[roland35]

Firmware isn't as lucrative as other types of software engineering (pay is generally in between electrical engineering and other software engineering) but it certainly isn't CRUD.

There are lots of types of embedded engineers. Some use embedded Linux, some use tiny 8 but processors with 16 kb of flash memory. I've also had a number of recruiters contacting me about designing custom server chips, like for security.

More and more big tech companies are getting into hardware, and it isn't just IoT. Pay at big tech for firmware would match other SWEs so it's a pretty good deal!