7/12/16: Analog Mixed Signal IC Design Grad student advice re: IoT

Many IoT systems rely on the acquisition of sensor measurement from the real world. These are analog in nature and require conditioning, conversion, processing and communication in order to be usable as data and information in an IoT system. Analog Devices has a 50 year legacy as a leader in these areas. The skills that you describe are a good start. I would focus on building simple sensing systems based on popular maker platforms such as Arduino or Raspberry Pi. Use these to send data to a cloud service, there are may free or low cost options available. Learning Java and/or JavaScript is important since these are so ubiquitous these days and are used by many cloud services for development. It is always good to start with an application in mind since IoT is mostly about the applications of existing technologies.This could be as simple as remotely monitoring the temperature of your house or apartment.