CS grad and maybe EE?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Will an employer hire a CS grad for an EE job if the CS grad has a good number of EE courses (even though it may not add up to a minor/major)?</p>

<p>Likewise, will that same CS grad have a disadvantage applying to grad school for EE compared to an EE grad?</p>

2

<p>If you want to end up in EE, I would stick with EE. Why do CS if you want to end up in EE?</p>

<p>I’d imagine that for a strictly EE job, a CS major would be at a disadvantage when compared to an EE major. The more EE classes you take, the less of a difference it would make…</p>

3

<p>Auburn is right.</p>

<p>If you are aiming for an EE job/graduate school, the EE will always have an edge over the CS. While you could “market” yourself as an Computer Engineer, it would be a hard sell. CS majors aren’t always prepared for hardware and typically employers will go with an EE rather than an augmented CS major. The same applies for graduate school–you might have SOME leeway depending on your research topic but the EE will have an edge.</p>

4

<p>If you know what you want to do, you should do that in school… that’s the best way to be as competitive as possible. Now, if what you really want is to do software and if you like math / theory, CS is better than EE. But it doesn’t sound like that’s what you want to do.</p>

5

<p>I want to go in with CS, but want to keep my options open in case I feel that EE/CE provides more opportunities or a more secure future…</p>

6

<p>There’s a point where excessive breadth results in a lack of depth :/</p>

7

<p>Well, depth can always be gained in graduate school. You just want to make sure that you know what you’re getting yourself in to…</p>

<p>If you know you want to end up in EE, you should do EE. </p>

<p>“I want to go in with CS”

  • Why? If you have good reasons, by all means, do CS.</p>

<p>"but want to keep my options open in case I feel that EE/CE provides more opportunities or a more secure future… "

  • I doubt that would be the case, and even if it were, you’d be better served betting on what you have passion and talent for…</p>
8

<p>In most cases, you’ll be hired for your engineering degree. If you are looking more versatility, a EE major with CS minor would be a better option.</p>

9

<p>Idk why I have this impression, but I always got the feeling that high-end applications (thus CS) were more of a luxury than an urgent need.</p>

<p>Whereas the development of hardware was more “concrete” and “measureable” thus it could be a more secure field to go into. I know this is probably a wrong assessment, but I had the impression that the world could always use faster, more efficient computers and digital devices. However, there seems to be more of a limit to the development of end-user applications.</p>

10

<p>Consider going to a school that offers a CSE degree, computer science and engineering. It’s an ABET-accredited major that offers both CE and CS (though it may not be good enough for some EE jobs, it’ll prepare you for any job involving digital logic systems).</p>

<p>I was set on a CSE degree via my local state u., but I decided on ECE because I wanted more training in things like semiconductor physics, fabrication, etc., and some of the CS courses weren’t of as much interest to me (i.e. compilers, languages, etc.). I’m more interested in working on a 3D IC or quantum computer than I am analyzing algorithms.</p>

11

<p>"In most cases, you’ll be hired for your engineering degree. If you are looking more versatility, a EE major with CS minor would be a better option. "

  • Majoring and minoring, or double majoring, or interdisciplinary / joint programs are always a good idea if you want versatility and breadth. I’m actually a double major in physics, but I could have chosen something more career-oriented, like business or some sort of engineering. Good idea. You could always major in CS and minor in EE, if that’s allowed, or do a CSE thing like was said.</p>

<p>“Idk why I have this impression, but I always got the feeling that high-end applications (thus CS) were more of a luxury than an urgent need.”

  • Not all of CS is doing high-end applications. There are CS people who end up doing real-time and embedded systems, AI for robotics, and a lot of other “hidden” software applications. And while I’m sure that MS Office is a “luxury”, it’s also Microsoft’s biggest revenue stream… in short, luxuries are what you want to be making, not commodities.</p>

<p>“Whereas the development of hardware was more “concrete” and “measureable” thus it could be a more secure field to go into.”

  • Job selection involves tradeoffs; often, bigger risk means bigger reward. If you don’t want any risk, you’re going to have to accept some sort of job that doesn’t offer many rewards… In general, I think CS and EE are about on par in terms of risk and reward. I would check out the BLS OOH for more information to that effect.</p>

<p>“I know this is probably a wrong assessment, but I had the impression that the world could always use faster, more efficient computers and digital devices. However, there seems to be more of a limit to the development of end-user applications.”

  • Well, if you think about it, that is a wrong assessment. Why would you need increasingly faster computers for the same applications? If anything, the hardware is a means to an end - the end being using software. Nobody goes out and buys a new computer to just turn it on and look at it. You buy it so you can use something… minesweeper, or internet explorer, or excel, or g++, etc…</p>

<p>As far as there being a limit to the end-user applications… well, that’s also a bit questionable. At most, you would need one unique hardware system to run one unique piece of software. That means the number of unique hardware systems needed to run all software systems is strictly less than the number of all software systems, that is, there are more software systems than hardware systems. See what I’m trying to get at?</p>

<p>TomServo brings up a good point. You shouldn’t go into pure CS unless you like theoretical topics. If you don’t like doing algorithmic analysis, proving correctness, formal languages, graph theory, etc. then you’d be better off not having CS as your major course of study.</p>

12

<p>being good at cs and good at EE is not the way to job security.
Being VERY good at CS, or very good at EE is the way to go.</p>

<p>There will be job openings in all industries, so focus on what you want to do and learn it well.</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>Yes. </p>

<p>Student01 regardless of which path you choose you need to make sure you perform as high as your possibly can. An above average EE will get past the resume screens before an average “but diverse” EE/CS. </p>

<p>Your best bet is to choose a primary major and supplement it with a minor. If you are into programming then CS might be a good route. If you are more into the hardware than EE is a good way to go. Another possibility is the Computer-Engineering major which is a mix of both. </p>

<p>Also you can use your engineering electives in other areas that interest you–this is a good way to “supplement” your knowledge.</p>

14

<p>Auburn, are you sure that creating luxuries is better than “commodities”?
Think of the game industry… games are a luxury but unfortunately only the top few game companies are well-off while the others are always floundering…</p>

15

<p>“Auburn, are you sure that creating luxuries is better than “commodities”?”

  • Yes. You want to be price setters and compete on the product than be price takers and compete on price. That’s not to say commodity markets are safer, they are, but it’s not at a very attractive place on the risk-reward curve.</p>

<p>“Think of the game industry… games are a luxury but unfortunately only the top few game companies are well-off while the others are always floundering…”

  • The trick with luxuries is that people have to want them. There’s the potential for more heterogeneous products, and that’s the point. If you can’t compete, I don’t see what the issue is… in that case, you settle for a commodity market, but that shouldn’t be what you’re gunning for, savvy?</p>
16

<p>I bet Google would have a word or two in rebuttal to your claim that there is only so much new software that can be made.</p>

<p>Honestly, just go with what you think will make YOU happiest, not with what will make you the most money or give you the safest job. What good is a safe job if you hate it? I would rather have a job that I love that motivates me to excel, which in turn creates job security.</p>

17

<p>Well, I made this thread in concern that all of the my parents’ friends encourage engineering over CS if I want to have a long-term future.</p>

<p>They think that a CS degree on its own can have the potential to do well, but isn’t as smart as getting a solid engineering degree. They think the CS degree should at least be supplemented with something else. Why this is so?</p>

18

<p>They think? Well as long as they don’t know anything like that then you are fine. Seriously, for all practical purposes, a CS degree is an engineering degree. There is a reason that it is usually in the engineering department.</p>

<p>They probably think like that because they don’t really know any better. Are any of them computer scientists?</p>

19

<p>@student01,</p>

<p>Maybe because an engineering degree is very broad and well-defined. Most employers world-wide understand the skills it gives you.</p>

<p>CS on the other hand is in a bit of a grey area (engineering vs science, IT vs MIS vs software vs theory, etc., etc.)</p>

<p>On top of that, science/art programs are usually very one-dimensional. It is often times assumed that because the requirements are so loose and few most students would push in a double major or minor for extra breadth.</p>

20

<p>CS is the main route to software, and it has better prospects than, well, all engineering combined. Especially if you include programming and other computer jobs.</p>

<p>If you want to do CS, by all means, go for it. You won’t go hungry. If you’d rather do engineering, go that route. What do you want? Ask yourself what you enjoy and what kind of work you want to be doing for a living, and see whether that falls in line with CS or some other major.</p>

<p>I really can’t stomach another “CS is below engineering” thread. You don’t need to double major in CS and something else to make it worthwhile. Sheesh.</p>