<p>I was planning to go into electrical engineering at first and before that computer science, but recently I changed my mind and decided to pursue computer engineering instead. I'm a senior in high school right now and am still deciding between RPI and CMU. </p>
<p>I heard that computer engineering is mostly hardware but you also learn some bits of computer science as well as some theory of electricity and electronics as well. Is that correct? How are the career prospects and is computer engineering vulnerable to offshoring (aka outsourcing) ?</p>
<p>And if any of you are computer engineers, can you tell me what the working conditions are? What is the pay like and what is general work life like? Do you enjoy your job? What do you enjoy most about it? </p>
<p>Online articles can only tell me so much...</p>
<p>I am going to major in it next fall so I can’t speak firsthand, but I know a couple kids that have majored in it. In CompE you learn about hardware, some software, and their integration. I know a girl that works at NASA right out of college. She interned there and stayed after graduation. She almost didn’t take the job because she was offered a job with the same pay plus a $60k bonus if she accepted. She was a good student so know that is not the standard, but it shows that the career prospects are pretty good.</p>
<p>Starting salary is around $60,000 for a BS in CompE. CompE is a subset of electrical engineering, it deals with digital logic systems. ICs, semiconductors, logic gates, microprocessors, embedded systems, this is the type of thing computer engineers work on. With a MS you can go higher, and with a PhD you can go even higher though there are fewer jobs at the PhD level. Computer engineers can and do get hired to work on software, though it is not their specialty. Any type of software where intimate knowledge and understanding of hardware is important (assembly language programming, real-time graphics programming, embedded software, drivers, etc.) is perfect for computer engineers.</p>
<p>I am not worried about out-sourcing. It’s been overblown by the media and special interests (i.e. unions or second-rate engineers with obsolete skills).</p>