Engineering for the IoT: 7 Things You Should Know

You’ve seen and heard the stories of how Internet of Things (IoT) has penetrated our daily lives. With so much new technology being implemented as an extension of ourselves and in ways to improve business operations, that IEEE and the Computer Society have assembled a variety of content and resources to assist in your understanding and growth within IoT. 

See our 7 tips and resources for a career in engineering for the Internet of Things:

1. 1. Read our “Advice from an Expert” interview with Xabier Larrucea, Annie Combelles, and John FavaroWe asked what advice they would give college students to give them an advantage over the competition in the field. Favaro replied that he would encourage them to get a strong background in theory of all kinds. This is because the specifics change constantly, but if you have a solid theoretical background you will be able to adapt. Combelles replied with two pieces of advice. 1) learn and understand other cultures and how to work collaboratively, and 2) remain extremely curious about new technologies and take risks. Not necessarily technologies unique to software engineers! Larrucea agreed with those points. He strongly believes that students should be eager to learn new cultures and new technologies, and to evangelize from the practice. These experts point to a soft skill that may be necessary for any engineering position. The importance of networking and communication is not taken lightly in the industry and the best way to improve is to put these skills into practice while also working on your theoretical knowledge.
   2. View our Career Round Table on the revolutionization of the Internet of ThingsThe fourth industrial revolution is in high gear as evidenced by the proliferation of the so-called “Internet of Things.” Cyber-physical systems powered by the Internet of Things (IoT)—among them, smart grids, autonomous vehicles, medical systems, and robotics—are blurring the lines between the physical and digital worlds. They are also revolutionizing the way we live and work. By 2021, the combined IoT market will reach about 520 billion, driven primarily by data centers and analysis, say experts. The challenges facing this high tech explosion include system integration, scalability, data storage, and security. The growing sector needs a varied workforce—data analysts, cloud engineers, security and privacy experts, and software designers as well as mechanical and electrical engineers.
      Job hunting? Sign up for alerts about the latest openings in tech from our Jobs Board
   3. Tune-up your expertise in security with these essentials to Secure Your Smart Home and IoT DevicesDo you understand the basics of security in IoT? If you own smart devices such as smart speakers, TVs, thermostats, fridges, security cameras, and whatnot, your privacy and security could be at stake. Because, in essence, these are multiple entry points with rickety security that could leave you prone to attacks. Preventing attacks by recognizing these security concerns should be baked into the process of engineering new IoT systems, and understanding the basics of security in IoT is a great place to begin.
   4. Review the article “Software Engineering for the Internet of Things” in IEEE Software magazineBest practices for software engineering IoT systems have yet to be consolidated and agreed upon. Too often, the landscape resembles the Wild West, with unprepared programmers putting together IoT systems in ad hoc fashion and throwing them out into the market, often poorly tested. In addition, the academic sector is in danger of fragmenting into specialized, often unrelated research areas. This IEEE Software theme issue aims to help provide the basis for a set of best practices that will guide the industry through the challenges of software engineering for the IoT. Authors Xabier Larrucea, Annie Combelles, John Favaro, and Kunal Taneja provide their insight in one of a series of articles in this issue of IEEE Software magazine.
   5. Get involved with The Internet of Everything Special Technical CommunityInternet of Everything STC provides a collaborative platform and community for researchers and professionals in the area of IoE. As an emerging area, IoE requires multi-disciplinary efforts in pushing forward its technology development. Key enabling technologies of IoE are actually related to the Computer Society, such as sensing, data mining, computing, security and networking. Our community is essential for technology development, collaboration and knowledge sharing in this emerging area. The importance of networking with likeminded individuals cannot be overstated, and getting involved with a technical community like this can improve your career prospects.
   6. Explore our learning resources with the “Internet of Things Making the Hype a Reality” crash-courseTake our Quartos online course “Internet of Things Making the Hype a Reality”. The Internet of Things (IoT) will democratize knowledge. Organizations are looking for ways to create active knowledge and insight from IoT data and apply this data to new business models in which understanding and addressing customer needs and demands is key. To ensure that the IoT can meet this challenge, the author identifies six key interest areas.
   7. Participate in our Conferences and Call for Papers: Special Issue on Smart Edge Computing and IoTIEEE Transactions on Computers seeks original manuscripts for this upcoming special issue. The evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the nature of edge-computing devices. End nodes have to support, in place, an increasing range of functionality: multi-sensory data processing and analysis, complex systems control strategies, and, ultimately, artificial intelligence. For this special issue, we are seeking contributions from researchers on IoT smart edge-computing architectures, systems, and related hardware-software design approaches. For anyone who is more interested in learning about the research, SmartIoT conference is coming up next month, as well as more conferences in the IoT:
      1. 1. • IEEE Cybermatics Congress (Cybermatics 2020)
            • International Conference on Future Internet of Things and Cloud (FiCloud 2020)
            • IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing (ICSC2021)

       

      We hope that these tips and resources can be utilized to assist in your understanding and growth within engineering for the Internet of Things.

      Considering the complexity and growth of this field, it’s no wonder technology is being implemented as an extension of ourselves and in ways to improve business operations.

Kick-off or continue your job search on our Jobs Board