Image: “SparkFun Culture” by SparkFun Electronics (CC BY 2.0)
Learn Embedded Skills.
Build Real Things.
Hands-on courses that focus on real firmware and hardware skills. Learn the tools and workflows used by embedded engineers every day.
Learn Efficiently. Build Confidently.
Whether you’re a maker moving into more advanced projects, a recent engineering grad filling in the gaps, or a professional upskilling for that next big project, these courses are built for you.
- Get straight to the point. Hands-on projects, real tools, and deep technical insight.
- Balance depth with flexibility. Learn around your schedule, with MOOC-style lessons and video series you can return to anytime.
- Bridge firmware and hardware. From RTOS to PCB layout, you’ll develop full-stack embedded experience.
- Earn certificates. Many of the courses offer official certification that demonstrate your skills to employers.
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I’m Shawn Hymel, an embedded systems engineer with a passion for teaching. Over the past decade, I’ve worked with DigiKey, Microsoft, Hackster, and Edge Impulse to create technical content that connects. I’ve helped thousands of learners get started with STM32, understand the ESP-IDF, dive into Zephyr, and much more.
My goal is simple: help you learn the skills that actually make a difference in the embedded world.
What Others Are Saying
Soutrik Maiti
Shawn Hymel’s courses and engaging teaching style were instrumental in my journey to master embedded systems. He has a unique talent for demystifying complex topics, making them accessible and practical. His clear explanations and real-world examples fostered a deeper understanding and ignited my passion to share knowledge. Shawn’s content is a goldmine for anyone serious about embedded systems.
Steve Branam
I’ve watched a number of Shawn’s tutorials. He creates excellent teaching material that breaks down complex topics into understandable chunks to accelerate the learning process.
Parth Thakkar
I’ve been following Shawn for years, starting with his FreeRTOS videos that explain complex concepts better than some university courses. His teaching style makes difficult topics easy to understand through practical examples. It helped me bridge the gap between theory and real-world applications!
Furqan Hameed Karim
Shawn’s explanations on RTOS utilized on ESP32 are one of the best, easy to follow, and best for developing an understanding of how real-time systems are programmed. They build an in-depth understanding for the people who are new to controlling MCUs. They have helped me a lot, especially at the start of my career.
Peniel Mubita
I am an upcoming hardware engineer trying to learn the ropes of embedded systems firmware and hardware engineering – Shawn’s courses on arduino and kicad are excellent and have seeded my continued learning – the 555 Badge was the first serious project I ever worked on out of university.
Matthew Kelcey
Shawn is an exceptional educator able to take intricate concepts and break them into actionable steps. He was always a pleasure to work with and reshaped many of the ideas and approaches I have for sharing knowledge.
Rajiv Verma
It’s pure joy watching Shawn’s detailed videos on various complex topics that he so effortlessly simplifies. Love Shawn’s passion and engagement with presenting the well-structured content. I am truly inspired! Kudos and keep it coming.
Robert Palmer Jr
Shawn does an amazing job of presenting just the right amount of detail, while also hitting the key items. I’ve struggled with device trees in general and had not really dug into the Zephyr stuff beyond, “OK, I can see they’re doing some serious macro foo” and seeing some high-level naming similarities, but no clue how to actually put it together. In 90 minutes Shawn made it clear enough for me to feel totally comfortable jumping in to write a driver and being confident I could do it without spending hours and hours trying to dig up answers.