<p>Personally, I don’t think that is a good reason to pursue engineering, because external reasons are less sustainable than internal reasons. If you want strictly prestige, you should probably become a doctor. Medicine is highly regarded in many cultures. </p>
<p>Who cares? Is your Dad’s friend going to pay your bills? Is his opinion really relevant? When I was younger, I used to be so concerned about some of these same things but now that I am older, I could care less.</p>
<p>I used to work for a company where almost everybody drove nice cars, I knew they were mostly in deep debt because those people did not make a lot of money.</p>
<p>I used to pull up in my 1998 Ford Ranger-I loved my little truck until I had to let her go last year. My truck was reliable, paid for, my insurance was like 50 bucks a month 
</p>
<p>My boss used to give me ■■■■ about it but I ended up moving on with my life, went back to school to pursue a second degree in Engineering and I was only able to make it happen because I had very little debt.</p>
<p>On the other hand, he will probably be in the same place, for the next 20 years working a mediocre job, deep in debt and struggling every month to pay for all his fancy cars.</p>
<p>Moral of the story: What people or society think of you is for the most part, absolutely irrelevant.</p>
<p>Once you graduate, for the next 40 or so years, you’ll get up in the morning, you’ll hopefully shower, you’ll eat some breakfast, maybe have some coffee, and you’ll go to work. At the end of the day, you will leave work and go home, have some dinner, maybe a glass of wine, spend some quality time with your family. </p>
<p>This will occur roughly 5 days a week, at least 8 hours a day, roughly 2000 hours per year. for 40 years. </p>
<p>That’s 80,000 hours of living. 8000 work days. </p>
<p>The most important thing you need to figure out is what you like to do. Then your goal should be to figure out how you can spend as much of those 80,000 hours doing it while still making enough money to limit your financial stress. </p>
<p>If you don’t make this your most important factor, you will mostly likely end up in a career and a life that feels like a prison.
8000 days. You haven’t even lived that long. </p>
<p>Do you want 8000 days of prison?</p>
<p>You will likely be bitter and make kids feel insecure in social situations by making jokes about their intended careers. </p>
<p>I’m an EE by the way, but I graduated from an EECS department and I feel like CS folks are my brethren and sistren. </p>
<p>Figure out how to spend those 80,000 hours, or 8000 days, whichever metric gets the message through. </p>
<p>^^ Darn!! Life is surely short when seen calculated that way. I should have asked out Julie after all. No do-overs possible; not enough time. </p>
<p>
Saying, “Oh, so you’re a computer guy” does not sound like he thinks negatively of the major. Now that you are an EE major, if one of your dad’s friend says “Oh, so you’re an electronics guy,” would you need to change majors to something else?</p>
<p>I think it’s silly to base your career on random comments from your dad’s friends that may not even be negative. I’d expect most people do think positively of being an engineer, but some do not. The latter group often involves less technical persons and persons that assume various stereotypes about the field. You’ll find a similar pattern in other fields with how prestigious someone perceives a field varies from person to person, and culture to culture. For example, my mother seems to think being a lawyer is the most prestigious occupation that does not involve politics. I suspect this relates to the sibling she most trusts and most relies on for advice being a lawyer. My experience with lawyers includes things like lawyers trying to justify someone stealing content from my website; receiving various frivolous legal threats, which in many cases relate to someone losing his temper when he does not get his way; and mailings about trying to get me to join class action lawsuits about frivolous claims; so I have a far lower opinion of the field and would react much more positively to hearing someone is an engineer than a lawyer. </p>
<p>If your primary career concern is whether random people consider the occupation prestigious, you might instead become a firefighter. In several surveys, firefighter came out on top as the most prestigious/admired occupation in the United States, such as the one at <a href=“http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/Harris-Interactive-Poll-Research-Pres-Occupations-2007-08.pdf”>http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/Harris-Interactive-Poll-Research-Pres-Occupations-2007-08.pdf</a> . Scientists and teachers also do quite well. Of course if persons in your social group are more focused on education than most in the United States (like most persons on this forum), the list would be quite different.</p>
<p>I more or less agree with everyone and thank you for your opinions. It’s just frustrating to think that what I love doing is not respected among my social circle. While yes, I shouldn’t care what some stranger thinks of my major, but what I said earlier about my dad’s friend is just an example of the general perception held by my family about CS or any IT type majors. Heck, even my parents think you have to be either a doctor or an engineer to really be respected by society. I mean, I don’t want them to think less of me as their son. Maybe I can do engineering now and do my masters in CS? or is it a bad idea?</p>
<p>Are your parents making funding for college conditional on specific majors that they choose?</p>
<p>Of course, you can major in CS while taking pre-med courses to keep your parents happy, since pre-med does not require any specific major. When you do not get into any medical school, then you can go to work in CS (“sorry dad, but no medical school would admit me with an MCAT score of 24 and GPA of 3.4, but I got a job offer at [cool startup computer company]”).</p>
<p>Note that CS is different from IT. CS is a more technical major about designing computers and their software, while IT is a more business-based major about managing computers and their software. If they are mixing CS and IT together, perhaps after bad experiences with their employers’ IT departments, perhaps that may be the source of their disdain for CS.</p>
<p>First you are assuming a lot about that conversation. That was one person and you imagined what he thought! You actually have no idea. It seems more in your head than anywhere else. It is you who have an idea of prestige that does not exist. Engineers do not enjoy any special prestige or social status in general they way a Doctor does. Certainly an engineer and computer scientist enjoy equal prestige. If you are rich you enjoy the social prestige of being rich no matter. Also if you are in CS and end up where many do, software engineering, then when people ask you what you do you can say “Engineer”–many do. </p>
<p>Sure you can do EE then CS Masters, but you will have some core classes to make up for first, likely. It just seems smarter to study what interests you. You will be more motivated and interested and can work right away in the field then decide MS or not. You should really change the way you decide what is important to you. Try for internal satisfaction that external approval. These people you are seeking approval from, are they industry insiders, do they know the value jobs of the future? I doubt it, so why would you put your future in their hands? </p>
<p>I wonder what they would say if you said ‘Data Scientist’
<a href=“Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century”>http://hbr.org/2012/10/data-scientist-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century/ar/1</a></p>
<p>“Is the OP from the Middle East or Asia in general? my wife comes from a country from there and the totem pole order is ‘Civil Engineer > Medicine > Dentistry > Other Engineering > Comp Sci > Basket Weaving > Science > Business > Law > Art’.”</p>
<p>Yeah, well that kind of backwards thinking is exactly why people leave those places to come to America. </p>
<p>Wow, Pizzagirl. I’m guessing the point may have been that engineering and the smarts and education that goes into it are held in higher regard in some cultures? </p>
<p>It’s not the smarts. My father in law (Civil Engineer) is 83 and can do concrete calculations in his head that I could not do with a calculator when I was 23. He’s still working part time. CivE is immensely profitable if you work for the right place over there. </p>
<p>Well, your FIL also sounds smart! Pizzagirl’s comments still seem odd and somewhat offensive in terms of comments about “backwards thinking” and that " people leave those places to come to America.". </p>
<p>It’s not backwards thinking really. More practical than anything else. Besides,even coming to America does not make anything magically change. Look at 2nd generation Asian kids invariably drawn to practical things more than anything else. </p>
<p>Rigid hierarchies of prestige is what is backwards thinking. </p>
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<p>You are being much too sensitive! I don’t think that was meant to be disrespectful. I would interpret it as old-guy speak for “I don’t know anything about computer science and I don’t know what to say.” </p>
<p>My bigger concern for you would be the fact that your thoughts about your future were so easily swayed by one random, inoffensive comment. Don’t let others define who you are. Are YOU sure you want to go into CS? If you are, then it shouldn’t matter what some passing acquaintance says to you about it. </p>
<p>“Rigid hierarchies of prestige is what is backwards thinking.” Then Americans are as backwards as most other people/cultures in terms of viewing some professions as more prestigious than others.</p>
<p>OP: It will only be wrong for you if you don’t genuinely enjoy what you are doing. My uncle did something similar, and despite his ability to do it, hated every second of engineering work and soon left the field to pursue something more worthwhile. I would only worry if you are in the same boat, if not- you did nothing wrong.</p>
<p>I believe it would be a grave mistake to make a major switch solely based on prestige and social status. You and not anyone else are the one who needs to live with your decisions, so you should be accountable to yourself first. Additionally, the idea that engineering is ‘more prestigious’ than CS seems specious. CS is a rigorous and worthwhile course of study. CS pays very well and has strong job prospects also. Would you not consider a job as a software engineer at Google to be prestigious? </p>
<p>Actually, right now, in 2014, I think the future of serious computer scientists is about a bright as anything out there. </p>
<p>I’m not talking about good job and good wages, which are there for the taking, </p>
<p>I’m talking startup ==> IPO/Acquisition ==> serious $$$ => startup ==> IPO/Acquisiton==> lather, rinse, repeat. </p>
<p>It may not be 1998, but things are looking pretty good right now for new grads from top programs. </p>
<p>Do what you love, that said ladies love engineers lol.</p>