<p>I'm about halfway through a Computer Science degree and absolutely love the things that I'm learning and how I get to apply that knowledge, as an up and coming software engineer, to different fields. However, I am also considering pursuing, in addition to my CS degree, an engineering degree. IF I decided to do this, I feel like I would be most interested in pursuing either Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, as I've always loved everything to do with space and flight and really feel the need to dive into something more visual/tangible than CS. I would consider EE, but it seems like it would be rather redundant for me, as a major. I can always take an embedded systems class if I really feel the need to.</p>
<p>My question is: Is this a bad idea (e.g., should I just focus on CS and maybe spend that time towards graduate school with CS)? If not, what do you guys think regarding choosing between Aerospace and Mechanical?</p>
<p>I think the idea is a bit far fetched, but it may depend on course synergy from school to school. Take a look at your course sequence info - engineering is mostly required, sequenced courses. Then tell us… how much longer would you need to stay in school?</p>
<p>Most CS degrees are a bit light on physical sciences but they have elective courses available. Choose them carefully to fit your interests. They could be engineering if your school allows you to do that or they could be physics, since that would give you a bit more background in fields that the aerospace industry touches on. Don’t spend an extra year in college though.</p>
<p>A couple of our software people are former aerospace engineers :)</p>
<p>A real good synergy exists between CS and Industrial Engineering, btw. Mech Eng also if you do things like Comp Fluid Dynamics, or Aero in structures, etc.</p>
<p>I’ve already been taking engineering pre-reqs in the past couple semester (Physics I and II, Differential Equations, will be taking Vector Calculus next Semester). Also, I kind of want to stay in college at least an extra year or two. I’m not sure if I should spend that time on another bachelors of engineering or masters in CS, though. I’ve just always looked highly upon an engineering degree. Having an ABET accredited engineering degree seems to open a lot of doors, both knowledge-wise and design-wise. Would you guys agree?</p>
<p>I should mention that I still kind of have this somewhat childish dream to work for SpaceX (and they do hire a lot of software engineers, actually).</p>
<p>I went the other way, in that half-way (somewhat more in terms of number of credits actually) though my engineering degree (Industrial) I added a CS major. The job I took (starting in January) is at a software company as a software developer but they do some projects that would definitely draw on my Industrial Engineering degree and I’m hoping to be placed on one of those projects. </p>
<p>I say if you’re not worried about the time or money to get both majors then go for it. You’ll get hired for one but that’s not to say that the other won’t be useful for one reason or another. Additionally, where I’m going they seem to have a preference for double majors for some reason. It seemed like half the interns there this past summer were double majoring in CS and something else. That something else was a very wide variety of things (there were all of fine arts, humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, math, and engineering double majors). I don’t know if SpaceX or other companies you’re looking at would have the same preference as well, but I doubt my company is the only one that likes having double majors.</p>
<p>Vladenschlutte, that’s awesome that you doubled in both Industrial Engineering and Computer Science! See, that’s the main reason I’d want to do a double like that - for my own academic enrichment/knowledge gain. I have a more specific question for you… Are there ever times where you feel like you wish you would have just focused on and completely invested yourself in either one major or the other (maybe CS, mainly)?</p>
<p>I don’t know, doing both has worked out well for me. I don’t know how well doing one or the other would have worked. Industrial Engineering isn’t terribly respected at my school (they made the program too easy) so the CS says “hey, I’m not an idiot” and opens up more higher paying job opportunities, which is why I added it mainly. In either program there are classes I can point out that were completely useless to me, and in either program I can point out classes that were useful to me.</p>
<p>The idea of investing myself entirely into one major doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. My interest in either are basically an overlap in subjects. I don’t know exactly what term to use, but I’ll say “metric based decision making” is the closest I can describe. This exists in Optimization/Linear Programming classes in IE, and in Algorithms/AI classes in CS. If I were to invest myself completely in one major it would be IE where I would have taken a bunch of grad classes instead of all the EECS classes I took, but I think my education would be lacking if I didn’t take any CS classes.</p>
<p>I think sticking with CS is your best bet. Adding a Engineering degree with a CS does nothing but confuse employers rather than make you stand out. If you go to EE and stick with digital it may help but if an employer wants an RF engineer he wont even blink twice before he tosses your resume in the trash . The same can be said if employer wants an Analog design engineer, or Power systems Engineer. An Engineering degree to me is a foundation not a rite of passage to whatever job you want.</p>
<p>EX: If a student graduated with an EE degree took the appropriate electives that dealt with RF Antennas, did the corresponding RF projects, successfully did a senior design dealing with RF, then his odds of landing a RF engineer position are pretty good. This same example can be applied to the Electronics,Power,Computer,Systems side of EE and Im assuming ME works the same. </p>
<p>Employers don’t want graduates who are all over the map.</p>
<p>Tyjay516, I’m actually inclined to agree with you. I’ve noticed that employers want specialization, rather than a jack of all trades, most of the time. I do thoroughly enjoy CS, so maybe I’ll stick with it and just take a design class or two. Also, if I was to pursue anything else in parallel, I may add a math major, because I’m already done with my core and wouldn’t mind continuing in math. Though, I may eat those words if I try taking number theory or real analysis.</p>