The Hands-On Skills Gap: Why Engineering Students Miss the Mark in IoT and Embedded Systems
- Chinmay
- May 6, 2025
- Electronics, India, Industrial IoT, Internet of Things
- embedded firmware India, Embedded systems jobs, engineering student skill gaps, Indian engineering skill gap, Industry 4.0 jobs, IoT careers in India, IoT hiring challenges, IoT job roles explained, IoT talent shortage, Shalaka Connected Devices
- 0 Comments
In India, the IoT industry is booming — from smart cities and EV telematics to industrial automation and embedded AI. Yet, hiring the right talent remains one of the biggest challenges for companies like ours. Why?
Because most engineering students still don’t understand what Industry IoT roles actually demand.
Let’s unpack the problem.
Misunderstood Job Roles
Most students assume “IoT” means:
- Working with Arduino or Raspberry Pi
- Building mini projects with sensors
- Creating hobbyist automation setups
While these are great starting points, industry-grade IoT solutions go far deeper:
- Firmware optimization on constrained hardware
- Embedded communication protocols (CAN, BLE, Zigbee, MQTT)
- System-level debugging and integration
- Interfacing with cloud infrastructure for real-time telemetry
- Security at the edge level
- And increasingly, AI/ML at the edge
Students are not prepared for this complexity. When they apply for roles, they either undersell or overestimate themselves — both equally problematic for employers.
Skill Gaps No One Talks About
Here’s what even final-year students rarely know:
- What is FreeRTOS? How is it used in a commercial product?
- How do embedded devices talk to the cloud — practically?
- What are interrupt handlers or bootloaders?
- What is OTA (Over-The-Air) firmware update, and why is it critical?
Without these foundations, candidates simply can’t contribute from Day 1.
College Projects ≠ Industry Readiness
Students often showcase:
“I built a smart door lock using NodeMCU and Firebase.”
But in industry:
- You don’t use Firebase in most production-grade products.
- You must consider data security, power efficiency, PCB design constraints, and industrial-grade reliability.
This mismatch causes frustration on both sides. Students feel rejected despite “having projects.” Companies are tired of training people from scratch.
The Way Forward
Here’s how we bridge the gap:
- Curriculum reform that includes hands-on exposure to real IoT stacks.
- Mentorship programs that simulate company environments.
- Skill benchmarking through tools like Think Binary’s Industry Readiness Test.
- Internships that go beyond certificate collecting.
Final Word
India doesn’t lack engineers. It lacks industry-ready IoT engineers.
And if we fix this gap, India could become the design capital for IoT products worldwide, not just a cheap manufacturing hub.
Let’s build that ecosystem — one prepared engineer at a time.
