<p>Is Computer Engineering secure as a career? I'm talking maybe at least 10 years of work after graduation with a Bachelor's+Master's.</p>
<p>I plan on doing Computer Engineering with a Fast Track Master's Option and specialization in Networks, Security and Privacy.</p>
<p>I'm asking this question because I constantly see people saying CE is a worthless degree and it's all getting outsourced to Asia, and I fear I might not find a stable job (or even a job at all) out of college.</p>
<p>What do you think? </p>
<p>Sorry for my somewhat lacking knowledge of the whole career situation</p>
<p>Note: I'm most likely planning to work in Canada</p>
<p>To get an idea of what the job outlook is in the US (not sure how relevant this is to Canada, but I image the situation there would be similar…?), consult the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook for Computer Hardware Engineering.</p>
<p>I tend to like the idea of fast-track master’s programs, particularly if you can get funding to help with it (scholarship, fellowship or assistantship). Don’t pay for graduate training in a STEM field.</p>
<p>I’ll try to see what scholarships and financial aid I can muster, but I do think It’ll be significantly cheaper than a complete separate Master’s, so I guess I’ll do it.</p>
<p>As for specialization, these are the options:
Communications</p>
<p>Digital and Embedded Systems</p>
<p>Digital Signal Processing</p>
<p>Electrical Energy Systems</p>
<p>Electronics</p>
<p>Mechatronics</p>
<p>Networks, Security and Privacy
Others</p>
<p>Any suggestions on which would be the best?</p>
<p>I don’t know about Canada since we are in the US. DH has a computer engineering degree and I have a computer science degree. We both worked in the software industry for 20/30 years and have never had trouble finding work.</p>
<p>It is true that lots of jobs have gone overseas. Nowadays no matter what company you work for, you should expected to have to work with some team in India/China/etc. But there are still many more jobs available here because the software market has expanded so much. One example and there are many many more, just look at how much software are needed/used for all the smartphones.</p>
<p>That’s actually such a relief for me to hear…
I was thinking, Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering are almost exactly the same in a lot of colleges. If I took EE with specialization in computers wouldn’t it be more versatile?
I read somewhere that EEs and CEs sometimes end up working in the exact same IT positions, as EEs can be CEs, but not the other way around.</p>
<p>What do you think then, is EE worth the extra difficulty or are they the same?</p>
<p>noimagination, those links were incredibly in-depth and helpful, thank you</p>
<p>I recall hearing that in the IT field, older graduates were replaced with younger ones, specifically for Software Engineering. Is this highly applicable to CE?</p>
<p>Computer Engineering (DH’s degree) is similar to EECS. Many of my college friends are in EECS. I am only CS.</p>
<p>My degree is pure software and I can only work in software. DH and some of my friends got hardware and software job offers out of college. Once you start working it is harder to switch since you would have more experience in one than the other.</p>
<p>Which you should do depends a lot on your interest. CE/EECS will give you more flexibility. I only did CS because that is all I am interested in.</p>
<p>A couple of my friends’ daughters and my niece have asked about getting into software. Here is what I told them, in no particular order.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>It is a very fast moving business. Technolofy changes all the time. You got to keep up or you will be left behind. You need to be constantly learning. Sometimes you are lucky that you get to learn the latest on the jobs. Other times you might need to do it on your own.</p></li>
<li><p>It is a young business. You can google average age of employees at Google, Facebook. My guess would be about 30-35. That doesn’t mean you will be out of a job when you turn 50. Again you got to keep up. We still have jobs.</p></li>
<li><p>Hours can be long depending on what company and what project you are working on.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are a female, it is a very male dominated field. You have to be comfortable working with lots of men.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>On to the good part,</p>
<ul>
<li><p>There are lots of jobs with very good pay and benefits like stock option (heard about how lots of people got to be millionares when Facebook went public)</p></li>
<li><p>If you like software, getting something working is fun.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I have a feeling that if you get a degree in CE, you’ll end up doing the same kind of work that a CS graduate would do. When I first started working in Silicon Valley in the 80s, there were lots of CE and EE jobs, but not now. There isn’t nearly as much CE-specific work as CS work.</p>
<p>It’s worth distinguishing between “computer (hardware) engineering” the *university degree" and “computer (hardware) engineering” the “industry profession”. While the latter may usually imply the former, the former doesn’t necessarily imply the latter; lots of people with degrees in “computer (hardware) engineering” get jobs as “computer (software) engineers”, a much larger field which is both larger and projected to enjoy higher rates of growth.</p>
<p>True that, Simba9. The career paths at my place are:</p>
<p>EE’s probably 25% hardware design, 25% software, 50% systems engineering (integration, requirements, high level design, customer face)</p>
<p>CE’s probably 75% software, 25% systems engineering</p>
<p>CS’s 90% software (duh), 10% systems engineering</p>
<p>Either our board design tools have gotten better or our EE’s have gotten smarter (company provided fish oil?) but 10-12 years ago we would have boards with a measly 200mhz processor, measly memory, 4 layers, a couple serial ports at best for debug, etc. and cost a bundle and took forever. Today a board is 8+ layers, ten times the memory and CPU (dual 1.6 GHZ+ ARM’s), every thing is surface mounted, more ports than Los Angeles, and the EE’s are cranking those out in a few weeks? </p>
<p>Heck, we’re at the point where mechanical design is harder than electrical…</p>