I wasn't hired for this, I was hired to design and build circuits boards from the ground up. I was specifically told that a software engineer would be in place and that this wouldn't not fall on my shoulders......it has, nothing I can do about it.
my adage is: "if you try to run before you have learned to walk, you will break a leg if you try to walk before you have learned to crawl, you will break a leg"
you have been 'forced' to run before you even have an inkling about how to crawl, and you WILL "break a leg"

We are actively looking for a software engineer to do this properly. My boss is FULLY aware of the dilema that I'm in and is giving me a LOT of latitude to get this done
sounds like a defcenr boss, but you must tell your boss to
a) hire a consulatant or
b) give you time to learn to crawl, then to walk, then to run.
if a) post so and there are resources
if b) post so an we will teach you to crawl, but there is no way we can teach you to run from the beginning.

The mistakes pointed out in the previous post clearly show that you do not even have an inkling about how to crawl

Erik

PS This is NOT anything critisizing YOU, just a statement of fact.