<p>Which is better major, comp sci or comp eng?
By better, I mean in terms of job security, salaries, hours per week, etc.</p>
<p>Any input appreciated</p>
<p>salaries, hours per week, "etc" all depend on company where you work.
Generally CE will give <em>slightly</em> higher salary.</p>
<p>there is no "better" major. CE = software + hardware. CS = software. I personally like comp eng a bit more.</p>
<p>It depends on the company, not the major.</p>
<p>CS isn't just software, it's also algorithms, AI, HCI, etc.</p>
<p>I'd say it depends on the school and person in which determines a person's starting salary. </p>
<p>CE generally a combination of hardware and software while CS is mostly software. I consider algothrithms and AI as software topics. </p>
<p>You can't compare two majors in terms of job security, salary, etc. What you meant to compare was jobs generally held by these graduates and there are many different jobs that these majors can hold. </p>
<p>I will say one thing. If you get a CE degree you will pretty much be able to work in any industry related to computers and even other electronics to a point. A CS grad it will be dependant upon what electives they took but they could also get similar jobs.</p>
<p>does CE do more hardware or more software?
If I want job security, is CE better?</p>
<p>That depends on your school. Some schools put more emphasis on one than the other. Some put equal focus on both.</p>
<p>In general? What about for job security though, that's my main concern?</p>
<p>CE will give better job security since you can work more industries. But the difference is not huge..</p>
<p>But don't worry about job security! There'll be plenty of jobs out there for bright people. YOU ARE BRIGHT, AREN'T YOU!?!</p>
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What about for job security though, that's my main concern?
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<p>It. Depends. On. The. Company.</p>
<p>Your job security at a brand-new software start-up is very different from your job security as a software engineer at a large, established defense contractor that requires new hires to be security-clearable, for example.</p>
<p>Job security, salary, hours per week, etc. are really loose grounds to base your career choice on. You are forgetting that (as everyone has already mentioned) that company to company and job to job there can be a huge difference. On "average" a CE grad may have more job security than a CS grad but the different is marginal, if that. Not something to base your career decision on.... These statistics are only relevant if there is a significant difference, in my opinion.</p>
<p>You are also forgetting that your degree (CS or CE or EE) does not dictate the job you will get. YOU DO. I know of a poli-sci major that works as a systems engineer at a major electronics firm... go figure. Your education is only a small part of your career lifetime (~10% of the time that you will be employed). You can make huge changes in your career direction after your degree.</p>
<p>Why would CE have more security? Is it worth switching? I don't want to be in front of a computer my whole life. :/</p>
<p>(Which is easier also to leave in the possibility of pre-med courses?)</p>
<p>ce is harder because you take a lot of programming classes that cs take, yet you also take electrical engineering classes. At my school, CE also takes longer to graduate than a cs major because of the additional ee classes.</p>
<p>and yeah you'll be in front of a computer your whole life. i mean, that's why people do comptuer engineering or cs if they have a passion, a passion for it. They wanna be in front of a computer =)</p>
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You are also forgetting that your degree (CS or CE or EE) does not dictate the job you will get. YOU DO. I know of a poli-sci major that works as a systems engineer at a major electronics firm... go figure. Your education is only a small part of your career lifetime (~10% of the time that you will be employed). You can make huge changes in your career direction after your degree.
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<p>That is VERY rare in this day and age. Those pepole who are doing technical jobs without a degree have a vast number of years of experience. For young people today you are NOT going to enter a technical job without the proper degree. Companies won't even give you an interview if you don't have a bachelors related to the job. </p>
<p>But a CS and CE will be able to do very similar jobs. A CE will generally be able to do more jobs out of college though. A CE grad can get any job a CS grad can get plus they are very desired in the areas of hardware and embedded systems. </p>
<p>Then again a CE major is probably tougher, at least at my school. A CE at my school has to do all the tough CS classes (data structures, operating systems, and we do a lot with assembly and C). Along with that they do all the circuits classes EE's do plus control systems and interfacing classes. Couple this with all the physics an EE takes (E&M, quantum, solid state) and all math CS/engineers take (calc1-3, diff eq, linear algebra, discrete). CE's are also required to do a senior design where as I don't know of CS programs where a design project is required.</p>
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That is VERY rare in this day and age. Those pepole who are doing technical jobs without a degree have a vast number of years of experience. For young people today you are NOT going to enter a technical job without the proper degree. Companies won't even give you an interview if you don't have a bachelors related to the job.
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<p>I found otherwise, with my degree in neural & cog sci. I still managed to get several interviews for software engineer and robotics engineer positions, and ended up with a software engineering job.</p>
<p>Then again, I had taken more math than most CS/engineering majors, had won an award in (and later TAed for) a robotics lab, was coming from a top tech school, had written code for money before, and had taken my top tech school's famed killer software engineering lab. If I had been coming out with a neural & cog sci degree and none of that, or even none of that except the school name, it's extremely unlikely that I would have been seriously considered. And as it was, I had the most success with companies that had some neural or cog sci connection (scientific computing and AI-oriented companies).</p>