The software has become dramatically larger, dramatically more complicated, and dramatically more important. At the same time, the process around developing embedded projects has not even slightly kept up.
Most of the crappy projects I've worked on weren't crappy because the developers didn't know what they were doing. They were crappy because they were old code bases that were recycled over and over and over again through small hardware iterations, and no team working on a single iteration can ever get permission from management to do the necessary maintenance (refactor, redesign, whatever) -- they are just required to get their little port finished fast. Everybody makes the smartest hacks they can on top of the crap they were given, and each step of the way the system gets worse.
Most companies don't start from scratch -- which is almost impossible anyway, given the low quality of documentation from chip manufacturers -- but start from whatever example code base or framework the manufacturer provides. These are invariably bad, and were developed like I mentioned above (hacks on hacks with each hardware iteration)... and then the hacks for your specific project start.
Then the actual development cycle is pretty much dictated to be the 'waterfall' method since it's tough to be 'agile' with hardware. Proper debugging tools, at the level you would get with desktop software development, are either unavailable or cost more than the company is willing to invest. Proper code analysis tools are the same. Continuous deployment and automated testing are practically impossible unless you have tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on infrastructure.
And there's never enough time for any of it.
And there's never enough documentation for any of it.
At this stage, embedded has reached the complexity of enterprise software running on desktops/servers, but without the process and tools needed to make that actually work.
Most of the crappy projects I've worked on weren't crappy because the developers didn't know what they were doing. They were crappy because they were old code bases that were recycled over and over and over again through small hardware iterations, and no team working on a single iteration can ever get permission from management to do the necessary maintenance (refactor, redesign, whatever) -- they are just required to get their little port finished fast. Everybody makes the smartest hacks they can on top of the crap they were given, and each step of the way the system gets worse.
Most companies don't start from scratch -- which is almost impossible anyway, given the low quality of documentation from chip manufacturers -- but start from whatever example code base or framework the manufacturer provides. These are invariably bad, and were developed like I mentioned above (hacks on hacks with each hardware iteration)... and then the hacks for your specific project start.
Then the actual development cycle is pretty much dictated to be the 'waterfall' method since it's tough to be 'agile' with hardware. Proper debugging tools, at the level you would get with desktop software development, are either unavailable or cost more than the company is willing to invest. Proper code analysis tools are the same. Continuous deployment and automated testing are practically impossible unless you have tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on infrastructure.
And there's never enough time for any of it.
And there's never enough documentation for any of it.
At this stage, embedded has reached the complexity of enterprise software running on desktops/servers, but without the process and tools needed to make that actually work.