Linking software and hardware

I started working for Dyson in January 2021 as an Embedded Software Engineer. I work on many different aspects of the software development lifecycle, including requirement analysis, design, code implementation, validation, debugging and embedded system hardware analysis. It is an honour to be a part of Dyson Philippines' first embedded software team.

Our new team of 11 joined Dyson at the same time, it's great that we can all learn about the Dyson culture together.  We essentially develop software that integrates and controls components within Dyson products to ensure that they perform optimally for our users. We quickly became a cohesive group of people from diverse backgrounds, all learning from and supporting one another.

As a college student, I was always torn between pursuing a career in either hardware or software. Working with embedded systems allows me to bridge the gap between hardware and software. They are both an important component of what makes modern machines and devices smart and being able to work on making people's lives easier is certainly rewarding.

Dyson is well-known for going above and beyond when it comes to revolutionising consumer products. I appreciate their commitment to continuous innovation and their admiration of science, research, and engineering. Dyson is extremely ambitious and being able to contribute to that is a fantastic opportunity.

So far, my Dyson experience has been exhilarating. We were given a series of orientations, product demonstrations, and a tour of the Calamba manufacturing plant during our onboarding, which was very inspiring. Around 40 embedded software engineers, test engineers, DevOps engineers, and software managers are now employed at the new software lab and RDD centre in Alabang and we continue to grow.

Dyson has been very welcoming, and everyone has supported us along the way. Every working day is fun, but everyone knows when to get serious about work too and I think that has been the tone everybody in the team is trying to set. We’re surrounded by dedicated and experienced engineers we can draw insights from. It's incredibly rewarding to be fully involved in and contributing to the development of Dyson products.

My working day begins with a stand-up meeting to discuss team progress and any issues that need to be addressed. The rest of the day is usually dedicated to coding, design, code reviews, off-target testing and on-target testing in the rig. We also frequently brainstorm and collaborate in order to fully develop a concept and strategy.

Since joining Dyson, I've learned a variety of new skills. Not only have I been refining my software development skills, but I've also had the opportunity to learn more about ARM-based microcontrollers, bare-metal development, and operating systems, particularly freeRTOS. There is always something new to learn.

One of my favourite parts of the job is integrating the software we've been working on for weeks into the rig prototype, because making that fusion work is the real challenge. It's satisfying to see the product come to life after all our efforts. Working on meaningful and impactful projects and knowing I'll be learning something new from my amazing team keep me coming in every morning. Working with such talented people pushes me to be better at what I do.