Embedded software development focuses on creating software that is tightly integrated with hardware and designed for specific control functions, while regular software development often targets more general-purpose computing environments.
Ensuring reliability involves thorough testing, code reviews, and applying best practices in error handling and design to mitigate potential failures in the system.
Challenges include managing resource constraints (memory, processing power), ensuring real-time performance, hardware-software integration, and maintaining system security.
It's crucial, as embedded software engineers need to understand the hardware to optimize software performance and functionality.
While some aspects of the job, such as design and code development, can be done remotely, tasks involving direct hardware interaction often require a physical presence.