments

The Neuroscience Behind Nutrition for Developers and Founders

https://comuniq.xyz/post?t=797
1•01-_-•2m ago•0 comments

Bang bang he murdered math {the musical } (2024)

https://taylor.town/bang-bang
1•surprisetalk•2m ago•0 comments

A Night Without the Nerds – Claude Opus 4.6, Field-Tested

https://konfuzio.com/en/a-night-without-the-nerds-claude-opus-4-6-in-the-field-test/
1•konfuzio•4m ago•0 comments

Could ionospheric disturbances influence earthquakes?

https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/research-news/2026-02-06-0
1•geox•6m ago•0 comments

SpaceX's next astronaut launch for NASA is officially on for Feb. 11 as FAA clea

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacexs-next-astronaut-launch-for-nas...
1•bookmtn•7m ago•0 comments

Show HN: One-click AI employee with its own cloud desktop

https://cloudbot-ai.com
1•fainir•9m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Poddley – Search podcasts by who's speaking

https://poddley.com
1•onesandofgrain•10m ago•0 comments

Same Surface, Different Weight

https://www.robpanico.com/articles/display/?entry_short=same-surface-different-weight
1•retrocog•12m ago•0 comments

The Rise of Spec Driven Development

https://www.dbreunig.com/2026/02/06/the-rise-of-spec-driven-development.html
2•Brajeshwar•17m ago•0 comments

The first good Raspberry Pi Laptop

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2026/the-first-good-raspberry-pi-laptop/
3•Brajeshwar•17m ago•0 comments

Seas to Rise Around the World – But Not in Greenland

https://e360.yale.edu/digest/greenland-sea-levels-fall
2•Brajeshwar•17m ago•0 comments

Will Future Generations Think We're Gross?

https://chillphysicsenjoyer.substack.com/p/will-future-generations-think-were
1•crescit_eundo•20m ago•0 comments

State Department will delete Xitter posts from before Trump returned to office

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/07/nx-s1-5704785/state-department-trump-posts-x
2•righthand•23m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Verifiable server roundtrip demo for a decision interruption system

https://github.com/veeduzyl-hue/decision-assistant-roundtrip-demo
1•veeduzyl•24m ago•0 comments

Impl Rust – Avro IDL Tool in Rust via Antlr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmKvw73V394
1•todsacerdoti•24m ago•0 comments

Stories from 25 Years of Software Development

https://susam.net/twenty-five-years-of-computing.html
3•vinhnx•25m ago•0 comments

minikeyvalue

https://github.com/commaai/minikeyvalue/tree/prod
3•tosh•30m ago•0 comments

Neomacs: GPU-accelerated Emacs with inline video, WebKit, and terminal via wgpu

https://github.com/eval-exec/neomacs
1•evalexec•35m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Moli P2P – An ephemeral, serverless image gallery (Rust and WebRTC)

https://moli-green.is/
2•ShinyaKoyano•39m ago•1 comments

How I grow my X presence?

https://www.reddit.com/r/GrowthHacking/s/UEc8pAl61b
2•m00dy•40m ago•0 comments

What's the cost of the most expensive Super Bowl ad slot?

https://ballparkguess.com/?id=5b98b1d3-5887-47b9-8a92-43be2ced674b
1•bkls•41m ago•0 comments

What if you just did a startup instead?

https://alexaraki.substack.com/p/what-if-you-just-did-a-startup
5•okaywriting•48m ago•0 comments

Hacking up your own shell completion (2020)

https://www.feltrac.co/environment/2020/01/18/build-your-own-shell-completion.html
2•todsacerdoti•50m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Gorse 0.5 – Open-source recommender system with visual workflow editor

https://github.com/gorse-io/gorse
1•zhenghaoz•51m ago•0 comments

GLM-OCR: Accurate × Fast × Comprehensive

https://github.com/zai-org/GLM-OCR
1•ms7892•52m ago•0 comments

Local Agent Bench: Test 11 small LLMs on tool-calling judgment, on CPU, no GPU

https://github.com/MikeVeerman/tool-calling-benchmark
1•MikeVeerman•53m ago•0 comments

Show HN: AboutMyProject – A public log for developer proof-of-work

https://aboutmyproject.com/
1•Raiplus•53m ago•0 comments