What is it that you would like to do?

Clearly, this role does not allow you to grow as a developer. If you don't have side projects you may get rusty. That becomes a disadvantage when you're interviewing. If you would prefer a development-focused position, you might not want to stick around too long.

On the other hand, the combination of experience with C and hardware development is valued highly by some companies. Even without formal education, you are probably getting valuable experience: If nothing else, it'll help you communicate with electrical engineers.

Don't worry about job-hopping.

A few hops are nothing to worry about. A good offer that turns out to be a bad match explains two switches in a short timespan. At the start of your career, your CV likely lists projects or jobs you've held before graduation and you might switch a little more often, while working out what kind of role you like.

A competent interviewer has seen all that before. At most, you'll have to explain a few switches that they don't understand. Patterns that I would find worrisome are:

• 10 years post-graduation in the industry, but you've never made it to 2 years at a company. Many 3-6 month stints are particularly worrisome.
• If you've been a junior or medior for much too long, through too many companies. You're good enough to get hired, but not good enough to get promoted.

I suspect that the definition of job-hopping depends on the role you're interviewing for - I'd expect developers to switch more often, simply because you get more offers. However, suppose my company is looking for a product lead and we pay for a 3-yr growth track (coaching, education, paid study days). Then I want a candidate who was promoted internally at least once of twice. Candidates that switch every 3 years may trade up their titles quickly, but I need to assess our chances of benefitting from our training effort.

What is it that you would like to do?

Clearly, this role does not allow you to grow as a developer. If you don't have side projects you may get rusty. That becomes a disadvantage when you're interviewing. If you would prefer a development-focused position, you might not want to stick around too long.

On the other hand, the combination of experience with C and hardware development is valued highly by some companies. Even without formal education, you are probably getting valuable experience: If nothing else, it'll help you communicate with electrical engineers.

Don't worry about job-hopping.

A few hops are nothing to worry about. A good offer that turns out to be a bad match explains two switches in a short timespan. At the start of your career, your CV likely lists projects or jobs you've held before graduation and you might switch a little more often, while working out what kind of role you like.

A competent interviewer has seen all that before. At most, you'll have to explain a few switches that they don't understand. Patterns that I would find worrisome are:

• 10 years post-graduation in the industry, but you've never made it to 2 years at a company. Many 3-6 month stints are particularly worrisome.
• If you've been a junior or medior for much too long, through too many companies. You're good enough to get hired, but not good enough to get promoted.

I suspect that the definition of job-hopping depends on the role you're interviewing for - I'd expect developers to switch more often, simply because you get more offers. However, suppose my company is looking for a product lead and we pay for a 3-yr growth track (coaching, education, paid study days). Then I prefer a candidate who was promoted internally at least once or twice. Candidates that switch frequently may trade up their titles quickly, but we'd like to benefit from our training effort for a few years.