“Working in the right team and on the right project makes going to work fun.”
As an Embedded Software Designer, Jeroen works on complex medical product development, where software, hardware and low-power design come together. Jeroen and his work show what makes TOPIC unique. He works with a multidisciplinary team on challenging projects and keeps developing, both as an engineer and a person.
TOPIC makes sure I’m always challenged in the right way. Working in the right team, on the right project and in the right environment makes going to work fun!
As Embedded Software Designer, I work as a consultant at one of TOPIC’s customers. I work in a multidisciplinary team on the development of new medical products.
The day starts with a stand-up, after which everyone starts work. Before we start any task we carefully think through the architecture and design. Most tasks are not purely software, but also involve hardware. Good communication is essential to ensure we control the hardware in the right way, while also being efficient in terms of power consumption.
Because we want to get the most out of the microcontroller, we regularly brainstorm about ways to optimize certain parts of the code. Small experiments help to confirm whether our ideas are correct.
Once a task is completed, the code gets reviewed and system tests are run to ensure everything still works as expected. Every two weeks, we meet with the customer to discuss the progress and define the next steps.
Working on non-trivial problems that lie between disciplines is what challenges me. We work with microcontrollers in my current project. This means that we have certain limitations regarding the memory and speed with which tasks can be executed. Combined with very low power consumption, this means we have to make careful trade-offs. When can we switch to which sleep mode? Which peripherals can be turned off and which are still functional in certain sleepmodes? Can we conserve energy by running the process in the background with DMA.
TOPIC challenges me to keep developing myself, both technically and personally.
