Computer Science vs. Computer Engineering

[chiwawa626]

I am a senior at UCSD and plan to graduate soon. I have a dilemma, should I graduate as CS or CE. At this point I can graduate CS by just taking 1 course, and CE by taking 3-4 more very hard courses.

Call it senioritis, but I am having second thoughts about CE as my major. Here is whats wrong with it at the moment:
1. The last few classes are a bitch
2. I haven't learned enough and will not learn enough to do anything "computer engineering" related as a career, and nor do I really have the interest. UCSD's CE program is basically CS with a halfassed minor in EE.
3. Apparently rumor has it that having CE written on your resume may deter some folks from hiring you for a CS position (even though at UCSD CE majors take all the CS classes)

...What do i do...

 

[pontifex]

sounds like you already know the answer

 

[LS20]

doesnt mean much

 

[Gamingphreek]

Well CS really shouldn't have anything to do with EE.

EE would be Hardware, PCB, Traces, Gates, Circuitry (CE should be the same thing only with some C++ problem solving and whatnot)
CS would be Software based. It shouldn't deal with much H/W at all

It depends on what job you are looking at. Generally I would think that a CE or EE would look better in their respective field, as would CS.

You have to decide what you want to do: Hardware or Software

Good Luck, and congrats on the upcoming graduation!

-Kevin

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Well CS really shouldn't have anything to do with EE.

EE would be Hardware, PCB, Traces, Gates, Circuitry (CE should be the same thing only with some C++ problem solving and whatnot)
CS would be Software based. It shouldn't deal with much H/W at all

It depends on what job you are looking at. Generally I would think that a CE or EE would look better in their respective field, as would CS.

You have to decide what you want to do: Hardware or Software

Good Luck, and congrats on the upcoming graduation!

-Kevin

I was a CE major. I'm doing software now. I know many many other CE majors who are doing software. There are actually more CE majors (that I know) who are doing software than who are doing hardware

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Well CS really shouldn't have anything to do with EE.

EE would be Hardware, PCB, Traces, Gates, Circuitry (CE should be the same thing only with some C++ problem solving and whatnot)
CS would be Software based. It shouldn't deal with much H/W at all

It depends on what job you are looking at. Generally I would think that a CE or EE would look better in their respective field, as would CS.

You have to decide what you want to do: Hardware or Software

Good Luck, and congrats on the upcoming graduation!

-Kevin

Your EE description is more akin to Computer Engineering. EEs learnr the basics of that stuff, CEs learn the guts.

Don't be surpriesed about the demand for CE and EE majors in the software world. Software can be learned and alot of companies (like defense contractors that deal with hardware) often prefer non-CS majors when hiring software people.

Without a CS major, you'll simply not be working for comanies that are pure software or IT.

And if you do another year to get a second degree, do a CO-OP this summer!!!!!!! That really matters more than anything.

 

[Acanthus]

Im a Physics and CE double major, i plan on going to grad school.

CE probably isnt a great standalone degree if you want to do software.

The last CE classes are hard because you actually learn something...

Yeah, VLSI is a bit harder than network topology 😉

 

[Acanthus]

Edit: DP, MS needs to engineer a mouse that doesnt double click every time you single click after 5 months of use.

 

[simms]

Some companies pay based on degree. You will get more for a CompE than a CS degree if it were based on a company that pays salaries based on degree.

 

[chiwawa626]

The part that bugs me is if I do get a CE degree I would never get a job where I would use it. I consider myself a software guy, I doubt I would ever find myself tinkering with verilog or vhdl after college.

So tempting...I think I will look into it a bit more

 

[tfinch2]

You're so close, why not both?

 

[Aharami]

CEs also have marginally higher starting salary then CSs

 

[Martin]

Originally posted by: chiwawa626
The part that bugs me is if I do get a CE degree I would never get a job where I would use it. I consider myself a software guy, I doubt I would ever find myself tinkering with verilog or vhdl after college.

So tempting...I think I will look into it a bit more

I'm a CE and chose to focus almost exclusively on software and related concepts during my senior year (stuff like, computer security, networks, wireless communication, distributed systems etc), but at the same time, I really do appreciate all the hardware stuff I learned (first 3 years don't have many software courses), even though I don't plan to use it in my career. I think it gives a much better basis and lets you appreciate the computer a whole a lot more.

I don't know exactly what kind of HW courses you've taken so far, but I'd suggest CE. If you worry about companies looking down on CE in a CS position, then you can always stress how much CS you've done during an interview...

That's my 1 pence...