Introduction to Embedded Systems Software and Development Environments

Perhaps this might help:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-embedded-systems

You should spend zero time worrying about what other people can do. It's not helpful, won't make you better, and isn't healthy. No matter how advanced you are, you will never understand everything and you will almost never just be able to look at someone's code and read it. It already sounds like you have the basics down and with time and a little bit of explanation, I bet you could understand pretty much any production code. You probably are closer than you think to having it all 'click.'

If you're interested in learning about the kind of stuff Michael Reeves does, (robotics, programming microcontrollers), you can check out https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-embedded-systems

I took a Embedded Systems course at my University and my professor was awesome. He has a online course of it that is well reviewed here.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-embedded-systems

https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-embedded-systems?

What was the embedded-focused question about? Are there any resources you recommend to study specifically embedded programming for someone with no experience? I am going through this course, but I don't know how good it is.

There are sometimes stories here when people didn't answer all questions perfectly and still advanced, so I keep my fingers crossed for you.

I'm more on the embedded software dev side, so my input is based on that:

• You need to learn C/C++. Not sure if Rust or other language would be useful for your purpose at this point.
• Understand basic computer architecture (CPU, memory hierarchy etc.). Learn about ARM CPU (maybe start with Cortex-M).
• Need to understand the compiler basic i.e. how the source code compiled, linked and downloaded to the target.
• Basic understanding on source code management (Subversion, Git etc.).
• Maybe get a ARM-based development kit (Arduino, STM etc.) to play around with. I've never done this personally because all the projects I work is for the company.
• I don't know where you are located, but 100k is an entry level salary in the Bay Area. The good thing about this is that your chance to land a job as a new comer could be pretty good. The bad thing is that 100k is not that much in the Bay Area. So depending on your financial situation (i.e. spouse, kids etc.) this may or may not work for you.
• You will be competing with some new grads, so sell your strength. Based on my experience, some managers prefer older candidates because they are usually more reliable and responsible. So if you have something in that area you could show on your resume, that would be a plus. Also talking about resume, since you don't have previous embedded experience, I think it is a good idea if you have embedded projects you can do on your own so you can showcase your knowledge.
• Check your local library website to see if they provide some online learning resource for free such as O'Reilly Safari, LinkedIn learning, etc.
• Check out some free courses from Coursera (example: https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-embedded-systems)
• Search keywords: firmware, embedded development, ARM, MCU
• Some YouTube channels: Jacob Sorber, Ben Eater, Martin K. Schroder, etc.

Whether it's realistic or not, it depends on your expectation, goals, and the alternatives.

PM me if you have more questions, and I'll do my best to answer them. Good luck!

A course takes you from 0 to basic knowledge of C, not in-depth knowledge. In-depth knowledge comes from years of experience.

Unless you have a very specific reason to have in depth knowledge of C, I am not sure it actually makes that much sense to go further than the basics before diving into "doing stuff" with the language. Most of the complexity of programming is going to come from experience, and no one really learns "everything". You carve out a piece of what's important to you.

So for example you could take this Introduction to C programming Coursera course (https://www.coursera.org/specializations/c-programming) to learn the basics.

Then, if your interested in say Arduino projects you could take this Arduino/C Programming Coursera course (https://www.coursera.org/learn/arduino-platform)

Or, if you wanted to learn more about Embedded Systems you could take this Coursera course which also uses C (https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-embedded-systems)

If your looking for more general knowledge like you would get in University, you could check out this book "Algorithms in C" from the library.

There are so many paths you can take, and "learning C" or "learning <enter-programming-language-here>" is the very very beginning.

If your looking to "get up and running" quicker, Python or JavaScript are much better beginner languages to "do stuff" with. You'll spend a bit more time trying to figure out what the heck is going on in a language like C.