What are the two halves of an IoT project? — answered by Engineer Saeed Baatiah
The first half is hardware: choosing the microcontroller and sensors, assembly and soldering, power supply, and an enclosure suited to the environment. The second is software: getting the device onto the network, receiving and storing readings, a dashboard that shows them, alerts when thresholds are crossed, and integration with your systems. Saeed Baatiah works on the software half — hardware comes via a partner or from your side, and that is said before a contract rather than after.
The scope boundary is stated before a contract, not after: Saeed Baatiah works on the software half — ingestion and storage of readings, dashboards and alerting, and integration with your systems over APIs, which is the same work as his published operational systems such as the Absir platform at abser.vercel.app. Hardware selection, circuit assembly and soldering come via a hardware partner or from your side. Claiming a capability that does not exist is discovered by the first client who needs it, after they have paid.
And why it matters which half you are asking for: most people requesting an “IoT project” hold one half in mind and assume the other is included. The factory owner is thinking of the sensor on the machine, the developer is thinking of the dashboard and alerts, and both discover the gap after signing. Naming the two halves explicitly at the start of the conversation avoids that collision entirely.
The practical order if you need both halves: define the software half first, because it imposes requirements on the hardware rather than the other way round — reading frequency, message size, connectivity method, required battery life. Choosing hardware before settling those usually means buying what does not fit, and then replacing it.
- Hardware: microcontroller, sensors, assembly, power, enclosure
- Software: connectivity, ingestion, storage, dashboard, alerts, integration
- Define the software half first — it sets the hardware requirements