A while ago, a poster ontalk.collegecofidential.comasked for someadviceabout making a choice between majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science.
ZellerJo说,“我觉得电气工程师have a broader perspective than Computer Scientists do. It seems to me like it is a more mobile position, where EE's move freely with hardware and software and CS's are strictly working with software. I am looking for the useful skills that can translate well into many applications. I want the ability to control a lot of the process. For that reason EE is very interesting to me, but I am worried that each leaves out too much of the other. EE is more coursework (and I am already going to be in my 7th year when I get a bachelor's degree). I would also like to earn a Master's degree, but doing CS Bachelor’s and an EE Masters may be difficult.”
The following response from mathfan123 stood out to me:
“My son is also struggling with this choice. His father and I chose to get a BS in EE and then a MS in Computer Engineering. We have both switched back and forth. I feel like having a base in EE makes for a more flexible position. I spent most of my years in software but did spend a few years in hardware and it was entirely easy and doable to learn and contribute quickly.
“You will likely use a hardware design language (Verilog, VHDL) in your digital courses, and you will gain more programming skills while using them. And depending on your EE curriculum at your college, you may take a lot of programming courses or use them as EE electives (my son is doing that).
“But a wise person once told me: if advances in hardware technology ceased today, there would still be demand for software engineers. And I have found job security to be higher in software. Plus another person once pointed out that while it's easy to develop and sell software in your garage, it is another thing entirely to fabricate chips!
“I do advise my children to think beyond one career choice. As life expectancy and retirement moves further out, facing the same job gets to be burdensome—50+ years of the same stuff! I think having a broad base in their undergraduate education will set them up for more degrees or skills in the future. So in that, I agree with your opinion that EE will give you a broader base. But that's just me and my experience.”
What do think? What advice did you give your son or daughter considering following your career path?
