Interview with a Comp Eng. major!

[themoogler]

I need some help, my orientation class requires us to interview someone and write a summary. Thanks a ton to anyone who answers:

what they valued from their undergraduate education; whether they have gone to grad school (why? ); the type of work they do; what they like (and don't like) about their job, company, location; what they are planning to do in the near future; and what advice they can give to a student majoring in computer engineering.



Thanks again

 

[TuxDave]

CPE = Certified Professional Engineer?

 

[themoogler]

CPE = Comp Eng. as edited above? I Guess no one wants to be interviewed A short answer! thats all.

 

[TuxDave]

How about an Electrical Engineer?

 

[themoogler]

That is acceptable thanks man.

 

[TuxDave]

hmmm... my sister isn't online, can't forward these questions to her. I'm still in grad school so I probably can't give you all the answers you want.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Why do you need to be done with grad school? He said you didn't have to....

I'm in my second year (EE) if that helps

 

[themoogler]

Anything is fine, even if you didn't go to grad school. As long as you worked once.

 

[sao123]

I graduated (undergrad) from Comp Eng from Penn State with work experience in IT & Software Engineering (no Comp Eng or EE work experience though) I could try to answer a question or two.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492
Why do you need to be done with grad school? He said you didn't have to....

I'm in my second year (EE) if that helps

Originally posted by: themoogler
Anything is fine, even if you didn't go to grad school. As long as you worked once.

Originally posted by: themoogler
I need some help, my orientation class requires us to interview someone and write a summary. Thanks a ton to anyone who answers:

what they valued from their undergraduate education; whether they have gone to grad school (why? ); the type of work they do; what they like (and don't like) about their job, company, location; what they are planning to do in the near future; and what advice they can give to a student majoring in computer engineering.

Thanks again

I'm guessing he also wants some information regarding work experience. I worked before, but nothing related to my major yet.

 

[jagec]

Watch out for your cornhole, bud.

 

[acivick]

I graduate in May and I have worked (as an Intern/Temp/PT whatever) in IT and Telecommunications. Nothing too extensive, but I may be able to help. Let me know.

 

[themoogler]

So I guess the short answer questions i need answered areL 1. What was important from your undergrade? 2. What work have you done? Pro / cons of them? 3. What are you planning to do in the future. finally. 4. What advice can you give me?

 

[dszd0g]

Originally posted by: themoogler
So I guess the short answer questions i need answered areL 1. What was important from your undergrade? 2. What work have you done? Pro / cons of them? 3. What are you planning to do in the future. finally. 4. What advice can you give me?

I have a BS EE, but I will answer for me. These answers will probably be different for everyone.

1) A lot of classes I took have been useful for my job:

Logic Design
Verilog Design
Embedded Systems Design
Technical Writing
High Speed Digital Design
Embedded Software (assembly and C)
Operating Systems (not for major)
Compiler Design (not for major)
Circuit analysis
Discrete Mathematics
Properties of Materials
Analog Electronics
Fields and Waves (very minor for what I am doing)
Probability and Stochastic Processes (very minor)

I took C and perl in junior college while working. C has been required for my job, Perl is very useful and has allowed me to be helpful in more areas and in helping the system verification team.

I took Verilog in school, but picked up and use VHDL at work. I was 1 class away from having a minor in computer science when I graduated so I took a lot more CS/CE classes than most of my peers.

2) I used to do systems administration, but then went back to school full time for an EE degree. During school I had a hard time getting an EE internship and fell back on my prior CS skills.

After graduating I was able to get my foot in the door by taking an intern position and slowly worked my way into a job I am happy with as a junior microprocessor developer.

Pros:

Interesting, challenging, and fun work. It is not tedious. There are plenty of ideas that float around my group and we discuss a lot of different things.

Cons:

Documentation and meetings, especially the occasional 8am meeting. Having to choose what to become involved in, because there is too much to be involved in everything. Working excessive hours (partly by choice).

3) I plan to slowly work towards a masters taking night classes and be able to not consider myself a "junior", but work towards being a technical lead.

4) Decide what kind of job you want after school. Make sure you take the classes that will be helpful in that field even if it will take you longer to get out of school. Make sure to take some classes that will be immediately applicable on the job even if it is just a job to get you in the door. That last one is very important as some of my peers did not do so and were not able to find EE positions after graduating.

[Edit: fixed typo]

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: themoogler
So I guess the short answer questions i need answered areL 1. What was important from your undergrade? 2. What work have you done? Pro / cons of them? 3. What are you planning to do in the future. finally. 4. What advice can you give me?

I have a BS in Comp Eng, and Currently work in Government IT, with some experience in teaching at the college level.

1) So far the most useful classes from my undergrad work have been Software Design, C++ Programming, Data Structures, Calculus & Discrete Math, and Literature Discussion.

2)As most of my work is basic IT work, (workstation administration, user support, etc) I at times have had to do some some inhouse software projects. Some of these programs require intense calculation and logic, and all of them have been Windows MFC programs in C++.
Working for state government has both ups and downs. Firstly, most government work is civil service, and comes along with great job security, good retirement and health benefits. It is low stress work, in a great environment. However, government work does not pay as high as private industry doing equivolent jobs, and there is much less room for promotion. In addition, at times government work can be frustrating, because so much of it is centralized, that there is a lot of red tape to cut through to really get the job done effectively.

I also had the oppertunity to be an instructor for a few semesters in Sophomore level data structures class. That was a very enjoyable employment.

3)I am planning to do my job for 30 years and retire like all those before me. Then I might be able to persue other interests, like getting back into teaching, since ill only be about 50-55 when i retire from the state.

4)the best advice i can give you is get an internship in the area that you want to persue, during your junior year. Work both your junior and senior years for work experience. This will help you most in getting hired, possibly even with the company you intern with after you graduate.

 

[imgod2u]

Originally posted by: themoogler
I need some help, my orientation class requires us to interview someone and write a summary. Thanks a ton to anyone who answers:

what they valued from their undergraduate education; whether they have gone to grad school (why? ); the type of work they do; what they like (and don't like) about their job, company, location; what they are planning to do in the near future; and what advice they can give to a student majoring in computer engineering.



Thanks again

I currently work after getting a BSEE in Computer Engineering.

1. What I value from my undergrad: Mainly digital logic design, sythesis and computer architecture. CE is a very broad field and you can go into whatever area you like, be it software design, digital logic design, transistor-level analog circuit design, materials science, etc. It's really up to you. My main focus was multimedia (Computer Vision and Digital Image Processing), digital logic design (Sythesis, testing and verification, RTL) and AI.

2. I'm planning on going to grad school after a bit of field-experience in my job environment.

3. I currently work at a defense research company designing imaging sensors.

4. For those considering this major: either give up sleep or give up a social life, you can't have it both ways. Also, classes are not everything. Go talk to professors early, ask them about what they're working on and come up with projects on your own. The best thing about engineering is that you can make all sorts of neat stuff and it doesn't have to be for a job or a class. That will be the type of extra-curricular activity that shines on a resume or a grad school application.

 

[dszd0g]

Originally posted by: imgod2u
4. For those considering this major: either give up sleep or give up a social life, you can't have it both ways.

This is so true. I had to give up all social life the last 2 years. I was fine until I started taking the upper division classes.

Also, classes are not everything. Go talk to professors early, ask them about what they're working on and come up with projects on your own. The best thing about engineering is that you can make all sorts of neat stuff and it doesn't have to be for a job or a class. That will be the type of extra-curricular activity that shines on a resume or a grad school application.

And professors can be a great resource for getting that first internship if you are a top student.