<p>Hello, I've been wondering this lately as I'm currently applying to colleges and have been saying I want to do Computer Engineering. From what I understand, Computer Science is almost entirely software, and computer engineering is a convergence between software and hardware. I would like to work on both software and hardware, so computer engineering seems to be the best fit for me. However, according to bls.gov, as well as some other articles I have read, a BS in computer engineering isn't a very wise choice because the computer hardware engineer field is predicted to grow slower than the average over the next decade. Basically, I'm just wondering if this slowing in the expansion of the field really will have any significant effect on actual job opportunities upon graduation from college. Thanks :)</p>
<p>I always say, major in what interests you and can excel in. Some majors will have more openings than others (and it is hard to actually predict the future), but there will be job openings for all the engineering majors. If you do what interests you, you are more likely to do well and therefore more likely to get one of those openings. Someone has to get them!</p>
<p>Do what you want to do. Even math majors get jobs, you know. Also, a computer engineering major doesn’t put you out of the running for most software jobs…</p>
<p>As a CmpE, you will be learning a lot about software (datastructures, compilers and maybe OOP if you choose), hardware (embedded programming, computer architecture) and the same math every engineer has to know. Nevermind simply a job in CmpE, if those skills aren’t generally useful then I don’t know what is.</p>
<p>is computer science more useful?</p>
<p>Salaries tell you more about demand than any paper, and CE is one of the highest (and often the highest, though these things are usually all within $5,000 of each other) starting salaries for an undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>Depending on your college and its curriculum, you may get an ECE degree, a CE degree, or a CSE degree. ECE is divided between EE and CE, and you usually get to choose which one you emphasize. CE is mostly CE, with some EE and some CS. CSE is split between CE and CS.</p>
<p>Nobody with a degree in ECE, CE, or CSE is headed to the poor house, and there is a lot of overlap between them. I don’t know what the BLS means by “computer hardware engineer” but CE’s have a wide variety of jobs they can do. They can write software, they can do many EE jobs, they can work on embedded systems, they can design microprocessors (typically a PhD is required for actual microprocessor <em>design</em>), they can do just about any job that involves digital logic systems, and that is a growing field, not a shrinking one.</p>
<p>Computer hardware engineering in the BLS refers to those jobs held by CE grads who work mostly with hardware rather than software. I’m sure the lines can be blurry in places. They also have a section on “computer software engineers” which is separate from the main engineering page.</p>
<p>As far as jobs on the BLS go, I would take that as an indicator but not base my life decisions on it. I don’t think it’s realistic to think job opportunities for CE majors will be better than for CS majors, but like has already been said, CE majors aren’t going to end up in the poor house.</p>
<p>As to whether CS is more or less useful… I wouldn’t look at it like that. Both degrees have their uses. What’s more important is which degree is right for the individual. If you’re interested in hardware issues in addition to software and theoretical issues in CS are not necessarily your cup of tea, CE is ideal. Hardware is not my cup of tea, and I feel comfortable admitting that as a CS major… it doesn’t mean that I don’t beat the CE majors at classes like comp. organization and comp. architecture and RT/embedded systems, but it’s not why I’m a CS major.</p>
<p>Just ask yourself what you want. If you’re good at what you do, jobs will follow. You have a better shot at being good at what you do if you actually like it somewhat.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help everyone. I’m pretty much 100% on majoring in Computer Engineering at Penn State University Park next year. I think that’s a CSE program, which is something I would enjoy, rather than ECE where its probably 80% hardware.</p>
<p>U Park’s CmpE is fantastic. My boyfriend does CmpE at U Park, and he and his friends only have great things to say about it.</p>
<p>Sounds great Techy, I haven’t really heard anything bad about PSU in all of my time researching it. It just ****es me off that I’m an in-state student and I still have to pay 24k for tuition whereas most other states’ schools hover around 10k for tuition.</p>
<p>^ Have you ever thought about going to an out-of-state school then?</p>
<p>According to the BLS statistics, Computer AND Electrical Engineering are growing slower than the average… but I think you have to take some other factors into account. For example, some of the fields it lists are growing fast are still pretty hard to get a job in, whereas EE and CprE seem to be in a much higher demand than undergraduate schools can even crank out (I’m not taking into account the less-than-stellar economy we have right now).</p>
<p>I don’t think Computer Engineering is an unwise major, and especially not Electrical Engineering, which also benefits from its broad scope.</p>
<p>Wait, no, that doesn’t make sense(?) My OOS boyfriend pays about 25k for tuition; in-state at U.Park should only be about 15k. Are you including room and board in your calculations?</p>
<p>Oh wow, hah I just looked and it is 14k for instate. My bad…</p>
<p>Depends on what kind of computer engineering.</p>
<p>If you’re working with software as a computer software engineer, you’d be in a field with a 38% growth rate between 2006 and 2016.</p>
<p>But just how trustworthy are those estimates REALLY? And who knows, maybe ramped-up outsourcing and CS enrollment at home will balance that out, and then some.</p>
<p>Aw, who cares. Sometimes I get the feeling this forum is trying to convince people that jobs don’t exist anywhere in any field.</p>
<p>“But just how trustworthy are those estimates REALLY?”
- I think they provide the full studies, which should include some sort of error bounds / confidence intervals.</p>
<p>“And who knows, maybe ramped-up outsourcing and CS enrollment at home will balance that out, and then some.”
- I wouldn’t be surprised if they make predictions for that sort of thing too, and if they haven’t correlated the two, somebody else probably has. If not, it shouldn’t be a stretch to do it yourself. What the BLS does do is say what the job outlook is, and they say it’s good… seems like they’d take simple things like this into account, but then again, one never knows.</p>
<p>“Aw, who cares. Sometimes I get the feeling this forum is trying to convince people that jobs don’t exist anywhere in any field.”
- Amen to that.</p>
<p>Wages tell you more than any government report about what’s in demand and what ain’t.</p>
<p>The government report contains wage data. Where else are you going to get it from? Companies? Let me know how that works out for you.</p>
<p>No I mean current wages, which you can easily get from all sorts of sources. I’m saying I don’t put loads of respect into economic forecasts so far in the future, regardless of who they come from.</p>