<p>Hello, I'm going into my second year as a CS major at UCSD.</p>
<p>I'm just wondering the differences between the two majors in terms of real-world career choices, job market, etc..</p>
<p>I understand that CE is heavier on the hardware aspect of things, but that's all i really know. Internship emails sent out are marked to be sent to both CE and CS majors, and CE and CS share many of the same classes. </p>
<p>Is it worth the change of major?</p>
<p>I'm kind of wondering this too since Stanford has no CE (only CS).</p>
<p>bump! </p>
<p>ten</p>
<p>Chowdy, do what you enjoy the most. Both majors have no trouble in the job market. </p>
<p>Flippy, EE and CE overlap quite a bit (thus some schools have just ECE). Often EE only schools will have some emphasis on software, kind of like CE.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply :)</p>
<p>I want to do what I am interested in, but academically it *looks<a href="observing,%20i%20haven't%20taken%20classes%20yet">/i</a> like CompE is more interesting to me than CS. I'm a bit confused, and I'm wondering how they differ in the job market. Not necessarily in the availability of jobs (although thank you very much for providing that info ;] ), but in the types of jobs there are.</p>
<p>Does a CompE major have a disadvantage or advantage when trying to get a job at, say, Microsoft/Google/etc in comparison to CS majors?</p>
<p>Why not take some classes from both CE and CS and see what you like better? Microsoft and Google are primarily software companies (although Microsoft does have some hardware, ie Xbox), and the job posting's I've seen so far are almost purely software positions.</p>
<p>Generally, my feeling is that go CE if you want to emphasize on the hardware side of things, and go CS if you want to focus on the software side. There are some overlap between the two though.</p>
<p>Just a small sample from my school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Does a CompE major have a disadvantage or advantage when trying to get a job at, say, Microsoft/Google/etc in comparison to CS majors?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Maybe CompE has a slight disadvantage compared to CS when getting programming jobs at Microsoft/Google, but the difference is so small as to be negligible. The truth is, hiring is based on a wide range of factors, and you are going to be hired or not hired based on far more factors than merely on whether you are a CompE vs. a CS major. </p>
<p>If Microsoft/Google want to hire you, they are going to hire you. They are not going to say "You have the exact skillset and personality that we want, but because you have a CompE degree and not a CS degree, we're not going to hire you". Never happen. Keep in mind that both companies hire plenty of people for programming jobs from plenty of other majors that are even less related to computer science (i.e. physics, other engineering), or in some cases, who never even graduated from college at all. For example, Wayne Rosing, the former VP of Engineering at Google and widely noted computer genius, never graduated from college. Computer science, probably more so than most other disciplines, is one that cares about skillset more than credentialing. If you have the skills, you are going to get a job. Maybe you won't be offered as much money or as high of a position if you don't have a degree, but you will still get a job. Contrast that with other disciplines where you can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don't have a degree, you might not get a job.</p>
<p>I think it's funny that you mention Google, isn't that one of the biggest badge whore companies?</p>
<p>Payne, if that remark was directed to me, let me say that I wasn't the one who mentioned Google first. Chowdy did. I was just responding to Chowdy.</p>
<p>I was just referring to your allegory about Google and the VP of Engineering that doesn't have a degree. That's very un-Google, which I think is funny.</p>
<p>how exactly is that an "allegory" can i ask?</p>
<p>Haha! That's what I was thinking myself.</p>
<p>Oh snap, I meant anecdote. Brain fart.</p>
<p>regardless of that, how is not having a degree very "un-google"? i mean, even the founders haven't finished their Phd's</p>
<p>Just from what I've heard. Very elite company. Lots of PhDs, and generally from top 20 schools or better.</p>
<p>interesting</p>