<p>Which should I major in to obtain a job in software engineering? Is majoring in CE equivalent to majoring in CS? Say a person with a major in CE and another person with a major in CS apply for a job position in software engineering, which person would the boss pick?</p>
<p>Computer science is usually more software oriented, while computer engineering is usually more hardware oriented, at schools which have both.</p>
<p>Computer Science, certainly not Computer Engineering.</p>
<p>Go online and look at the employers’ job openings. See what their requirements are and which disciplines are in more demand. It could change by the time you graduate but at least you can see what is in demand now.</p>
<p>Software engineering is probably the most “liberal” industry as it pertains to which undergraduate major is needed. The best (read: least resistance from employers) way to get into software engineering is major in computer science. Probably the next “best” path after a CS major would be an information systems, math, physics or other engineering major with a SOLID CS course background.</p>
<p>Aunt Bea brings up a good point, employers’ requirement may change in 4 years but there are some software areas that always thrive:</p>
<p>Operating Systems
Database Systems
Computer Networks</p>
<p>Most software jobs will somehow have to deal with those above 3 areas because data needs to be distributed (networks), retrieved and stored (databases) and everything needs to run over an operating system. Therefore, any non-CS major needs the following courses for software engineering:</p>
<p>Foundation
- Procedural & Object-Oriented Programming
- Discrete Mathematical Structures
- Computer Organization</p>
<p>Core
- Data Structures
- Algorithms
- Theory of Programming Languages (helps you generally know how any language acts)
- Operating Systems (helps you know how any operating system acts)</p>
<p>Safe Electives
- Database Systems
- Computer Networks
- Software Engineering (one overall survey course)</p>
<p>For a CS major (at most schools), everything except the “safe electives” are required. Non-CS majors SHOULD take all of the above courses and CS majors SHOULD take those “safe electives” as a minimum. All of the above courses should be around 35-40 semester credits total and can nicely fit in a math, physics, I.S. or other engineering major using electives.</p>
<p>GlobalTraveler when was the last time you applied for a job? I don’t think it’s as easy as you are making it seem like for new grads. You have experience, so it’s easy for you to say what you are saying, since at this point your Math degree doesn’t matter, it’s your experience most potential employers are looking at.</p>
<p>Rarely do companies out here give interviews for CS jobs to non-CS majors. I attend a major CS school on the east coast, and so hear it from the horses mouth. I have a 3.7 GPA and I’ve been declined at certain companies for interviews, since most of my peers have near perfect GPA’s, they’d rather interview them. Let’s not inflate the egos of potential CS guys, it’s not THAT easy.</p>
<p>I’ve been blessed to have a line of interviews, but I know of many Applied Math guys that haven’t received a single ‘interview’ request yet, and they have completed some of the CS core with some decent GPA’s.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s a east coast thing? Since we have many CS programs? It’s sort of like why would they even bother interview a CpE or a Math guy, when they have a ton of CS applicants.</p>
<p>I was in the software industry for 15 years before I went back to school. Your major is less important than what you do while you’re in school. The three things to do are internships, side-projects, and establish personal connections.</p>
<p>Hiring managers don’t exclude anyone based on their degree, most don’t even care if you have a degree. HR departments care about those things. HR departments are the ones with mountains of resumes that they never look at. You need to build up the personal connections that will get your resume in front of the hiring managers without going through HR.</p>
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<p>This is an important note. There are other recruiters out there instead of the direct HR departments of the well-known companies. I have dealt with some recruiters who had an “inside track” to hiring managers…basically, the hiring managers take their word for gold. Also, some grads may have to start with smaller companies. Do not think smaller company = smaller pay. Many smaller companies do not have the huge overhead so that allows them to pay just as much as the bigger companies. All a new grad needs is to get their “foot in the door”.</p>
<p>I always compare software engineering to playoffs in professional sports. Once you get that experience, everyone now starts at 0-0. GPA’s and degrees are thrown out the window.</p>
<p>Yes, my math degree was obtained 20+ years ago but as I was sitting in East Lansing, Michigan not getting 2nd interviews (that sub-3.0 GPA didn’t help), I decided to stop applying where everyone else was applying. I applied at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh (most Pitt and CMU grads were trying leave Pittsburgh) and received an offer. I got an offer from some small company outside of Chicago. That company only had 150 employees but they sure picked up this castaway math major in a nice limo from the airport and gave me good treatment during the interview process. I had my resume everywhere…Vermont, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky…whoever said they were hiring received that yellow envelope with my resume and cover letter.</p>
<p>I figured “Hey, sooner or later, all of the MIT, CMU and Illinois grads will hired so somebody somewhere will need a programmer”.</p>
<p>Things are different now. Most companies have screening softwares where they auto-screen for your major and GPA. This is what I mean, most ‘seniors’ are really out of sync with how it works nowadays. It isn’t the good old days where your major didn’t matter. Truth it, for entry level position, just to get that interview, your major DOES matter. Don’t believe me? Why don’t you both create fresh resumes, and put English as your major, and brag about your CS projects, along with your internships, and see how many responses you get.</p>
<p>No…the buzzwords matter.</p>
<p>Unix
Linux
Oracle
Hadoop
C++
C#
Java
SQL
and so on</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I’m a graduating EE with multiple software job prospects. I don’t find people discriminating against my non-CS background. In fact, at my last interview they said that they’ve had great success with EE undergrads going into CS, and that benefited me. Of course there are some CS routes that would see little benefit in a EE major (web development comes to mind), but many places I’m looking at see value in my EE background.</p>
<p>EDIT: And as a note, I’ve had two on-site interviews for software positions come from applying to the company’s website. No HR backdoors or who-you-know situations. My EE background wasn’t “screened out” by some computer. They saw my good academic record and past experience in software and saw potential.</p>
<p>QC Student: it must be an east coast thing because my DD is an EE major and has had 2 internships here (Junior and Senior summer) in California with a major defense contractor who hired her for CS and all around software programming. Because of her EE background and her experience in JAVA & C++, she was the only intern rehired. She also put together a manual for new hires on how to document changes in programs. She goes to a State University of New York school.</p>
<p>**You need internship experience and a working knowledge of the software and YES, buzz terms. ** They’re waiting for her to graduate and return here to California. Oh and BTW, a common practice in Defense firms: HR staffs are being downsized to one location. Although she was previously employed by the company in her junior summer, her employer’s HR dept was downsized to Virginia. So it took a month and a half for her paperwork to go through the 2nd time. Clearances are taking 6 months. My husband is also an EE and his HR staff is now in Texas.</p>
<p>what ucbalumnus said</p>
<p>Perhaps it is an east coast thing, cause the career center will auto-reject your resume if it is not the ‘required’ degree for the internship, entry-level job(often times, it’s only 1 or 2 degrees requested). Again, buzz-words do NOT matter if it’s going to be autorejected by the career center. Of course you can add yourself to that long queue on the company website, but I’ve attended 2 major schools, and based upon my experience(along with my peers)your GPA+ Major+Experience is what matters. I have an EE background, I applied for an EE internship once, and boom, auto-rejected since my major is now CS. When I was an EE major, I applied for some CS internships, again the same boom, rejected cause my major doesn’t match what is requested.</p>
<p>I’ve had a few chit chat with some HR guys, and take what I say for what it’s worth, but their “screening software” does sort by major as well. Again, your mileage may vary – I’m just sharing my dos pesos based upon my attempts on applying for internships(so far, it’s been a blessing since I’ve received many interviews, which I feel is strictly because of our department and it’s reputation). Once they see a GPA, in a known department, they will call you for an interview to see if you are worthy of this position.</p>
<p>I’m a young buck, so I don’t mean to offend anyone. I’m strictly sharing my ride.</p>
<p>computer science is more software related…where as computer engineering is about the hardware</p>
<p>QCStudent - I’ve looked at career fair internships and new graduate requirements and requirements lsited as “CS degree or other related major” or even 4 years of experience in lieu of degree. I’m sure there are some companies that want only a CS major. Perhaps it depends upon the specific duties that they have for the new graduate. In general though it seems that a computer engineering graduate should be able to interview for a software engineering position. I can understand why a CS degree aspirant would be rejected for an EE internship.</p>