<p>Hello, I am hitting a rather rough time in my life and without going to personal, I am looking to transition into a more fulfilling career.</p>
<p>Before you ask, I know grad school is right for me. I wish to extend my knowledge and contribute back to research. I am always interested in learning new things and in technology, that is a necessity.</p>
<p>What originally seemed like a good idea, EE, when I enrolled in undergrad in 08 doesn't seem to be the right fit for me. I work in a manufacturing environment, specifically semiconductors. My role is very technical in the company but does not involve any design at all. This has been a major disappointment to me as most of the learning you do in college revolves around designing solutions to problems. In manufacturing, everything is always rushed, and only cares about getting something out the door. They don't care how you arrived at your solution or proposal, just so long as it gets done. Well, that is totally not how I operate.</p>
<p>I see programming as the future for all technical people or engineers. EE in the real world was a total letdown after going through some very rigorous material. It's either, get your MSEE or PhD to even be considered for design or research, but all the best people are already doing that thanks to H-1B visas. I've always loved computers, and have worked with them my whole life from building to programming. What seemed like a good option before, software, is now so dominant it seems like hardware has totally been eclipsed. Even the people at my work you wouldn't expect need to program, are programming to get their work done. I know the differences between Computer Engineering and Computer Science, but I am curious what the future prospects are? As I feel they vastly changed in my own case when I entered in undergrad to the time I graduated. </p>