# Embedded dev struggling in a web-first world

**URL:** <https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/embedded-dev-struggling-in-a-web-first-world/382307>\
**Category:** Career (You Can Do This!)\
**Created:** [May 1, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/embedded-dev-struggling-in-a-web-first-world/382307 "2020-05-01T22:46:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bhaveshk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/bhaveshk/32/146100_2.png) [@bhaveshk](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/bhaveshk)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/embedded-dev-struggling-in-a-web-first-world/382307/1 "2020-05-01T22:46:17Z")

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Hello everyone! I am an engineer in Toronto who’s worked at multiple companies, usually doing embedded software development or sometimes even hardware/circuit board design. I have been pretty successful and always adapted to new skills and tools. Sadly as I progress in my career (4 years after university now) I notice that Intermediate and Senior roles always demand specialization in a single language + framework and companies don’t seem to be open to general software devs anymore ☹

This is sad for me because I want to move from embedded to web technologies so that I can reach a larger audience/user-base and generally have more impact instead of building consumer electronics and gadgets.

Has anyone found a way to get over this hump? Do online portfolios help with this, for example? Are the Javascript projects you do in online courses good enough to showcase in a portfolio, or should it be “your own project” that you show off?

P.S. I am actually great at Python and am wondering if that is something I should be advertising more to companies in my search. What would I need to excel in with Python to get an Intermediate or Senior role? What do interviewers look for usually?

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**Author:** ![Jutkus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/jutkus/32/135784_2.png) [@Jutkus](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/Jutkus)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/embedded-dev-struggling-in-a-web-first-world/382307/2 "2020-05-02T20:02:53Z")

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In short,  
Yes, supplement curriculum projects with outside projects.

Many success stories say that they worked on open source projects and showcased projects that were outside of freeCodeCamp to supplement curriculum projects.

When I do the projects for freecodecamp, I always do more work than is required and try to utilize different syntax and play with it, and I have realized how little freecodecamp projects actually utilize, but it definitely gives a good foundation.

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**Author:** ![ILM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/ilm/32/363239_2.png) [@ILM](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/ILM)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 6:14pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/embedded-dev-struggling-in-a-web-first-world/382307/3 "2021-06-01T18:14:58Z")

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