<p>hi all
I intend to go into the EE field because I love Electrical networks when I see them on the road between cities but,the same time I love programming so I am thinking about pursuing EE and learn programming by my self >>> do you think it's a silly idea??
I love CS but I love dealing with hardware too , not just the keyboard.
and I mean by hardware the big stuff like Electrical networks which provide electricity to the entire city ,not the hard drive or a small circuit .
I am thinking that I can learn programming by my self outside the college by taking the suitable courses and see some CS students in college and talk to them,plus I have 4 years to finish the bachelor degree in EE so I have plenty time to do that.
in the same time I don't like the idea of double major because it will make things much harder>>don't you think??</p>
<p>any suggestions are more than welcome and I would love to hear from you guys especially from Engineering students.</p>
<p>Learning to program is never a bad idea, for any major.</p>
<p>It has been interesting to see people talk about pursuing EE on this forum. What is the most interesting to me is how different I guess my school, UIUC, is than most others. I know the EE department here requires all EE/CE studfents to learn to program very well in C. Literally every EE learns it hardcore here. But then I have read about how for other schools, only the CE kids learn to really program and lots of EE students never learn and just do the hardware. So interesting.</p>
<p>Anyways, back to what I initially said: It will never hurt to learn to program. I am doing Aerospace Engineering and I have learned quite a few programming languages because I see the benefit, even though I won’t be a software engineer or anything. Go for it!</p>
<p>what do you mean with “go for it” Bro??
do you agree with me on pursuing EE and learn programming by my self??
can I be a professional programmer by my self?? because I feel that all things related to CS are online.</p>
<p>If you want to do software do CS. I am doing that right now. CS teaches you how to do high-level software which an engineer will not know how to do. Also CS != programming, you also learn a lot of other things and even a little hardware. You sound like you should do CE which is 60% EE and 40% CS(all software courses CS take). If you want to work with hardware do EE. If you want to be a software engineer do CS…</p>
<p>When I say go for it, I mean go do EE and learn programming on your own. There are people out there that can self teach themselves enough to actually have CS jobs, yes. However, there are lots of things in CS that are good to learn, like data structures, algorithms, databases and even parallel coding now days. If you look at coursera.org, you will be able to find a few of these offered for free that you can learn there.</p>
<p>If you want to work on projects that connect to the power grid, then by all means do EE. There are electives specifically for power distribution. </p>
<p>@Aero Not all departments are EECS, there are schools that have distinct EE and CE/CS colleges. At the very minimum C is learned I am sure. </p>
<p>If you want to learn programming, after your first programing class you will be able to pick up the others on your own if you want. It is all very similar. But if you like doing it, then pick up a minor in CS. It will open up more doors for different jobs later for you.</p>
<p>@Lookin4ward
At my school it isn’t actually a EECS Department. We have a separate CS department and our ECE department just requires those skills for every kid who does an ECE degree.</p>
<p>Well the point I was making is that not all schools are alike. Plus you are going to a Top 5 school for electrical engineering and computing so of course it will be more rigorous and comprehensive. </p>
<p>Some EE programs even make you take statics and dynamics. Just depends on the school. When transferring and what not, make sure you look at the curriculum to find out if classes are offered in what you are interested in.</p>