So if I want to be a computer hardware engineer

[piasabird]

It depends what school you go to. At U of I they have an Electrical Engineering program with emphasis on computers.

Or you can probably find a program that is more geared toward Networking and Servers, and Databses.

Some people specialize in Oracle databases or some kind of platform.

Some people also take the Microsoft Certificate courses in MSC whic is a mix of SQL, FILE SERVERS, DATABSE SERVERS, A1 Certificate, ETC. There are many different approaches. Look at your local paper or one from a large city and look at what they are looking for.

Stay away from a pure programming approach and look at a program designed more for networking and databases, with a strong emphasis on database design, etc.

 

[MajinWade]

I'm getting a masters in Computer Engineering. I have taken one programming course and it was a blowoff. Computer Engineering is mostly about the architecture and design of microprocessors.

 

[Acanthus]

Well i posted a CompEs typical track at Penn State, which is one of the largest engineering schools in the world, if you are still largely convinced that its programming, so be it

 

[archcommus]

I don't know where you guys are coming from saying computer engineering is mostly software. At my school it's pretty much 50/50 between hardware and software. Lots of hardware labs, computer architecture, design courses, stuff where you basically build circuits and CPUs, and also lots of software, Java, data structures, algorithms, networking and operating systems, etc.

 

[engineereeyore]

I did my undergrad in EE and my MS in CE. Computer Engineering usually requires a much greater emphasis in software. As for the pay scale, here's my opinion. The average pay there must be for people of all experience levels, not people straight out of college. I know of few people, even with an MS, making more than about 72K/year with no experience. This being the case, I think the reason there is such a discrepancy is because for the most part, a degree in Computer Engineering is relatively new, so you don't have as many experienced people with that degree. Therefore, you don't have a group of CE's making large salaries because they don't have many with a large amount of experience. Give it another 10-15 years and I'd imagine that scale will look much more even between EE's and CE's.

As for me, with my MS in CE, my offer was higher than anyone else I know that I'm graduating with. EE is becoming such a large and vast discipline that the creation of a CE curriculum is almost necessary. So if you like hardware and low-level software, CE my advise would be to get a CE. For me, I like the fact that if I ever get tired of the computer industry, I have a BS in EE, so I can do something else. If that's what you want, then I'd do that. JMO.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: engineereeyore
I did my undergrad in EE and my MS in CE. Computer Engineering usually requires a much greater emphasis in software. As for the pay scale, here's my opinion. The average pay there must be for people of all experience levels, not people straight out of college. I know of few people, even with an MS, making more than about 72K/year with no experience. This being the case, I think the reason there is such a discrepancy is because for the most part, a degree in Computer Engineering is relatively new, so you don't have as many experienced people with that degree. Therefore, you don't have a group of CE's making large salaries because they don't have many with a large amount of experience. Give it another 10-15 years and I'd imagine that scale will look much more even between EE's and CE's.

As for me, with my MS in CE, my offer was higher than anyone else I know that I'm graduating with. EE is becoming such a large and vast discipline that the creation of a CE curriculum is almost necessary. So if you like hardware and low-level software, CE my advise would be to get a CE. For me, I like the fact that if I ever get tired of the computer industry, I have a BS in EE, so I can do something else. If that's what you want, then I'd do that. JMO.

I don't think the title of the degree is that important. I will have an MSEE this semester and interviewed with all of the big semiconductor companies and they only ask you questions concerning your class projects, relevant intership/research experience, etc. They also ask a bunch of problem-solving type questions related to the industry and your coursework.

Because the classes for CPEG and EE overlap to a great extent, as long as you take the classes that relate to the companies you are interested in and the specific type of design you are interested in, I don't think they are going to pass you up just because you picked a particular degree over another.

Just my $0.02

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: engineereeyore
I did my undergrad in EE and my MS in CE. Computer Engineering usually requires a much greater emphasis in software. As for the pay scale, here's my opinion. The average pay there must be for people of all experience levels, not people straight out of college. I know of few people, even with an MS, making more than about 72K/year with no experience. This being the case, I think the reason there is such a discrepancy is because for the most part, a degree in Computer Engineering is relatively new, so you don't have as many experienced people with that degree. Therefore, you don't have a group of CE's making large salaries because they don't have many with a large amount of experience. Give it another 10-15 years and I'd imagine that scale will look much more even between EE's and CE's.

As for me, with my MS in CE, my offer was higher than anyone else I know that I'm graduating with. EE is becoming such a large and vast discipline that the creation of a CE curriculum is almost necessary. So if you like hardware and low-level software, CE my advise would be to get a CE. For me, I like the fact that if I ever get tired of the computer industry, I have a BS in EE, so I can do something else. If that's what you want, then I'd do that. JMO.

I don't think the title of the degree is that important. I will have an MSEE this semester and interviewed with all of the big semiconductor companies and they only ask you questions concerning your class projects, relevant intership/research experience, etc. They also ask a bunch of problem-solving type questions related to the industry and your coursework.

Because the classes for CPEG and EE overlap to a great extent, as long as you take the classes that relate to the companies you are interested in and the specific type of design you are interested in, I don't think they are going to pass you up just because you picked a particular degree over another.

Just my $0.02

This has been my experience as well. After speaking with many, MANY recruiters and interviewers, it has been made very clear to me that the title of your degree makes little difference as long as you know what you are talking about and express clear interest in the job.

 

[engineereeyore]

Originally posted by: Special K

I don't think the title of the degree is that important. I will have an MSEE this semester and interviewed with all of the big semiconductor companies and they only ask you questions concerning your class projects, relevant intership/research experience, etc. They also ask a bunch of problem-solving type questions related to the industry and your coursework.

Because the classes for CPEG and EE overlap to a great extent, as long as you take the classes that relate to the companies you are interested in and the specific type of design you are interested in, I don't think they are going to pass you up just because you picked a particular degree over another.

Just my $0.02

I would agree that I think the course work is much more relevant than the degree title. At least where I'm going, once you get to the Master's program, CE and EE course work is much different, but that's just my experience.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: archcommus
I don't know where you guys are coming from saying computer engineering is mostly software. At my school it's pretty much 50/50 between hardware and software. Lots of hardware labs, computer architecture, design courses, stuff where you basically build circuits and CPUs, and also lots of software, Java, data structures, algorithms, networking and operating systems, etc.

The way it was explained to me by the head of the department is you learn all aspects of computers, from electricity and maxewells equations, up through circuit design, hardware, firmware, operating system architecture, and software.

You literally know at least some of every stage of development.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: archcommus
I don't know where you guys are coming from saying computer engineering is mostly software. At my school it's pretty much 50/50 between hardware and software. Lots of hardware labs, computer architecture, design courses, stuff where you basically build circuits and CPUs, and also lots of software, Java, data structures, algorithms, networking and operating systems, etc.

The way it was explained to me by the head of the department is you learn all aspects of computers, from electricity and maxewells equations, up through circuit design, hardware, firmware, operating system architecture, and software.

You literally know at least some of every stage of development.

My graduate-level architecture prof. last semester made a similar point - to be good at any stage of computer systems design, from solid state physics all the way up to software, it helps to have at least a general understanding of the other stages.

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Computer Science is programming, i have no idea where these guys are coming off saying computer engineering = software engineering, software engineering doesnt exsist anymore, and is now CS.

My school just opened Software Engineering major under Electrical and Computer Engineering department.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Computer degrees are a dime a dozen!!
Unless of course you are writing code or directly involved in product developement say for a company like NVidia etc etc......

As was stated earlier entry level is still entry level no matter what degree you have.

You can have all the head knowledge in the world and be terrible at applying what you know to everyday hands on stuff!!

Computer degrees? What is a computer degree? If you are talking about IT, then yes, they are a dime a dozen. Go through a computer engineering program and them come back and talk.

Originally posted by: krotchy
MY school has 3 degrees

EE - Electrical Engineer, Analog or Digital, Optics, Power theory etc.
ECE - Electrical and Computer Engineer - Same as EE with extra programming courses to better integrate software and hardware (Tends to take fewer Analog type classes)
CE - Computer Engineer - Purely software engineering. AKA Database and Firmware programmer. More than just a programmer, but purely software.

This is definitely not the norm. It may be true at your school, but computer engineers are usually a hybrid, not just purely a programmer. That is why computer science exists.

you didnt read my post did you...lol...
let me refresh your memory--

Computer degrees are a dime a dozen!!
Unless of course you are writing code or directly involved in product developement say for a company like NVidia etc etc......
As was stated earlier entry level is still entry level no matter what degree you have.

You can have all the head knowledge in the world and be terrible at applying what you know to everyday hands on stuff!!


Then again I know unemployed computer hardware engineers who have the degree and the head knowlewdge but for some reason just are not able to do th4e same job as others in there field.....

Don`t need a degree in Computer Enginenering to talk....what i said still apllies...
You can go to the most exclusive school and get the best grades and still not be able to make a living......with or without a degree its a dog eat dog field!!

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Here at Purdue, CompE and EE majors are pretty much identical, set apart by I think 4 classes? CompE's 4 classes that are different are for programming, the rest of the requirements are identical.

There are significantly less job offers for CompE's than EE's.

It all depends on your area of emphasis, but it's pretty much the same here at Wisconsin - Madison.

As far as jobs, I think it depends on what you want to do with your degree. If you want to do chip level hardware design, you're probably going to want to get a masters degree. However, there are a lot of jobs for CompEs in firmware development. I got pretty lucky, because I got in at a fairly small company where I can do both hardware and software design.

I think that perhaps the biggest challenge for a computer engineer, at least in my case, is that I can program and I can design hardware, but I'm not really a master of either. It seems like most employers will want you to do pretty much one or the other, but I think the real value of a computer engineering degree is that you can tie the two together.

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Computer degrees are a dime a dozen!!
Unless of course you are writing code or directly involved in product developement say for a company like NVidia etc etc......

As was stated earlier entry level is still entry level no matter what degree you have.

You can have all the head knowledge in the world and be terrible at applying what you know to everyday hands on stuff!!

Computer degrees? What is a computer degree? If you are talking about IT, then yes, they are a dime a dozen. Go through a computer engineering program and them come back and talk.

Originally posted by: krotchy
MY school has 3 degrees

EE - Electrical Engineer, Analog or Digital, Optics, Power theory etc.
ECE - Electrical and Computer Engineer - Same as EE with extra programming courses to better integrate software and hardware (Tends to take fewer Analog type classes)
CE - Computer Engineer - Purely software engineering. AKA Database and Firmware programmer. More than just a programmer, but purely software.

This is definitely not the norm. It may be true at your school, but computer engineers are usually a hybrid, not just purely a programmer. That is why computer science exists.

you didnt read my post did you...lol...
let me refresh your memory--

Computer degrees are a dime a dozen!!
Unless of course you are writing code or directly involved in product developement say for a company like NVidia etc etc......
As was stated earlier entry level is still entry level no matter what degree you have.

You can have all the head knowledge in the world and be terrible at applying what you know to everyday hands on stuff!!


Then again I know unemployed computer hardware engineers who have the degree and the head knowlewdge but for some reason just are not able to do th4e same job as others in there field.....

Don`t need a degree in Computer Enginenering to talk....what i said still apllies...
You can go to the most exclusive school and get the best grades and still not be able to make a living......with or without a degree its a dog eat dog field!!

BS. Being a recent graduate, I know that there is extreme demand for graduates in this field. About 95% of graduates of CprE major at my school have job waiting for them when they graduate. Now that are hard facts, not a rant of some guy who's unhappy with his job/major/neighbors or thinks that nvidia is only company worth working for.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Computer Science is programming, i have no idea where these guys are coming off saying computer engineering = software engineering, software engineering doesnt exsist anymore, and is now CS.

My school just opened Software Engineering major under Electrical and Computer Engineering department.

Thats rather unusual as the engineering community is fighting to eliminate the term "software engineering" as it isnt really engineering.

 

[thepd7]

Originally posted by: gamepad
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job...ter_Hardware_Engineer/Salary/by_Degree

What's the difference between an electrical engineer who specializes in computer hardware and a computer engineer?

I'm a little confused.

Note: that's not average salary, that's median salary.

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: postmortemIA

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Computer Science is programming, i have no idea where these guys are coming off saying computer engineering = software engineering, software engineering doesnt exsist anymore, and is now CS.

My school just opened Software Engineering major under Electrical and Computer Engineering department.

Thats rather unusual as the engineering community is fighting to eliminate the term "software engineering" as it isnt really engineering.

huh?

The degree program, in part, responds to a call from two key professional organizations, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Association for Computing Machinery, for more software engineering programs nationally. A joint 2004 report of the two groups included a model curriculum for software engineering.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Computer degrees are a dime a dozen!!
Unless of course you are writing code or directly involved in product developement say for a company like NVidia etc etc......

As was stated earlier entry level is still entry level no matter what degree you have.

You can have all the head knowledge in the world and be terrible at applying what you know to everyday hands on stuff!!

Computer degrees? What is a computer degree? If you are talking about IT, then yes, they are a dime a dozen. Go through a computer engineering program and them come back and talk.

Originally posted by: krotchy
MY school has 3 degrees

EE - Electrical Engineer, Analog or Digital, Optics, Power theory etc.
ECE - Electrical and Computer Engineer - Same as EE with extra programming courses to better integrate software and hardware (Tends to take fewer Analog type classes)
CE - Computer Engineer - Purely software engineering. AKA Database and Firmware programmer. More than just a programmer, but purely software.

This is definitely not the norm. It may be true at your school, but computer engineers are usually a hybrid, not just purely a programmer. That is why computer science exists.

you didnt read my post did you...lol...
let me refresh your memory--

Computer degrees are a dime a dozen!!
Unless of course you are writing code or directly involved in product developement say for a company like NVidia etc etc......
As was stated earlier entry level is still entry level no matter what degree you have.

You can have all the head knowledge in the world and be terrible at applying what you know to everyday hands on stuff!!


Then again I know unemployed computer hardware engineers who have the degree and the head knowlewdge but for some reason just are not able to do th4e same job as others in there field.....

Don`t need a degree in Computer Enginenering to talk....what i said still apllies...
You can go to the most exclusive school and get the best grades and still not be able to make a living......with or without a degree its a dog eat dog field!!

BS. Being a recent graduate, I know that there is extreme demand for graduates in this field. About 95% of graduates of CprE major at my school have job waiting for them when they graduate. Now that are hard facts, not a rant of some guy who's unhappy with his job/major/neighbors or thinks that nvidia is only company worth working for.

JEDIYoda has no clue what he is talking about. All of the CE graduates from the last 2 years at my college had jobs before graduation day. Engineering != "computer jobs". As I said before, you clearly have no clue what it really means to be a computer engineer if you are making such statements.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: piasabird
It depends what school you go to. At U of I they have an Electrical Engineering program with emphasis on computers.

Or you can probably find a program that is more geared toward Networking and Servers, and Databses.

Some people specialize in Oracle databases or some kind of platform.

Some people also take the Microsoft Certificate courses in MSC whic is a mix of SQL, FILE SERVERS, DATABSE SERVERS, A1 Certificate, ETC. There are many different approaches. Look at your local paper or one from a large city and look at what they are looking for.

Stay away from a pure programming approach and look at a program designed more for networking and databases, with a strong emphasis on database design, etc.

Actually, UIUC has a separate Computer Engineering degree, that's what I got as my BS but they have recently renamed the graduate degrees to be Electrical and Computer Engineering.

My experience was pretty much what Acanthus stated. In that you're basically a EE, but you're specialization has courses to learn just about every aspect of the computer. So you take solid state physics, EM, programming of different levels (Assembly, VHDL, C++, JAVA), digital logic systems, analog circuits, and computer architecture. I think that most people associate it as a EE that takes programming because most of the topics are already standard EE courses and most EE's just pick up on the programming courses being the greatest difference. But it is a useful degree. A lot of CompE's go into embedded systems because they not only know the circuit aspect but also the programming. NVIDIA really likes to grab CompE's from us because of the VHDL architecture courses we take.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Born2bwire

Originally posted by: piasabird
It depends what school you go to. At U of I they have an Electrical Engineering program with emphasis on computers.

Or you can probably find a program that is more geared toward Networking and Servers, and Databses.

Some people specialize in Oracle databases or some kind of platform.

Some people also take the Microsoft Certificate courses in MSC whic is a mix of SQL, FILE SERVERS, DATABSE SERVERS, A1 Certificate, ETC. There are many different approaches. Look at your local paper or one from a large city and look at what they are looking for.

Stay away from a pure programming approach and look at a program designed more for networking and databases, with a strong emphasis on database design, etc.

Actually, UIUC has a separate Computer Engineering degree, that's what I got as my BS but they have recently renamed the graduate degrees to be Electrical and Computer Engineering.

My experience was pretty much what Acanthus stated. In that you're basically a EE, but you're specialization has courses to learn just about every aspect of the computer. So you take solid state physics, EM, programming of different levels (Assembly, VHDL, C++, JAVA), digital logic systems, analog circuits, and computer architecture. I think that most people associate it as a EE that takes programming because most of the topics are already standard EE courses and most EE's just pick up on the programming courses being the greatest difference. But it is a useful degree. A lot of CompE's go into embedded systems because they not only know the circuit aspect but also the programming. NVIDIA really likes to grab CompE's from us because of the VHDL architecture courses we take.

Didn't you just say in the other thread that a college degree was worthless?

Or do I need to check my sarcasm detector?

 

[Casawi]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Here at Purdue, CompE and EE majors are pretty much identical, set apart by I think 4 classes? CompE's 4 classes that are different are for programming, the rest of the requirements are identical.

There are significantly less job offers for CompE's than EE's.

Do CompEs take EM also?

 

[Casawi]

I guess I would conclude that this is a never ending argument, each university does it different. So double major and you own, it usually not much more if you are careful which electives to take. Your semesters can be hell, you might have an EE lab and a class and like 2 programming classes and OS... yeah just stay away from the bars that semester, or your GPA gets below 3.0 then good luck finding a job.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I can only be general because there are too many programs.

Always diversify. Some argue that getting an engineering degree with an MBA is a good move because it shows you can manage people as well as projects.

Just remember that until you get your first real job, Internships are going to be just as valuable as the degree itself. Get experience before you finish. Too many students lack experience and a degree is worthless without it.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: yassine

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Here at Purdue, CompE and EE majors are pretty much identical, set apart by I think 4 classes? CompE's 4 classes that are different are for programming, the rest of the requirements are identical.

There are significantly less job offers for CompE's than EE's.

Do CompEs take EM also?

at some schools, yes.

 

[Casawi]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
I can only be general because there are too many programs.

Always diversify. Some argue that getting an engineering degree with an MBA is a good move because it shows you can manage people as well as projects.

Just remember that until you get your first real job, Internships are going to be just as valuable as the degree itself. Get experience before you finish. Too many students lack experience and a degree is worthless without it.

Yeah, very true. Along with a GPA of at least 3.0. Getting into the real world is the hard part. I didn't have any internships or co-ops because I couldn't take a semester off due to sports, but I was lucky to get a strong reference from a professor, otherwise I didn't get a single call from the 15 or so companies I haded my resume to at the job fair, well one call. Still pretty bad ratio.