Exploring the world of electronics starts as a spark of curiosity. But for some, it ignites a lifelong passion and career. Mayank Peter transformed his passion for electronics into his full-time profession. He is an Embedded Software Engineer working for Samsung Semiconductor in Bangalore. Join us as Mayank shares how he turned his love for electronics into his profession, and the challenges he faced along the way.
Can you share the story of how your hobby first began?
I had a bag, an old school bag where everyone in my family used to dump old electronic gadgets like old remotes, video game cassettes, broken speakers, etc. I used to tinker with them. Around the 8th grade, I was curious about what was inside these festive lights. I broke one open and connected the bulb to a battery. It burned out! I was surprised to find it burning instead of glowing. After some reading, I figured out that the bulb is filled with inert gas to prevent the filament from burning out and evaporating. With that, I then took filaments from bulbs, wired them, and used them as detonators for crackers. I started to like Science and how, equipped with the knowledge of Science, I would be able to build things.
After some years, my brother, who was studying engineering, used to bring home “Electronics for You” magazine. I used to read it, and that’s how I started to get fascinated by the world of electronics. Over summer vacations, I used to try the projects mentioned in the magazine. I started taking classes to repair mobile phones and began repairing the mobile phones of my family members.
When did you get fascinated by Embedded Software?
It was after college. I knew that there were many areas in electronics, such as Digital Electronics and Analog Circuits. I was introduced to the world of Arduino’s through a workshop in college. I was fascinated in learning how I could connect various sensors, write some piece of code and do different things. It felt like our imagination was the limit. I was so excited that I called my brother and explained all of this. He was an electronics engineer and knew about these things. He started to explain that an entire industry revolves around writing software for electronics, and it’s called embedded software engineering.
With a Raspberry Pi and Arduino, we did many cool things in college. People used to come to me and ask me to print their girlfriends’ names on a seven-segment display to impress them. We even started thinking about an IoT business using Raspberry Pi and NodeMCUs. The Raspberry Pi would act as an MQTT server. NodeMCU has in-built WiFi, which with various humidity and temperature sensors could act as edge nodes to control various appliances. I learned a lot by doing hands-on projects.
How did you enter into the Embedded SW Industry?
I didn’t participate in college placements. I knew what I wanted. College placements guaranteed a job, but I might be placed in a team I wasn’t interested in. I attended many courses outside of college in Chennai. After finishing college, I joined Vector Institute for an internship. After some time, I joined my first company, Alif Semiconductor. However, I didn’t work on low-level firmware there; it focused on network stacks, which is a type of middleware. I wanted to work on low-level firmware, though.
I started doing multiple personal projects during weekends and free time. Gradually, I started understanding the intricacies of C programming. I bought an STM board and started writing drivers for it. I began to understand hardware and gained knowledge in debugging embedded systems. I worked on these projects during weekends, focusing on learning.
Don’t you get stressed from working on Personal Projects on weekends?
It differs from person to person. For me, making things brings happiness. As Steve Jobs said, ‘The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.’ My passion is making things. I feel proud when I see people using Samsung or Qualcomm products, knowing that I have contributed to making them. Working on a personal project for me is like raising my own child.
People often feel relaxed when they go out or travel. That’s one’s personal choice. For me, it’s working on these projects. When I am feeling stressed, I start reading some datasheets, trying to figure out what I can do with them. Career and personal hobbies often don’t perfectly align, but there’s a natural tendency for them to converge, and I strive to bridge that gap as much as possible. I am a huge fan of Steve Jobs and remember his interviews word by word. I would recommend anyone reading this post to watch the interview. Basically, life is limited, right? I want to make a mark on it, to change it, to influence it.
What’s your next target?
I am interested in learning about AI and Quantum Computing, about what Quantum Computing holds for our future. I have started learning it. Let’s see.
