<p>Will an ECE program allow a bachelors grad to be competitive with CS for high-level software jobs? Basically for jobs involving software architecture rather than low-level engineering, will an ECE be adequately prepared to compete against CS bacehlors grads?</p>
<p>Yes, definitely. Heck i even know some .Net developers who went through an ECE program, and that’s heavy coding/engineering. What they are looking for is name recongition at your university as well as interview/interpersonal skills. Don’t worry – you will learn your stuff no matter what programs you are in.</p>
<p>I would say a CS degree is marginally better, but no matter what the degree, you’re not going to be hired as a software architect straight out of college. Expect a minimum of seven or eight years before you’re given that responsibility. Most software architects these days need to have a pretty good understanding of databases, networks, UIs, and enough general CS knowledge to know what is and isn’t doable. </p>
<p>Often the architects are the ones leading and managing projects, so they also need an understanding of software engineering methodology and lots of hands-on programming experience.</p>
<p>That said, I’ve known excellent software architects who didn’t have CS degrees (maybe the best one I’ve ever worked with had a PhD in Fisheries -he had done a lot of statistical programming,) and I’ve known terrible software architects with CS degrees.</p>
<p>I agree with the previous comment about interpersonal skills. If you’re a software architect, you’ll need to spend a lot of time patiently explaining things to people. If you can’t do that, any project you’re involved with will fail.</p>