<p>As I decide between the two majors mentioned in the title, I want some opinions/thoughts on how the thinking required for computer science differs from the thinking required for electrical engineering. I have only had experience with computer science so far, and based on that, I have found it to be so logical that it is creative. I fear I might not have enough of this creativity to survive in a CS major in college. Or can this logical way of thinking/creativity be acquired through lots of practice? Is it even practice if I spend hours trying to solve a problem and not get it? Or is programming ability largely innate which gets triggered with practice?</p>
<p>Onto Electrical Engineering, since I have no experience with it, I don't know how it might be. Is it less of innate ability/and more practice and getting down concepts? Or not really? Is it like computer science too?</p>
<p>Yes, it can be acquired through lots of practice.</p>
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<p>There are various schools of thought on this. Some people feel that even if you can’t solve a problem, some of the techniques you use to solve it can be used to solve other problems. Others seem to subscribe to an “either you know it or you don’t” philosophy, but we don’t often hear about what types of problems they have trouble with. No one, not even the likes of Knuth, Hennessey, etc. can solve all CS problems, but some are in a position to choose what types of problems they will (and won’t) solve.</p>
<p>I’m a CompE major and personally I would say EE would be a harder major than CS. Since I’ve gotten a taste a both worlds I’ve found my CS classes to be easier than my EE classes not to mention the physics that goes along with engineering.</p>
<p>EE’s also do object oriented programming and embedded systems programming. </p>
<p>They are pretty different majors but I think an EE major could get any job a CS major could get but not the other way around.</p>
<p>i remember talking to a microsoft rep at a security lecture (when i was interested in CS and ee; times have changed) and asking about the difference between a grad with a CS degree and EE degree and the simple answer was that the two topics are very intertwined now, so there isnt as much of a gap that people make out to be. however, he did prefer EE grads as they “had better problem solving ability”. take from that what you will.</p>
<p>remember, companies dont expect you to come out of college prepared to work. they know they have to spend time (and therefore money) to train you for their specific system and what not. if you show that you are smart (aka can learn quickly) then it goes far more then just memorizing lots of crap and doing well on exams.</p>