A recent article in EE Times titled "Is There Gold For EEs in Silicon Valleys Hills?" describes quite well one reason why people, especially college age or younger, should consider learning more about microcontrollers.
"The latest California Gold Rush (there have been many since 1849) is hardware startups. Businesses like Nest, Oculus Rift, and Makerbot have been acquired for princely sums. That, combined with the advent of crowdfunding sites and easy prototyping tools like Arduino and 3D printing, has encouraged lots of people to get out there and start panning for gold...Its really a great time to start a technology business, especially for hardware. I am seeing massive changes in how people design and prototype electrical and mechanical systems, manufacture those systems, and fund businesses that build and sell those systems...Development platforms are evolving, and many young engineers are learning Arduino for embedded programming before they learn C. Theyre more likely to get started on an Atmel AVR than a dsPIC. It also means that the field is still fairly wide open. These development tools are not yet fully entrenched. With a little bit of skill, knowhow, and some branding, you could build the next great hardware platform..."
The Humboldt microcontrollers group is intended to connect people in the region who already know how to use microcontrollers (and want to share their knowledge or learn more about these tiny electronic marvels.
For those Humboldt folks who dont already work with microcontrollers, or maybe dont even know what they are, this group is intended to help you learn about them and assist you in starting to make things with microcontrollers.
Who knows, maybe youll meet someone at a Humboldt microcontrollers group activity and end up starting a new business with them!
If you werent at the first meeting of the Humboldt microcontrollers group on May 15th, please consider coming to the next meeting. That meeting is on May 29th, from 6 to 8 PM, at 1385 8th Street in Arcata. Check out the Humboldt Makers Group website or their Facebook page for more info. If you have questions about the group or about microcontrollers, youre welcome to email me (Bob Waldron) at arcatabob [at] gmail (dott) com.
"The latest California Gold Rush (there have been many since 1849) is hardware startups. Businesses like Nest, Oculus Rift, and Makerbot have been acquired for princely sums. That, combined with the advent of crowdfunding sites and easy prototyping tools like Arduino and 3D printing, has encouraged lots of people to get out there and start panning for gold...Its really a great time to start a technology business, especially for hardware. I am seeing massive changes in how people design and prototype electrical and mechanical systems, manufacture those systems, and fund businesses that build and sell those systems...Development platforms are evolving, and many young engineers are learning Arduino for embedded programming before they learn C. Theyre more likely to get started on an Atmel AVR than a dsPIC. It also means that the field is still fairly wide open. These development tools are not yet fully entrenched. With a little bit of skill, knowhow, and some branding, you could build the next great hardware platform..."
The Humboldt microcontrollers group is intended to connect people in the region who already know how to use microcontrollers (and want to share their knowledge or learn more about these tiny electronic marvels.