computer engineering or computer science ?

[p3rsian]

whats the diffrence between these two ?
is one software and one hardware?
what kind of jobs can u get for each one?
counsling office closed for a week. :(

[Memo]

Computer Science is more on the programming side, yes and Computer Engineering is like Electrical Engineering focused on computers. Each one will teach you a little bit of the other but like you said CS is more software and the other is more hardware.

[revil]

Ya, what memo said. Another way to look at it is that CPE is generally lower level programming while CS is working with higher level programming. But there is overlapping between the two.

It overlaps a lot in my school. my friend was a CPE major, then decided to pick up a CS major and an EE major because it would only take one more year.

[Leebo]

CE is more fun cuz you dont' stair at a monitor as much... sometimes you just sit there looking at resistors and transistors on a stupid proto board until you say F it and throw it all in the trash...

btw, i hate EE

[coleslaw]

Originally posted by Leebo
CE is more fun cuz you dont' stair at a monitor as much... sometimes you just sit there looking at resistors and transistors on a stupid proto board until you say F it and throw it all in the trash...I beg to differ. I'm working on a VLSI project that has required me to stare at a screen for hundreds of hours the past few weeks. I am the only EE working on this project (as it is geared more towards CompE), so you can tell that I like putting myself through hell for no reason! :D

[hapoo]

i'm suddenly getting the feeling that i'm in deep crap. Might wanna help me out... is there anything you LIKE about CE? :D

[revil]

Originally posted by hapoo
i'm suddenly getting the feeling that i'm in deep crap.
It's never too become a business major. They always need a few bright people (if you join, you'd be the first). I mean, [insert Dilbert quote here]. Get it? hahahaha!

[gear02]

Originally posted by hapoo
i'm suddenly getting the feeling that i'm in deep crap. Might wanna help me out... is there anything you LIKE about CE? :D

I have a CE degree and I work as a computer programmer. I think you're in the best of both worlds. You know programming and you know hardware. You'll know enough of both to get a job in either area.

[Grimm]

Screw CS and CE degrees, gest a business or law degree, make some real money. Engineers put themselves out of work if they do a good job. Managers and Lawyers just perpetuate their jobs.

[zenbooty]

Originally posted by Grimm
Screw CS and CE degrees, gest a business or law degree, make some real money. Engineers put themselves out of work if they do a good job. Managers and Lawyers just perpetuate their jobs.

Yes but engineers can live with themselves at the end of the day. And the money's fine. I've yet to meet a lawyer I whose presence outside of court I could tolerate for longer than 10 minutes, and being a Manager has got to be THE most unrewarding, soul destroying, thankless job on Earth, except maybe for desktop and over-the-phone support.

[Grafalgar]

I happen to thoroughly enjoy CS thank you very much :)

It has its perks - the age old "it's a challenge, problem solving" etc stuff. But nothing beats making your software if you need it and someone hasn't made it already.

Or making your own computer games. :-D

On the downside it is a HELL LOAD of work. CS or CE is not for the faint hearted. I just finished one of three senior projects at my uni .. I think I lost 20lbs of weight over two weeks, had a eating habit of one meal per three / four days (rest was soda and candy to keep sugar levels up), and on top of that didn't sleep for 36+ hours very often.

Last Friday was my team's demo to the actual company we were developing for (yea, this isn't a 'make this for the prof' thing .. we had an actual customer outside the uni we had to make this for) .. we demo'd on 0 sleep, 0 food, nothing .. we looked like crap :)

So yeah - don't let anyone tell you it's easy .. CS or CE .. if they are they're either missing something or the school blows.

:)

[hapoo]

Yeah, i would hate to work at job that i don't like. You can't pay me to torture myself.


So Grafalgar... whats it like? What kind of projects do you do? Is it always that much work? What are your hours like? What kind of deadlines?

[Grafalgar]

Well, you learn how to schedule your time and whatnot very quickly so for me right now it's not too bad. Just don't count too much on the classic movie college experience where people are running around partying their heads off getting drunk and whatnot ... at my uni if you wanna do that you should go into Soc (no offense to Soc majors :)). Most of the freshmen die thoroughly the first year or so because they really unload on you. It's not easy in any sense of the word :P

All the initial stuff is boring as hell times two. There's only so many linked lists you can make before you get thoroughly sick of them. Upper division gets interesting though .. in my degree program (CS) there's very little emphasis on hardware and a lot on software. So you get your hands into algorithms (crazy ones), Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, compilers and interpreters (creating an fully functional C-like interpreter is a final homework), Operating Systems, Programming Languages, etc etc ..

Then you get into the 'choose your direction' stuff .. 3 project courses and two intermediates of your choice. I took a project in software engineering (we did a software product for a very large internationalized company), graphics, and so on.

The projects I've already (outside of this giant one) included making a logical reasoning system, a handwriting recognizer and natural language parser (could answer questions like "What is the population of the state with the nickname 'Golden State?'" and variations thereof.

Hours can get hellish. Like I said - it's not a major for people that don't like to work. But it's one helluva challenge all the way through so if you like those it's definitely for you :)

Ya gotta find out from your school though what the program is like :) .

So in short - the work is hard and the deadlines are very rough .. but you get used to it and you learn how to manage your time. It only gets easier :) It's a lot of work and it's a giant challenge .. it's not "here's a big book, memorize" .. it's "here is a problem. Make it happen."

Oh .. and if you're like me in any way you hate mathematical proofs .. which is why CS is nice cuz there's almost zero proofs .. I say almost because I saw one or two LIGHT proofs for AI :P

/me hugs CS

:D

[Markel]

I decided very early on that I didn't want to get into business programming (payrolls, inventory, etc.). I've pursued things in machine controls, communications, factory automation, etc. I used to take pride in that I've never writting a line of COBOL. :D But plenty of assembler and C.

Most of the titles I've had were of the Software Engineer type.

[avlena]

Originally posted by hapoo
So Grafalgar... whats it like? What kind of projects do you do? Is it always that much work? What are your hours like? What kind of deadlines?

:D he doesn't get much sleep for one thing!! i also took the project class that he spoke about earlier... on average, students in the class got around 5 hours of sleep a night. first thing i'm gonna do when i'm done with this week is SLEEP!!

usually, a class doesn't have much hw, but a programming lab due every 2 weeks or so. The classes that don't have labs usually just have a midterm and final, with occasional quizes. Those classes are okay...it's the programming classes that kill all your free time! you spend a LOT of quality time with your computer, programming, and quite a number of all-nighters trying to figure out that one stinkin' bug in your program is. i keep telling myself that it'll all be better once i graduate. :P that's the hope anyway!

anyway, moral of the story: it's a helluva lot of work, but worth it, if you like computers and can stand sitting in front of it for hours at a time!