Course code: WEB-12

Years with company: 3

Years programming: 3 years of embedded C (aggregate over several years)

Primary programming language: C

Other programming languages: Python, VHDL, Verilog, Matlab

Unit test harnesses: None

Something else: BSEE and MSEE. Long time (24 years) RF hardware engineer. During that time have intermittently wrote embedded C. Did a 7 year stint implementing DSP algorithms in FPGAs (Matlab and VHDL) for military RF modems. Writing embedded C about 60 % of my time now (RF hardware the other 40%). I love programming and want to become an expert in that area. Old dogs can learn new tricks and have fun doing it.

Test practice now: Manually

Target system: ARM Cortex M4. GPS, Bluetooth, UHF RF transciever

Dev tools: gcc compiler, VisualGDB and Visual Studio, Segger J-Link debugger

Build time: 11-30 seconds

Coding standard: Nothing formal. Small company

Function too long: More than 1.5 screens long and difficult to explain to another engineer

Code reviews: None (I know this needs to change)

Code time: 30

Test time: 30

Debug time: 40

Favorite thing about dev: I love the creative process of making a new product work. For many years I always designed the hardware and someone else did the code. Now I am doing both and it feels empowering to understand both disciplines. It is fun.

Least favorite thing about dev: I hate it when our customers have bad experiences with our products because products were deployed with bugs.

Tdd knowledge: Have read about 50% of your book. Plan to finish it this weekend before course starts. Have listened to Embedded.fm episode 109. Have watched Bob Martins 3 laws of TDD a couple of times recently.

Why are you attending: We are hiring more engineers soon and I want to have the entire team doing TDD. I want to become an expert embedded firmware engineer also. I believe TDD will be a critical part of this. I want our company to succeed.