<p>Seconded, software engineering is not computer science, computer science is a branch of math. But even at the most “pure CS” schools, you will of course learn some software engineering. It’s really a good idea to take a close look at a school’s curriculum. I’d stay away from Java schools.</p>
<p>Anyway, I can’t believe nobody has mentioned Computer Science and Engineering (yeah, it’s all one major at many ABET-accredited universities). It combines Computer Engineering (the digital logic side of EE) with computer science.</p>
<p>Do you really mean that you’d stay away from Java-only schools, as opposed to those where Java is one of many computer languages used in the course work?</p>
Software engineering is essentially the practical application of computer science, and since most software engineers hold CS degrees and most software engineering positions ask for CS degrees it seems reasonable to correlate the two. Software engineering may not be computer science, but if you want to be a software engineer it seems that a CS degree is the best path.</p>
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I find this amusing just because my employer is apparently desperate for JAVA programmers.</p>
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CSE is not as consistently available as pure CS or CE degrees. There are some schools that offer it, but I am not sure how many people are really confident of the content.</p>
<p>CS and Sw.Eng. are almost certainly a better bet than Bio.Eng. for the short- to mid-term (next 10 years); although Bio.Eng. are growing fast, there aren’t many jobs today, so there won’t be many for a while. Sw.Eng. is growing very fast, though, and the number of Sw.Eng. jobs is huge compared to other engineering fields. I’m not sure where you might be getting that EE is a good bet, based on job projections; do what you love, but if you love being in a large, fast-moving and fast-growing field, EE is not the optimal choice, according to objective data.</p>
<p>CS and Sw.Eng. are still young fields, academically speaking. Given more time, they should be expected to separate as other sciences have separated from other engineering disciplines. Right now, there is not a lot of difference between Sw.Eng. and CS education; CS is not taught primarily as a formal science and Sw.Eng. is not really a formal engineering field, either. Most CS majors end up working Sw.Eng. jobs right now, but that is mostly due to the fact that the fields haven’t really separated yet and there are so many positions that need filling in the Sw.Eng. community.</p>
<p>Computer Science and Engineering isn’t a widely available major. It’s good to keep in mind that different schools may offer different, non-standard combined/specialized programs that some students might like, but CS, Comp.Eng. and (increasingly) Sw.Eng. are the standard ones.</p>
<p>Using Java as a vehicle for teaching introductory and OO programming isn’t a good reason to avoid a program. That being said, there is wisdom in saying that you should carefully evaluate programs and look with suspicion on programs that are mostly programming with little theory, systems, mathematics, etc. courses thrown into the mix.</p>
<p>Can electrical engineers also work as a computer science / software engineer jobs? Is that possible? If I have a minor in computer engineering, I know they require experience in programming, object oriented language, java, c++ etc. Is it possible?</p>
<p>With regards to the differences between computer science and software engineering and how they may manifest themselves in careers, some of you may find the following blog post from Matt Welsh interesting. He was a Harvard professor who left to take a software engineering job at Google.</p>
<p>I don’t think many schools offer a “Computer Science and Engineering” degree. Our school had a CSE department which was part of the engineering school, but it only offered CS or CE degrees – there was no CSE degree. The CS and CE curriculum had the same lower division requirements which included a sequence of EE courses and so forth.</p>
<p>Every school does things differently. Some schools offer a wide range of CS Programs (check out UC Irvine’s Computer science school).</p>
<p>Yeah, electrical engineers can get employment as software engineers if they develop their programming skills enough. I knew a few who did, and I have one coworker here who is doing just that. One of the best programmers I worked with had a background in Aerospace Engineering.</p>
<p>I would look up mechatronics if I was you. My buddy was telling me about it. Apparently it is a mix of computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. lol, it’s something that someone like Tony Stark would major in.</p>
<p>Is your employer aware that any good developer could easily learn Java, and that the skills universal to all languages carry over quite easily? Is he aware that somebody who could master a more difficult language like C/C++ or assembler and write well-engineered software would have no difficulty getting up to speed on writing in Java? Why doesn’t he just look for good developers period? It tells me he’s either ignorant or not that desperate. I simply do not get a lot of employers, I wonder how much they know about software engineering. I mean, these knuckleheads would turn down Donald Knuth for a Visual Basic job because he “only” knew C, or crap like that.</p>
Well, we’re a Fortune 100 company with a long track and successful track record, so while I am not myself a software guy I am fairly sure that if they have a job opening that there is a reason for it. I could presume any number of reasons they are looking for Java developers, but since I am not a software guy and since you have already presumed that I work for “knuckleheads” I think I’ll just let it go.</p>