On 15^th November 2018, IEEE AIUB Student Branch in collaboration with IEEE Computer Society AIUB Student Branch Chapter successfully organized a seminar on “Future Scopes of Firmware Engineering” at American International University – Bangladesh. The seminar mainly focused on firmware engineering and the future scope of this as well as the rise of demand in the job market for engineers in this sector. The seminar was conducted by Parvez Mahmood, Director, ICEL Limited, Mohsinul Bari Sakir, Embedded System Firmware Engineer, Signal Stream Inc. Canada and Shamrat Apu Gazi, Junior Firmware Developer, Signal Stream Inc. Canada.

The seminar was inaugurated by the opening remarks from Prof. Dr. A.B.M Siddique Hossain, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, AIUB who discussed how the present world is progressing towards the Embedded System Technology. He also talked about the Firmware Engineering which has the aspects of both software and hardware engineering. He concluded his speech by advising the students not to be dependent on their digital devices all the time as it causes over-reliance on these devices. The first speaker of the seminar, Parvez Mahmood gave firm idea about firmware engineering. He explained how much of study, patience, and effort it requires to be a successful firmware engineer. He proclaimed that within two to four years, there will be enough firmware engineers who would be able to produce products of industry standards. He further talked about Signal Stream Incorporated and its plan to export firmware engineering services from Bangladesh to foreign countries. The second speaker of the seminar, Mohsinul Bari Sakir discussed the history of engineering and the advent of Embedded System and Firmware Engineering. Later on, he emphasized on firmware engineering by giving some valuable information. He discussed the increase of firmware used products as it reached more than 20 billion within a period of few decades. In addition, he discussed the key role played by the firmware engineering in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system. He then explained about four types of embedded systems; which are: Stand alone embedded systems, Real-time embedded systems, Networked embedded systems, and Mobile embedded systems. The difference between microprocessor and microcontroller were also discussed in his speech. The final speaker of the seminar, Shamrat Apu Gazi explained in depth about what firmware engineering involves. He gave a clear idea to the audience about the demand of firmware engineering worldwide. He discussed the massive demand of firmware engineers and their salary in job market depending on various types of work. At the end of the speech, a question and answer session was held where the speakers answered some of the audience’s questions.

The closing speech of the seminar was given by Nafiz Ahmed Chisty, Associate Professor & Head of Undergraduate Program, Department of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, AIUB. He discussed the importance of firmware engineering as well as the potential opportunities for firmware engineers in Bangladesh to go abroad with a better salary in the job market. He encouraged the students of AIUB to think about this engineering sector as they could find themselves in a better carrier in firmware engineering with the collaboration of AIUB. He thanked IEEE AIUB Student Branch for organizing a seminar on an important topic such as firmware. He encouraged the students of AIUB to join IEEE and get involved in more professional engineering activities in order to shape up their career in a perfect way. In the end, as token of appreciation, crests & certificates were presented to the speakers. The successful event was graced by the presence of Dr. M. Tanseer Ali, Professional Activity Coordinator, IEEE Bangladesh Section; Senior Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering, AIUB along with Kawshik Shikder, Motivator, IEEE AIUB Student Branch; Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, AIUB.