Expanding on the engineering and programming thread for myself...

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I read the engineering and programming thread. I have some comments about my experiences regarding that, and want to ask how I can make some of my programming issues better.</p>

<p>I'm primarily a civil engineering major, but my school does not require a programming course for civil engineers. Luckily, I also majored in electrical engineering, so I got a good dose of programming and know my way around programming, EXCEPT for graphics and GUI's, which I think is crippling my programming ability.</p>

<p>My internship this summer really didn't include that much programming besides what I did on my own, reading three different books on programming. The game programming book included material on Windows programming, and it was VERY foreign to me, and so unlike anything taught in school.</p>

<p>I understand software engineering principles MUCH better than when I was taking the classes a few years ago, before I went into civil engineering. I know the introductory programming material in Java, C, and C++, and I have built an operating system in 8086 assembler as a class project. However, I still feel very weak as a programmer.</p>

<p>I hope that this senior design project, which consists of water quality sensing and control for water treatment facilities, will solidify my ability to program. But...</p>

<p>1.) Is programming really that important in civil engineering?
2.) Will this senior design project help me?
3.) Any comments in general?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>bump, I'd really like a reply to this, because I'm trying to decide some things right now.</p>

3

<p>Most engineering programming consists of learning the basics (C++, Java, Excel) and then field specifics (Matlab, SolidWerks, Mathematica etc).</p>

<p>Unless you are EE (who take a plethora of programming classes) you will learn whatever program/languages while working for a company.</p>

<p>As for the Senior Design Project--of course it will help! I feel that Senior Design projects are very important for solidifying your engineering skills together.</p>

4

<p>What I've done in my work, in terms of programming, is highly mathematically-based, eg matlab programming & designing other iterative mathematical processes and functions. In heavy-duty research, a more thorough understanding of making programs user-friendly is necessary, since you're essentially a developer working on software for other civil engineers to use. However, as a civil engineer in practice, the programming that you'll pick up along the way, as well as the programming that you've already picked up, should be sufficient.</p>

<p>That being said, I think it's a great idea to learn some more programming... It's a highly marketable skill. Several companies that made offers to me were really interested in the fact that I have programming experience. It's excellent resume fodder.</p>