<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am a junior in High School deciding on weather I should do either Architectural Engineering or Software Engineering, my heart is set on both, i am good at both and i wish i could do both, but I only need to pick 1. Which of the jobs make more money, if i decided to do Software engineering i would move to Cupertino and get a job with apple. My high school GPA is a 4.5 and i hope to get into Stanford after undergrad.</p>
<p>thanks for the help</p>
<p>Unfortunately neither of those are real engineering degrees/disciplines.</p>
<p>Anyways, both have disadvantages. With Architecture you could be waiting months for new projects to work on. The job prospects aren’t very good and job security is minimal.</p>
<p>For Software engineering most of the jobs are being outsourced to India, Pakistan and other Asian countries. </p>
<p>I recommend pursuing Computer Engineering. You will work with designing the architecture of computer components and learn a lot about programming computer systems and OS Software.
Computer engineers still have great opportunities in the US.</p>
<p>Computer Engineering is a Real engineering discipline/degree.
Make sure your college and engineering discipline you choose are ABET accredited.</p>
<p>alchemist, please get your facts straight before posting. Architectural engineering is indeed a “real” engineering degree/discipline. It’s been around at least since the late 50s. It’s been ABET accredited for decades. I got an ArchE degree with an emphasis on structures. It’s a great degree for someone interested in construction management OR the design of buildings. I didn’t have to take traditional civil courses such as highway design since I wasn’t interested in that. There are entire firms that hire mainly architectural engineers. It’s been a great career for me and I highly recommend it.</p>
<p>Which states can I find the most architectural eng. Jobs or software eng. Jobs? What are the differences in salares? And the amount of education needed? how hard is it to get an software engineering job with apple, and does anybody know their salaries? </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Engineering is the process of applying technical or analytical principles to produce a functional product. Systems engineering is a set of engineering phases used to produce a system.</p>
<p>Software engineering is basically the application of computer science software principles in a structured systems ENGINEERING approach.</p>
<p>True there more graduate SoftE programs than undergraduate SoftE programs but most of the B.S. in Software Engineering programs will have the same math and science requirements as computer science.</p>
<p>Now I am not going to get into the “is software engineering real engineering” because computer science itself has to be decided upon first, but SoftE certainly uses engineering methodologies.</p>
<p>To ManieLonghorn.</p>
<p>I apologize if I may have offended you in any way. Those are just my opinions about those fields and my recommendations about what I have learned from a professor of mine.</p>
<p>I never stated that Archi. Eng. was not ABET accredited.</p>
<p>@ Syed.</p>
<p>Apple is a very difficult company to get a software engineering job for. Most jobs SE are given to experienced workers.</p>
<p>Here is the Bureau of Labor Statistics page on Engineering Job outlooks and Salaries.
Unfortunately, as you can see Software not Architectural Engineering are on the page. But similar disciplines are listed such as Computer Engineers and Civil Engineers.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm[/url]”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm</a></p>
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<p>Be that as it may, you are still passing around opinions that you treat as facts. You didn’t once say “this is my opinion” or anything like that. If you really want to dabble in opinions, I will flat out say I think petroleum engineering isn’t “real engineering” and that my experience with petroleum engineers has been largely negative. That doesn’t make it fact, it just means that in my own dealings with petroleum engineers, I have been less than impressed.</p>
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<p>That is awfully presumptive, don’t you think? Shoot for the stars, but don’t convince yourself you will automatically succeed. Getting a job at Apple isn’t easy.</p>
<p><a href=“http://data.bls.gov:8080/oes/search.jsp[/url]”>http://data.bls.gov:8080/oes/search.jsp</a></p>
<p>The five states with the most software engineers (systems and applications combined) are:
California
Texas
Virginia
Massachusetts
Washington</p>
<p>You can crunch the numbers for yourself through that link. The BLS doesn’t have a category for architectural engineers and I think civil might be a bit broad for this.</p>
<p>alchemist, your “opinion” is wrong when you flat out state that architectural engineering is “not a real engineering degree/discipline.” It’s not a matter of offending me; I just can’t stand for people to state false information on public forums. You either misunderstood your professor, or he is badly misinformed in this area.</p>
<p>My husband and I have done quite well financially in this field, even though we live in Maine, a state where the largest “city” is barely above 60,000 people!</p>
<p>@MainLonghorn.</p>
<p>Once again I apologize to you and to anyone I may have misinformed.
From now on I will try and state whether what I have written is an opinion or a fact.</p>
<p>@ Syed.</p>
<p>Disregard my post and follow your heart. Do what you love to do. Don’t worry too much about job outlook or salary but instead what your are most interested in.
The prosperity will come with time. (What I have just stated is my opinion and take it with a grain of salt.)</p>
<hr>
<p>Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is that they learn from them.</p>
<p>Thank you for pointing out my mistake because now I can work on correcting that mistake and not letting it reoccur.</p>
<p>alchemist, I admire your attitude! Thanks for the apology. You will do well in life.</p>
<p>
Unfortunately, job prospects are often a more important consideration than personal interests. I’d rather be an employed cashier than an unemployed engineer. Think about this:</p>
<p>Would you want to choose Software Engineering as your major right after the dot-com bubble burst?
Would you want to choose Architectural Engineering as your major right after the real estate crash?</p>
<p>I’m interested in being a professional basketball player too, and I do want a job in the NBA. Is that enough to justify spending four years doing nothing but shooting baskets all day?</p>
<p>Boy, NegativeSlope, your screen name is sure accurate! Why don’t you switch majors if you’re so pessimistic? I really don’t get it.</p>
<p>Every time you post something like this, I will post again. I’ve been an architectural engineer for 24 years now and have had a wonderful career, even in a rural state like Maine. If you’re a good engineer and work hard, architectural engineering is a great field. We have diversified so that we do projects in lots of different areas - residential, commercial, industrial, etc. If an engineer designed ONLY houses, he/she might be in trouble, but I don’t know a single person who restricts his/her practice that much.</p>
<p>mainelonghorn -my son will be starting at Penn State this fall and plans to major in Arch Engr. My DH had his doubts about this at first, but I believe it is a perfect blend of DS’s interest in engineering and his talent for art and design.</p>
<p>We looked at ArchEngr programs at a variety of schools - both full BS degrees and various Civil Engr programs with “concentrations” in ArchEngr. We also looked at schools that had strong CE programs with an option for a minor in Arch. </p>
<p>I was incredibly impressed with the curriculum at Penn State (less impressed with others) and know that after 5 years (5-1/2 with a joint BS/MS), DS will finish with an incredibly strong engineering background. And as someone who spent most of his growing up years overseas, DS is especially interested in pursuing international opportunities.</p>
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<p>You do know that databases and operating systems are in Software Engineering, right?</p>
<p>
What major should I switch to, then? Engineering is bad, but choosing other majors (or dropping out and having no major at all) are worse options.</p>
<p>hey mainelonghorn, how is the pay for architectural engineering? i heard that it’s kind of hard to get a job with an ArchE degree because some companies don’t really know what that is. is that true?</p>
<p>ibmx92 - here are some websites for you to check out - </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.careercornerstone.org/pdf/archeng/archeng.pdf[/url]”>http://www.careercornerstone.org/pdf/archeng/archeng.pdf</a></p>
<p>[Accredited</a> Programs Search](<a href=“http://www.abet.org/AccredProgramSearch/AccreditationSearch.aspx]Accredited”>http://www.abet.org/AccredProgramSearch/AccreditationSearch.aspx)</p>
<p>[Architectural</a> Engineering](<a href=“College Major Search | College Majors List | The Princeton Review”>College Major Search | College Majors List | The Princeton Review)</p>
<p>The job market for architectural engineers has remained strong despite the economic downtown. This is in part due to supply and demand; there are few ABET accredited programs. Historically, grads with decent stats are looking at multiple job offers; there are more companies at the PSU job fairs than there are grads each year. Residential housing is only one of many career options open to these students. As an example, a local company I am familiar with specializes in designing facilities for our aging population (and improving current facilites); I’m sure you can see this is a huge growth area. Another person I know does lighting design for museum installations, trade show exhibits, etc.</p>