Got good, now its my life.

[rarubioc]

I started rearing medical imaging equipment for a small company 2 years before graduating so I didn't look for an internship in one of the big companies. 5 years latter I'm still here, doing the same stuff. The growth opportunities are very few and my programming skills are lacking now to apply for the dream job(embedded software development) plus there are bills to pay. There is no way I’m not the first one in this position. I would like to know.
¿How did you get out? ¿What was the last straw?
Maybe even ¿why are you still there? ¿what are you waiting for?
I should be looking at job openings but it cant get intimidating, so this post is me avoiding that for a little bit longer and hoping for some advice.

[Rick Law]

Some more info on your background may help with narrowing down appropriate advice.  Did you recently graduated from College?  Degree?  How is your current job relates to your dream job (embedded development).  Etc.

The approach could be very different if your current job has nothing to do with software development of any kind.

[rarubioc]

Some more info on your background may help with narrowing down appropriate advice.  Did you recently graduated from College?  Degree?  How is your current job relates to your dream job (embedded development).  Etc.

The approach could be very different if your current job has nothing to do with software development of any kind.

I have a degree in Electronics engineering, got it 3 years ago. My current job has 0 software development. Its mostly troubleshooting and performing preemptive/corrective maintenance. From time to time I have to modify some python file or bash script to make the machines work with external replacement parts but thats it for software.

Some of my projects from college in embedded systems were:
-Implementing parts of OSEK on an 8 bit micro controller.
-Replication of parts from a 16bit pic on a FPG.
-Have used SPI, I2C, UART, CAN interfaces.

[Rick Law]

I am not in embedded development, but I was in software development and I also did recruitment and selection,  That was well over a decade ago and it was in the USA. I am not familiar with the Mexico market (as shown in your locale flag).  I suspect USA and Mexico hiring method would be some what similar and this may be helpful.

For entry level or near entry level, what I would look for is someone with recent and related software develop experience.  Reason of potential job switching, and why this candidate will be suitable and would likely succeed if hired.  The most important factor I will leave to a later paragraph after the skill related ones.

I think it would be helpful if you can show what makes you a good software developer.  Modifying scripts and python file alone does not make you a compelling candidate.  Since your graduation is three years ago and in EE (may not be as programming focused as the employer likes when compared to Computer Science), that's the cards you got and you have to make the best of it.  Mean time, you can shore up.

Making the best of it means shinning the best light in what you have done and how it relates to what you will do if hired.  Emphasizing things that will benefit your new employer without exaggerating.  Rather than exaggeration, display pride.  "I was proud of being able to complete that because of this issue and that issue and those road blocks that you had to overcome.  So, the emphases is your resourcefulness, creativity, tenacity to overcome road blocks and got it done -- as oppose to emphasizing and/or exaggerating the technical complexity of the tasks.  Exaggerating technical achievement to the point of almost lying or outright lying usually is easily discerned.  Since you don't have much there, talk more about why you are special - you can get it done while others more technically competent may instead got stuck in the tar-pit because they lack those qualities you got.  You know yourself best. If resourcefulness, creativity, tenacity doesn't describe you, find some other attributes you have that an employer would value.  If they are not good enough yet, develop them to the point they are.  Even if you consider them good enough, it should not stop you from developing them further.

For embedded programming, your EE background will put you ahead of those from application development background where they are a few layers sheltered from the hardware.  That said, stuff like "in car entertainment systems" also has software that is more a UI development than hardware control.  How you can best position will depend on what job you are shooting for.  Start looking at job ads, see what skill they are looking for that you can develop on your own.

Chances are, you are not going to an interview tomorrow.  So you have time between now and your interview to learn more.  Use that time.  As of now (from what you wrote here), one can say your software development experience is rather low.  So it would be a good idea for you to develop some skills starting right this moment so by interview time you can (a) demonstrate such skills, and (b) is able to talk intelligently about that area in an interview.   The more software development skills you can stuff into your brain and portfolio (to show), the better off you will be.

Now the most important factor I said earlier that "I will leave to a later paragraph."  This is something I learned from books I found very useful.  In a nutshell: for project related hires, I hire for skill.  For career hires, I hire for attitude.  Skill is easy to learn, but a person's attitude is much harder to change.  May be your next boss doesn't think the same way.  For me, a good attitude always beat out current depth of knowledge.  Throw him a book and he'll learn, but if no body like him and no body trust him, there is not much I can do about that.  So, make sure you have a good attitude and a positive-one.  [In this context, take attitude to mean: commitment to good work, trust worthy (remember: schedule forecast and budget are also promises), service-attitude (is the customer, ie: me as your boss, satisfied?), ethics, etc., etc.  As to "positive attitude", that means a can-do attitude: look for how you can get it done rather than why it can't be done.  Talk about the difficulties by all means, but do so with the pasture of "it isn't going to stop me from getting it done."  Always.]

This is but my own personal experience and what I personally practiced.  It may not be applicable widely.  None the less, I hope it is helpful to you in some way.  Best of luck to you.

[RJSV]

That ATTITUDE discussion, above. I should go re-read that, now. That's been my problem, for years, and other factors.
   One job stint, the employer had a 'fixed' structure expectation, no wiggle room for 'extra' innovation, just get done, under private, close ownership.
I read about the 'frozen structure' a few years later, in a job / company review post(s).

[Rick Law]

That ATTITUDE discussion, above. I should go re-read that, now. That's been my problem, for years, and other factors.
   One job stint, the employer had a 'fixed' structure expectation, no wiggle room for 'extra' innovation, just get done, under private, close ownership.
I read about the 'frozen structure' a few years later, in a job / company review post(s).

Private companies are a hard nut to crack.  The really small ones (revenue/turn-over in single digit millions USD) are really pot luck and depend on the intelligence of the owner.  When they get into the mid/high double-digit millions, they start to get organized better.  Personally, I think a "bad" small private company can create bad habits for some who later move to a larger organization unless the person is careful and has keen awareness about the need for better discipline when in a more formal environment.

Some people think small companies are more efficient (shorter command chain), I personally disagree.  It depends on the owners.  Owners argue between themselves leave little room for outside-hires to get them in control.  That creates a lot of difficult-to-solve problems.  That also makes it harder for outsiders to develop a career there.

That said, I believe a good attitude still could help.  Being positive is one of the attribute I named in the earlier reply as "good".  Positive attitude gives one hope and could see opportunity where a negative person may not.  So it could give the positive person better ability to move on to something better.

Last thing, the joke is, after the first week of "wow, this is nice," the second week of a new job often is: "what the hell did I get myself into now..."