Eng Majors: Comp, Elec, Mech

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I've noticed theres quite a bit of "which major is the best" threads, so I'll try to make this a bit more specific. I'd like to learn more about the majors Computer, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering (type of work, salary).</p>

<p>While I don't necessarily want to sit down and program all day (software engineering), designing microprocessors and other hardware for computers, cars, and whatever else there is sounds fun. At first I thought that would be a growing field, as nearly everything is integrated with computers but did some research and learned that computer engineering is basically an offshoot of Electrical Engineering. At first I didn't think much of electrical engineering, partly because there were so many people trying to become electrical engineers, and partly because it just appeared boring to me..as I said I've been doing a lot of research, all engineering majors and their classes.</p>

<p>Is Electrical Engineering an interesting field(what do you learn while in college, what career possibilities are there)? Would an Electrical engineer with a minor in computer engineering be as capable as a computer engineer, not in building computers necessarily, but in building computer interfaces in other things, like vehicles or electronics?</p>

<p>I read that Computer Hardware Engineering is actually a pretty small field, does it have as many opportunities as most engineering fields? I'm guessing most of their work revolves working with processor manufacturers?</p>

<p>I'm interested in working in the aerospace/aeronautical field without actually going into aerospace engineering. I've heard Mechanical engineers can go into that field and often do the same job?</p>

<p>Say there was a project building a rocket, if it were integrated with a microprocessor to detect, say, heat signatures, who would design that? Ive found the salaries for each field, but where can i find the starting salaries?</p>

<p>sorry, for so many questions, if anyone could answer some of them, that would be great :P i'm going to an advisor anyways, but the more opinions the better.</p>

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<p>You may be interested in [UC</a> Berkeley’s survey of bachelor’s degree graduates](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm]UC”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm).</p>

<p>Note, however, that UC Berkeley’s Electrical Engineering major is Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, which means that it may not be so easy to separate out those who emphasize Electrical Engineering as opposed to Computer Science (in terms of percentage employed, grad school, seeking employment, etc. and average pay). A very high percentage of job titles for those employed imply Computer Science, while the percentage of Electrical Engineering among grad school attendees is higher. UC Berkeley also has a Computer Science major in the College of Letters and Science that is listed separately.</p>

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<p>In my time with electronics, I was associated with Broadband development, NTSC special affects, TV test and measurent, computer graphic machines, digital TV development, and test and measurement of chips. Bleeding edge of technology.</p>

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<p>Ty for responding.</p>

<p>@LongPrime, were you just an electrical engineer or mixed with anything else?</p>

<p>@ucbalumnus, thanks for the link, good to know mech engineering is a good deal below electrical and computer science even, for starting salary.</p>

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<p>test and repair.
Lots of fun when we had discretes. More challenging when things went integrated. Impossible when electronics went programmable. </p>

<p>

Depends on how complicated and system integration you want. </p>

<p>DS is an ME. He does quite a bit of imbedded electronics/programming for his hobby. </p>

<p>You don’t have to decide your engineering field until later part of freshman year. Join a robotics club.</p>