Beyond the Tutorials: Embracing real hardware, inevitable mistakes, and building from scratch.
Let’s Start Something…
This is not going to be another story about the latest tech gadget or a futuristic technology that may arrive someday.
This story is about something much simpler: How do we actually build things with the technology we already have?
We all know that computers have come a long way. From the earliest computers to microprocessors and microcontrollers, technology has completely changed the way we interact with the world.
But I don’t want to go back and discuss the entire history of computing.
Instead, I want to start from where we are today.
And for me, that starting point is sitting inside a box.
An ESP32-CAM. An ESP32Node MCU. A Raspberry Pi Zero. A few servo motors. Some DC motors. A laptop. And, of course, a little bit of free time stolen from boring office hours. 😄
And here is the funny part.
I didn’t buy these things without a plan.
Every time I bought a new piece of hardware, I had a project in my mind.
“I’ll build a small robot with this.” “I’ll make a camera-based system.” “I’ll connect this motor and create something cool.” “I’ll finally start that embedded project I’ve been thinking about.”
The ideas were always there. The excitement was there. The hardware was there.
But somehow, the project never happened.
The hardware went into a box. The box went onto a shelf. And the great project I had imagined slowly became another thing I would build “someday.”
Maybe you’ve experienced the same thing — a board bought with big plans, still sitting untouched because life got in the way.
So now I have a different question.
What if I just start?
I don’t have a clear idea what I’m going to build.
Should I start by learning the programming fundamentals? Should I directly start writing code? Should I ask AI: “Hey, can you make this project for me?” Or should I simply copy some code from the internet, upload it to the ESP32, and see what happens?
And honestly, I think I’m not the only one stuck at this exact starting line.
So I thought: why not change that?
Instead of waiting for the “perfect project idea,” I’m going to start experimenting.
Every day, I’ll try to build something.
Sometimes it may work. Sometimes it may fail. Sometimes I may understand exactly what is happening. And sometimes I may stare at the serial monitor wondering: “Why isn’t this damn thing working?” 😅
And that’s actually the point.
I don’t want this series to be a collection of perfect tutorials where everything works on the first attempt. I want to document the real embedded engineering journey.
The experiments. The debugging. The mistakes. The hardware failures. The strange compiler errors. The unexpected behavior. And the small moments when something finally works.
Maybe I’ll discover something new. Maybe you’ll learn something. Maybe we’ll both break something.
But that’s okay. Every embedded engineer has to start somewhere.
So this is Day 0.
I have the hardware. I have a laptop. I have some ideas. And I have absolutely no idea where this journey will end.
Let’s find out. Welcome to my Embedded Story.
Have you ever bought hardware with big plans only to leave it sitting in a box? Tell me your story in the comments!
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