Comparing EE & CS: Which Major is Right for You?

[avant-garde]

Hi, I am torn between these two majors that I will absolutely love. Here are the basics:

CS: I think that I would enjoy programming (although at this point, all I really know is a little java), and I like solving puzzles. However, I think that CS might be a little too theoretical for me; also, from what I heard, once you major in CS, you can't really go into other fields of engineering, so career prospects and protection from layoffs are limited.

EE: From what I heard, this field is very varied (EE can work for aerospace, biomedical companies, IT, energy, etc...), so you will always have a 'job', and can easily find your 'niche'. However, I have also heard that EE is one of the hardest majors.

Here are some questions I have:
Which field requires more intellectual rigor and more work?
Which field pays the most?
Which field has the brightest future?
Also, which one will open up better opportunities for entrepreneurship?



Thanks.

 

[symbolipoint]

Avant-garde discusses his choice between CS and EE and asks:

Here are some questions I have:
Which field requires more intellectual rigor and more work?
Which field pays the most?
Which field has the brightest future?
Also, which one will open up better opportunities for entrepreneurship?

I have only a few general comments for you, you very lucky and motivated student:

Which is more rigorous? Rigor is good! You may be more satisfied with practical knowledge and skills from "EE". (only my guess).

Which pays more? Not important. Choose the field which you can perform the best. If you can become an engineer and develop excellent programming skill ,... but isn't that what most engineering companies would expect?

Field with brightest future? This goes back to skills, knowledge, and rigor. Probably anything you choose in Engineering is good. You should also include whatever CS courses make you feel satisfied. Wow! What we could do if we had the opportunity to do things over again! ---- Seriously, as if you were an engineer, who would write the software programs which you would want to use for your job? OOHh, you say you would not have time to write them? Then who would write them for you, and how good would they be for what you want done? Buy from a software company which has something predesigned or custom designs?... What other complications does this present? Is the program too expensive for your company? Does the program have all the features you want and not too many extra features which you do not want?

What I'm suggesting is choose EE major and take whatever CS courses make you feel satisfied with the resulting topics and skills.

 

[Luke1294]

For what it's worth, I'm a junior EE and I've learned to program in C, C++, Assembly for an 8051, VHDL, Java, Visual Basic, Matlab, and LISP. Trust me, there's a lot of programming in an EE curriculum.

 

[ytoruno]

How bout computer engineering, its a bridge between both worlds.