Software Engineer

From data to information, from information to insight. As a Software Engineer, your main responsibility is connecting the dots between the electrical components, the received data, and the performance of the car. All the components of a rally car can interact with each other, and all produce data. It is a complex puzzle in which you find a way to read data from these components, gather knowledge from them, and control these components.You work together with the Embedded team by obtaining sensor data, innovating the car with new features, and to track down issues to improve the system’s reliability. 

Next to this, you are responsible for the telemetry system, in which the data is wirelessly gathered and controlled with your own data-acquisition system that is able to process all incoming/outgoing data. With this data, you work together with the Performance Engineer to make strategic decisions to drive a race as optimal as possible. 

You will learn how to apply your Software Engineering knowledge to an actual rally car, by building on top of the electrical system, controlling this electrical system, and gaining, processing, combining, and visualizing data to drive your decisions. You will learn how to work with sensors, CAN-networks, wireless communication, and modelling of complex systems. Next to this, you will learn how to work with satellite communication and communicate in areas where normal communication is hard. 

Are you looking for a challenge, and interested in deepening your computer science knowledge, and understanding how to apply this to the real world? Are you able to learn and develop complex systems, and can you work well independently, but also in a team? Then Software Engineer at Solar Team Twente might be something for you! Programming experience in languages such as Python, C, and C++ is a prerequisite. 


The experience of Barry

My name is Barry, and during the 2025 edition, I was the Software and Embedded Engineer of the team. The reason I joined Solar Team, was because I wanted to deepen my knowledge of Computer Science in a practical setting, but also to learn to work in a large and diverse team. 

I started the year off strong, as I tasked myself to be able to connect our car to the internet / 4G during the European Solar Challenge, to be able to receive data at all times. It immediately got me learning on how to apply knowledge from my Bachelor’s to a real world example, and how to build on top of the electrical parts. Now while my task was a… weak success, where it would only transmit data for short periods of time, it immediately, in the first month, confirmed this position was what I had been searching for. 

I spent a large amount of time improving the data gathering and visualization system by building a feature in which varying data could be combined and tracked over time, and automatically be flagged if things were maybe going wrong. This improved our testing, as problems arose earlier, but also made us immediately aware of problems during the race. 

But I also found much enjoyment in the many side projects I did with other team members, such as data tracking of the motor, fixing up the controlling of certain parts of the car, and optimizing & improving the data that our strategist needed, and afterwards improving the strategy together.