For my son, engineering played a role in something he is developing for his field, but he was just able to access the right courses and right people to “DIY” it. That’s where being at a large university helps. His first love is conservation, engineering was just a means to the end and he doesn’t want to major in it. Same with coding.
Has your son looked into the Honors programs at different schools? Being in the Honors program is allowing my son to take more interdisciplinary courses and have access to things like meeting with engineering professors without being an engineering major.