Teaching software engineering for embedded systems: an experience report from the Manaus research and development pole

The number of microprocessors and microcontrollers being applied to modern computational systems is growing exponentially. Nevertheless, it is not easy to find engineers with the necessary skills for developing software for such devices. In fact, the creation of official undergraduate courses to fulfill this modern demand proved not to be the best solution. This paper describes an inter-universities training program specially created for embedded systems organized by CEFET-AM, a technical college, and carried out by Genius Institute of Technology, a research and development company, both located in Manaus - Brazil. After a restrictive selection process, 24 senior students coming from 8 of the most important universities of the region started their studies. Eleven theoretical modules distributed in 300 hours of training were given. Afterwards, the students started an industry oriented project. One major assignment was given to the whole group. They divided themselves in subgroups responsible for specific parts of the project which involved distributed systems programming, communication process development by using M2M, web services planning and MMI :design by using diverse devices. The joint venture of theoretical studies conduced by a school of technology together with the practical side of a research company resulted in a well succeed experience.