Udo DedekindEmbedded & Software Engineer Download CV
Pretoria, South Africa · Open to opportunities

It works on my machine since 2025

I'm Udo — I have a degree in electrical and electronic engineering, was handed embedded and server software, and found the thing I'm best at. At Firmlogik I run a full project end to end: the software on the electronics, the mobile connection, the server and web portal, the screen the crew touches, and the rigs that test every unit before it ships.

Photograph of Udo Dedekind Available for new work
How I help

Start to finish — and everything in between.

Most projects need someone on the electronics, someone on the server, and someone on the screen. I've done all three on the same project, which means the decisions line up instead of fighting each other.

01

Concept & spec

Turning "we need something that does this" into a plan somebody can actually build and cost.

02

Electronics & software

The software that lives on the hardware and makes the product behave — reliably, for years.

03

Server & connectivity

Getting equipment in the field talking to a server over the mobile network, and staying honest when signal drops.

04

Screens, portals & apps

The parts people touch: on-product screens, control-room dashboards, desktop tools for technicians.

05

Production & support

Test rigs that pass or fail each unit, and updates delivered remotely instead of by a site visit.

Selected work

Projects that are out there working.

All of this is in daily commercial use — not portfolio filler.

In service · 2025 — present

Vehicle security system

A complete on-board security system for armoured cash-in-transit vehicles. It controls every lock on the vehicle — crew doors, drop safes, vaults and the engine immobiliser — and decides, from the crew's PIN and the rules for that route, whether something is allowed to open at all.

I run the software side of the whole project: the code on the electronics, the touchscreen the crew uses, the authorisation rules, and the link back to the control room. It's the kind of system where a freeze isn't a bug report — it's a crew standing next to an open safe on the side of a road.

FirmwareTouchscreen interfaceAuthorisation logicConnectivity
In service

Fleet management portal

A web portal that gives control-room staff live visibility of a whole fleet — door and safe status, vehicle position, unit health — and the authority to lock a vehicle down remotely from a browser. I built both the server side and the interface.

BackendFrontendBuilt solo
In service

Remote software updates

Units in the field can't be recalled to a workshop, so new software is delivered over the mobile network and installed safely on the next restart. I designed the failure handling — the part that matters when a truck drives out of coverage halfway through.

Update pipelineFailure handling
In service

Location tracking

Rebuilt how vehicles report position: tracked continuously, but only reported once a vehicle has genuinely moved or a state has changed. Same accuracy where it counts, a fraction of the mobile data bill, and no interference with everything else sharing the connection.

RedesignCost reduction
Shipped

Tools for the people using it

A self-updating Windows application for field technicians, a simulator that lets the product be developed with no hardware on the desk.

C# desktopPythonAutomation
Shipped

Production test equipment

Designed and built the rigs that qualify assembled electronics before they leave the factory. Each one exercises the real inputs and outputs and gives a clear pass or fail, instead of asking an operator to interpret a reading.

HardwareFirmwareQuality control
2022 — 2023

Power systems engineering

Solar plant design and earthing, distribution systems and mini-substations, grid balancing, hybrid installations and fault-level calculations at FULS Engineering. I also designed and maintained the firm's website.

DesignAnalysisWeb
Track record

Where I've been.

Jan 2025 — PresentPretoria

Embedded Software Engineer

Firmlogik (Pty) Ltd

Joined in January 2025 and grew into running the software side of a full commercial vehicle security project, end to end.

  • Firmware and touchscreen interface for products in daily commercial use
  • The authorisation rules behind every lock on the vehicle
  • Mobile connectivity: live status, position reporting and remote software updates
  • Full-stack fleet management portal — server and interface
  • Windows tooling for field technicians, plus a simulator for hardware-free development
  • Design and build of production test equipment
2024 — PresentPotchefstroom

Mentor Manager — Faculty Mentor Programme

North-West University

Lead the faculty programme supporting first-year engineering students through the move from school to university, set up to catch academic and wellbeing difficulties early. Managing a team of mentors is where I learned how much of engineering is clear written communication.

Nov 2022 — Jan 2023Ermelo

Engineering Vacation Work

FULS Engineering

Solar plant design and panel earthing, distribution systems, mini-substations, grid balancing, hybrid electrical solutions and fault calculations — plus design and upkeep of the firm's website.

Jul — Sep 2021Potchefstroom

Accelerator Programme

North-West University

Taking an idea through to a market-ready product: design thinking, prototyping, user experience, mobile development and intellectual property. The first time I saw the gap between "it works" and "someone will pay for it".

2020 — 2024Potchefstroom

BEng Electrical & Electronic Engineering

North-West University

A four-year professional engineering degree covering power systems, control, electronics and embedded design — and the mathematics and physics grounding that still does most of the work when a problem turns out to be physical rather than software.

Toolkit

What I work in.

Grouped by how deep it actually goes, rather than listed alphabetically to look longer.

Every day

  • C++ & C
  • Microcontrollers (ARM & AVR)
  • Real-time, non-blocking design
  • Embedded touchscreen interfaces
  • MQTT over TLS
  • Git

Comfortable

  • C# / .NET desktop applications
  • Python — tooling & automation
  • JavaScript, HTML & CSS
  • Web sockets & live dashboards
  • LTE modems, GPS & telemetry
  • Remote update & bootloader design

Engineering background

  • Circuit design & analysis
  • Fault-level calculations
  • Solar plant & substation design
  • MATLAB & Simulink
  • DIgSILENT · LTspice · ATPDraw
  • Siemens NX · Fusion 360
  • Oscilloscope & logic analysis

Also

  • Afrikaans & English — fully bilingual
  • Clear technical writing
  • Comfortable in front of clients
  • Code review & standards
  • Mentoring & team leadership
About me

I did it all by myself... with claude

I have a degree in electrical and electronic engineering from North-West University, and came out of it more interested in the software than the switchgear. That combination turned out to be the useful part: I'm just as comfortable when a problem stops being code and starts being physics.

What I enjoy is running a project end to end. In my current role that has meant the firmware, the on-screen interface, the mobile connectivity, the web portal, the technician tooling and the factory test rigs. Not because nobody else could, just due to the fast paced environment, this was inevitable for the small company I started working at — only to realize the interesting problems live in the gaps between those layers, and I'd rather be the person who understands all of them.

Outside of the work: Pretoria-based, fully bilingual in Afrikaans and English, happy in front of a client, and reliably the person who reads the datasheet properly before arguing about it.

What you get One engineer who can scope it, build it, connect it, put a usable screen on it, test it in production and support it in the field — and who writes it all down clearly enough that the next person can pick it up.
  • Nothing blocks.Everything keeps responding while it waits. One blocking call doesn't slow a feature down — it starves everything else.
  • Write for the technician who isn't there.Units in the field can't be recalled, so how it fails matters more than how it works on a good day.
  • Own the seams.The interesting bugs live between the hardware, the connection and the interface — not inside any one of them.
Get in touch

Let's build something.

Open to interesting embedded and connected-product work. If you have something that has to work unattended — in a vehicle, on a site, or outdoors — I'd like to hear about it.

Personal email
Mobile
Based in
Pretoria, South Africa