Some preliminary knowledge is needed to do the turorials. Please give this a quick look. If you know all the notions in the references below, then do not bother yourself by going through them in detail. If not, then you should give them a closer look before starting.

1. Network basics
A computer - how big or small it is today - is not anymore a stand alone device. It is networked using in almost all cases an Ethernet connection, wired or wireless. Notions like for example  IP addresses and subnets, and functions like switches, routers and firewalls should be common knowledge. These functions may be implemented in specific hardware devices, but when one goes virtual, these become also virtual or software based functions.
A good basic introduction on networking can be found at
https://stevessmarthomeguide.com/basic-networking-course/ 
Also one should be capable of installing a home network. A simple intro can be fount at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_router 
If you want to know much more about, then we advice following the Network-Workshop in this website.

2. Basic computer hardware
Knowing what is under the hood in your computer, notebook, desktop, smartphone, tablet or server is essential.
Some intro can be found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer_hardware.
One should be capable of replacing a notebook or desktop disk (or adding one), and be capable of adding more central memories in his or her computer.
Tutorials on this can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcBwnb8rENQ 
and here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/261599/how_to_replace_your_laptop_hard_drive.html.
It might be interesting to replace your classical disk in your notebook by a Solid State Disk (SSD) and as such augmenting considerably the speed of your computer and at the same time lower the power consumption and the noise.

See http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-install-a-solid-state-drive-in-your-laptop/
Having a good functioning notebook or PC is essential for these tutorials as a lot of tasks will be executed on your personal device. It suggested to have at least 4 GB of central memory and 8 GB preferred and the last version of Windows PRO installed.

3. Programming
Having serious programming skills is a plus for this courses, but not essential. However, having a basic programming skill is a must.
The operating systems we will use are in most cases written in C/C++. If you chose a mini-project dealing with the OS internals, knowledge of C/C++ is required.
Application programming can be in any language like Java, C#, Python and many more.
If ever you need to "sharpen" your knowledge about one or another language, here are some entry point links:

4. Case Tools
Specifically for the tutorial on software and engineering for ES, having already worked with a case tool using UML will help a lot but is not really required although then the learning curve will be longer. In the SEES tutorial we will use SysML for designing the architecture of a IoT system.