264: Do It for the Herd
Chris Feck, an embedded software engineer and recruiter at iRobot, discusses the company's hiring practices, emphasizing the importance of candidates researching companies before career fairs and demonstrating genuine interest through projects like building a Roomba clone. He explains that iRobot recruits heavily from robotics-focused universities such as MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and Georgia Tech, and advises students to leverage student clubs for meaningful interactions rather than relying solely on crowded career fairs. Feck also addresses common pitfalls in job applications, such as poorly written job descriptions that inflate experience requirements, and recommends using free toolchains like GCC and GDB with affordable boards like STM32 or MSP430 for aspiring embedded engineers.