6 Tips to become an IoT developer

The Internet revolution started with personal computers, then it came right into our hands as smartphones, and now almost all electronic devices are connected to the internet, called IoT. It is the trending technology making human lives more manageable.

IoT is just about connecting devices to the internet in real-time. The devices contain sensors, processing ability, and some technology through which they can communicate with other devices over the internet or networks.

Technologies Enabling IoT

• Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)

• Embedded Systems

• Big Data Analytics

• Machine Learning

• Natural Language Processing(NLP)

• Cloud Computing

To become an IoT developer, we must know its importance and usage. We can observe its applications across sectors, be it education, automotive, manufacturing, health care, agriculture, etc.

• Agriculture − IoT requirement is abundant in the agriculture sector to meet the needs of the fast-growing population. It is very tedious for cultivators to look after everything, like the moisture content in the soil, pests in the field, animal attacks, wastage of water, the need for fertilizers and pesticides, etc. Setting sensors all over the area and accessing the information makes farmers' lives easy.

• Health Care − Nowadays, many are using wearables that can track the health of a person (BP, sugar levels, heartbeat, etc.). Using this health history, doctors can easily understand the patient’s condition. Also, IoT devices in hospitals can perform inventory management, monitoring of temperature, etc.

• Smart Home − Adjusting the light and temperature and turning appliances automatically comfort the users. Controlling electronic devices is now possible through our mobile phones also.

• Safe Driving − The sensors can detect drivers' behavior and perform relevant actions. It can gain data from various sources and find traffic information, shortest routes, speed breakers, etc. Driverless cars are the recent technological advances that reside on IoT devices to access the required information.

• Industries − IoT has excellent usage in industries like managing inventory and production, detecting system faults, tracking equipment efficiency, controlling industrial environment conditions, etc.

Tips to Become an IoT Developer

Good Understanding of Sensors

Other than various technologies, good knowledge of the sensors is very necessary to become an IoT developer. Because one needs to program the device and send or retrieve the data from it, it is not the only thing but the basic requirement to develop an IoT device. This could be easy for a person from an electronics background.

Mostly used sensors for creating IoT devices and their area of use −

Temperature sensor	food safety, goods and inventory management, agriculture
Pressure sensor	vehicles, weather analysis, asset tracking
Smoke sensor	fire alarm systems, commercial buildings, industries
Humidity sensor	refrigerators, server rooms, food processing, agriculture
Proximity sensor	driverless cars, recycling plants, phones
Water quality sensor	water treatment, laboratory measurement
IR sensor	motion detectors, alarm systems, flame detectors, remote controls
Motion detection sensor	security lightening, automatic doors, lights, fans
Level sensor	agriculture, water treatment tanks, nuclear power plants, automobiles
Optical sensor	alarm systems, detect object distance, computers, heart rate monitoring, breath analyzers
Image sensor	security systems, drones, robotics, optical mouse devices, night vision equipment

User Interface

To become an IoT developer, we should have expertise in developing user interfaces. This interface should be easy to use, even for a naive user. IoT applications are mainly used for performing critical tasks related to security, health, industrial, etc. So the UI should have high-quality standards like faster processing, fluid motion, and better performance.

It should be adaptable to various devices and platforms, which isn’t easy to design compared to websites and mobile apps.

Programming Language & Technologies

Languages − Javascript and Python

Technologies − Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing

In IoT, the devices communicate, sharing huge amounts of data. The data should be accessed from anywhere, so using the cloud for storage and retrieval is the best way. Big data analysis provides meaningful insights into data for better decision-making.

Nowadays, IoT is important in predictions and where Machine Learning algorithms are helpful.

Machine Learning Applications

• It is always difficult to predict the errors that might occur in machinery, and its delay causes huge losses. Machine learning algorithms applied to the data collected from various industry sensors help detect unusual errors and reduce damage.

• We prefer to be warm when the weather is cool and be cool when it is hot. Using the Nest thermostat, we can set the temperature and connect it to various home comfort systems like AC, heaters, furnaces, etc. It involves machine learning which analyses the available information to determine the temperature that would be preferred by a person and adjusts accordingly.

• Security can be provided to IoT devices using machine learning techniques.

Develop projects on Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi is a microprocessor that works as a nanocomputer. It supports python, C/C++, and Scratch programming languages. One can solder circuits and program them to execute simple projects, which helps understand hardware clearly for a person from a nonelectronic background. Raspberry Pi features are perfect for making IoT devices.

There are many other alternatives for Raspberry Pi, like - Arduino + wifi shield and NodeMCU.

Features 

CPU, Operating System(OS), power source, HDMI port, memory, ethernet port, SD card slot, LEDs, General Purpose Input and Output(GPIO), and Graphic Processing Unit.

Community

As IoT is not entirely exposed to the world, there are a few pathways through which we can get into this field so having connections with industry experts is the best way to understand the trends. Communication with the IoT domain experts helps us take the right path.

Conclusion

This fast-growing technology doesn’t work when we fix on a single technology. As it keeps updating and improving, one should be eager to learn and refine their skills. Hence, this tutorial will help with tips and technologies to become an IoT developer.