j814wong

I have definitely decided to take Computer Science as a major but I also want to take a minor but am stuck between Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering. Which minor would be optimal and which would, along with CS be hardest overall?

ucbalumnus

Would it be correct to assume that you are interested in hardware design as well as software? What is optimal depends on the actual content of the courses or minors in these subjects at your school, and what your interests are.

TaciturnType

It may end up that the school you attend actually doesn't offer minors in either of these areas. Minors in traditional engineering majors aren't very common, but what might be offered is a concentration or set of electives that emphasize certain knowledge. In this case, you would be best off taking electives in courses that interest you. At my school, the CpE major is actually just a combination of CS courses and digital-based EE courses. If you're interested mostly in computer hardware, a CpE minor (or concentration, or whatever) would be better. These courses may be labeled as EE, but they'll still have an emphasis on CpE concepts.

j814wong

I'm interested in both hardware design and software.

Taciturn, so it really depends on the individual college which may offer degrees that have different focuses. Thanks.

NeoDymium

That certainly doesn't mean you can't create your own "focus" in a certain field. Especially if you have a few open slots from transfer credits.

j814wong

What do you mean by transfer credits?

I plan to major in Computer Science and take other courses that also focus on software and hardware. Perhaps some sort of class that ties them together?

Mokonon

I've never met anyone who had an engineering minor. Are you even sure that your school offers such a thing?

I think you should just major in CS and take whatever EE courses you want. A minor on your diploma doesn't really mean much, anyway.

discoinferno

Given those options, and since you say you're split between hardware and software, I would just major in CE, which is EE with more programming.

j814wong

Oh. I never knew engineering minor was not even possible. Oops. I assumed it was possible. Guess I'll just minor in microeconomics.

j814wong

One other question. Would it be possible to get a bachelor degree for Computer Engineering then a Masters in Computer Science? Larry Page of Google did that and the option of doing so seems very attractive to me.

Also, between Computer Science and Computer Engineering, which is in greater demand with major companies and which results in a better starting salary and a greater mid career salary?

ucbalumnus

Many of these distinctions depend on the school and how it organizes CS/CE/EE courses and curricula.

wwlink

Anecdotally speaking, and as a computer engineering major: I haven't yet met a grad in CE or EECS or CSE that got a job you couldn't get with a comsci degree. Perhaps this is because in silicon valley, there are a lot of great CS jobs, but it really is nice to have the extra flexibility and experience you can get out of having EE knowledge. Some of my CS friends preferred doing straight CS because it allowed them to focus on learning more languages. *shrug*

Mokonon

Like ucbalumnus said, it depends on the school, j814wong. At my school, the CE major was equivalent to EECS at other schools (a mix of core CS and EE curriculum), so depending on how they chose their courses, CE majors could pursue graduate studies in either EE or CS. But I've seen other undergrad CE program that have very different curriculum.

You should take a look at what the degree requirements for CS, EE, and CE majors at your school compare the coursework for each. If two majors are similar, they will have more required courses in common.

I don't think you'll find a very significant difference between starting and mid-career salaries among the top students of any engineering major. IMO, the main advantage that computer science has over other majors is among the mediocre and poorer performing students. I graduated over 6 years ago, and based on my observations, the mediocre EE, ME, AE students with low GPAs had a lot of trouble finding jobs after they graduated (some were unemployed for two years), while virtually all of my former computer science classmates (even the ones who struggled the most, that even I would hesitate to hire) all landed jobs within a few months. For instance, I have a former classmate who works in the IT department of a medium sized bank, another who does web development for a non profit organization, another who does software development for a company that specializes in corporate training applications, another who does testing on FPGA boards. They may not be rockstar developers at well known tech companies, but the point is that they all managed to get tech jobs that pay them reasonable wages. Software jobs are plentiful right now, and CS majors have definitely benefited from it. I don't know if things will stay the same a decade from now, however.

j814wong

Mokonon, so if i major in Computer Science in a college where the course is more like EECS, when I graduate and look for work, will the employer look only at my degree itself or also what sort of coursework came with it?

So far, I'm interested in a major that either is EECS or perhaps CompE that is like EECS.

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Mokonon

They'll look at the degree, but I doubt that they will ask you for a list of courses you've taken or anything like that. I've only once been asked to bring a copy of my school transcript to an interview, and that was a for a summer internship.

I think any sort of engineering major (EE, CE) will be considered for software jobs, but once you get an interview, it's up to you to demonstrate that you have the adequate background for the job. So if you don't want to be a pure computer science major but still want the option to work as a software developer, you need to make sure that you get enough of the core CS curriculum regardless of what major you choose.