<p>So...I've been on and off considering switching to CE from CS for awhile and I was wondering, what specific jobs does CE open up that CS cannot get?</p>
<p>I've yet to find anything other than a lot of CE majors, like CS, end up doing Software Engineering and that for any hardware design you need to go EE. How true is this? Also be specific with real job titles at large companies please.</p>
<p>My school also has two CE tracks, VLSI and Communications, both of which interest me so which would be more marketable?</p>
<p>First of all, the reason folks can get hired in “gray areas” is usually because of their technical electives. A CS major could decide to take only the Digital Signal Processing area of the EE major and still claim a job related to Digital Signal Processing. Actually, a Math or Physics major can do the same.</p>
<p>I basically did a CS major by way of the Math major. Of course, I did not take things like digital circuits or computer architecture but I took ALL of the software-related courses.</p>
<p>Because CompE has so much of the CS program built into it, a CS major with some elective CompE/EE courses can probably get the same jobs.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t allow people to take upper CMPE courses without passing CE gateway requirements.</p>
<p>And unfortunately a job relating to Digital Signal Processing isn’t exactly a job title that I can look into. From what I can find CE has identical job prospects to CS except they work on embedded systems software.</p>
<p>So I take it my observations are correct, a CE degree does little for you over a CS degree?</p>
<p>It also seems I can go into CE masters programs with CS undergrad, since I was planning on pursuing a masters anyway it seems switching to CE wouldn’t be worth the effort.</p>
<p>The degree does nothing for you.
Its the CLASSES you take that are important.
So look at what classes are available to a CE that are not to a CS (I mean upper division classes). </p>
<p>Also ECE’s CE program is very different from CSE’s CE program.</p>
<p>CmpE is really a specialized EE program. Some required CmpE classes are electives for EE. In general the degrees don’t differ by much. So much so that my freshman year the ECE school advised us against getting a double majorbecause industry recognizes them to be very similar.</p>
<p>Also, there are TONS of threads that already discuss this. Use the search button.</p>
<p>That’s actually about 15 minutes from me. Anyway, that structure seems weird to me. I also know that UMBC isn’t know for engineering. Honestly, have you considered transferring to Hopkins or College Park? Those are target engineering schools in MD. More than likely you’lll probably stay in Maryland, no? You’ll be looking to work for a defense contractor. I can tell you that UMBC is not target school for Lockheed, BAE Systems, Northrop, or GD.</p>
<p>Funny, all my friends in CS are interning or working at Lockheed, Northrop, and Raytheon(I knew a freshmen already signed with the NSA and on full scholarship). A few other friends are at different contractors. UMBC is big on Biology, Chemistry, CS, and engineering. Our liberal arts programs are second priority. </p>
<p>I skipped out on UMCP because of the horrible dorms and I would have never made it into Hopkins out of high-school. Transferring to JHU has crossed my mind but I plan on applying there for grad school.</p>
<p>UMBC is ok for the defense contractors. Once you are going into the INTEL/Cleared world, it’s all about “can you pass a poly” than school. On my team right now, I have YOUNG developers from UMBC, Bowie State (and he was a biochem major) and Towson. Our Technical Manager is from Loyola College of Maryland.</p>
<p>Now there are a few others on my team from non-target schools BUT got their M.S. from JHU since JHU (and MD College Park) have agreements with many defense contractors for grad school.</p>
<p>Look i’m not here to put down UMBC but it’s not a target engineering school. It’s not a nationally recognize engineering institution like College Park and Hopkins. The majority of people getting a CS or engineering degree from there, that land a job with a major engineering company, are in the minority. Especially considering the competition from College Park, Hopkins, and regional grads from Pitt, Penn State, Virginia Tech, NC State, Ohio State, etc…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Um…fresh out of college the only things that matters is where you went to school, what your gpa was, and any experience. Once you have career work experience it’s about that experience from there on out. You have to put yourself in the position to find a job that requires a clearance. They’re not just gonna pick people up off the street.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m sure they’re all smart great people to work with but those aren’t target schools.</p>
<p>You can get a great job no matter where you go to school. All I’m saying is that by going to a great school you can increase your changes of getting under the big companies radar.</p>
<p>UMBC does have a nationally ranked Engineering program even if they’re ranked 110.</p>
<p>The thing is, rankings mean little when talking about undergraduate degrees(the graduate programs are what get ranked) and once you have experience it matters little where you went to school.</p>
<p>I don’t see how we aren’t considered a target school when most of the contractors you guys listed come to our school and recruit people during job fairs. GE, Northrop, Raytheon, Lockheed, NSA, CIA, and many others make regular showings at our job fairs. I don’t blame them either, they’re always enthusiastic about UMBC students and I can only assume its because they don’t have to fork over as high of a salary as they do for the big engineering schools while still getting quality employees :(</p>
<p>Top schools have better professor, better student body, better coop opportunities, better research, and better engineering programs. All of this provides the best opportunity to land a great first job. This is very important because from there on out, as you said, your experience will dictate where you go in your career.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>When I say target school I mean nationally targeted. UMBC is a local school. Many people will higher simply because it’s easier. I’m sure they higher people from Towson too. You think people from the west coast are going to seek out an avg or above avg Towson CS student? Not often if ever. Honestly, UMBC has the benefit of being local. You’ll have less luck landing a job with the companies you mentioned if you applied to locations in different state. Just because these companies come to your school doesn’t mean they higher by the swarms. You’re fooling yourself if you think UMBC is some kind of engineering powerhouse in MD. They offer a Cmpe program but not a an EE? Kind of weird.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Talk about undervaluing yourself. I don’t want to be rude but you can’t possibly think the caliber of student or the program at UMBC is even close to that of a big engineering school. Heck, probably not even similar to a top 50 engineering school.</p>
<p>I’ve worked in the defense contracting industry for the past seven years. I didn’t know UMBC had engineering until 2 months ago and that’s because of CC. The only engineer i’ve worked with from a small school was from Frostburg - but this person did joint enrollment with college park.</p>
<p>I didn’t want to turn this into a ‘bash’ UMBC thread but I feel like you are mis-representing this school.</p>
<p>We don’t have an EE undergrad program because the MHEC felt we would steal all of the undergrad EE majors going to Morgan(another Maryland school) and thereby wasting the efforts of that school trying to build what engineering department it has(this happened about 10 years ago). UMBC has masters and PHD programs in EE.</p>