Computer engineering or computer science?

[nikirock021]

Hi guys. I'm a junior in high school and am debating on which field to pursue. I know it's a bit early for me but I've always wanted to go into a career with computers and just wanted some help. I'm sure similar questions have been asked before but if you would be so kind as of to answer some of my questions.
1) What is entailed in both disciplines?
2) Which one has a wider potential for growth?(i know it sounds silly but like global recognition?)
3) Which has more branches to it
4) and if you are by any chance a computer engineer or computer scientist how would you describe your work?

 

[Dr Transport]

If you want to just write programs and software, computer science. Computer engineering deals more with the interaction between hardware and software.

 

[Jaeusm]

Hi guys. I'm a junior in high school and am debating on which field to pursue. I know it's a bit early for me but I've always wanted to go into a career with computers and just wanted some help. I'm sure similar questions have been asked before but if you would be so kind as of to answer some of my questions.
1) What is entailed in both disciplines?
2) Which one has a wider potential for growth?(i know it sounds silly but like global recognition?)
3) Which has more branches to it
4) and if you are by any chance a computer engineer or computer scientist how would you describe your work?

1. You can think of computer engineering as half computer science and half electrical engineering.
2. Computer engineering will prepare you for the same industry jobs as computer science, which are largely software engineering positions. Computer engineering could possibly open a few more doors if you're more interested in hardware.
3. They both are very broad.
4. I work as a software engineer. I have designed, developed, and maintained an IDE for a proprietary language and platform for the last ten years.

 

[Bake]

As someone who recently entered college and is now majoring in Computer Engineering, I don't know what else could be stated that Jaeusm hasn't stated already.
My college Computer Engineering program is literally half of the Computer Science classes combined with half of the Electrical Engineering classes. If you're more interested in the programming aspect of computers, or prefer more theoretical work than hands on experimental hardware related stuff, I'd recommend Computer Science. If you're interested in the hardware, the electrical and circuitry aspects, more tinkering and well, engineering, and don't mind a bit more physics, go Comp E.

 

[nikirock021]

If you want to just write programs and software, computer science. Computer engineering deals more with the interaction between hardware and software.

Thank you so much for your reply

 

[nikirock021]

As someone who recently entered college and is now majoring in Computer Engineering, I don't know what else could be stated that Jaeusm hasn't stated already.
My college Computer Engineering program is literally half of the Computer Science classes combined with half of the Electrical Engineering classes. If you're more interested in the programming aspect of computers, or prefer more theoretical work than hands on experimental hardware related stuff, I'd recommend Computer Science. If you're interested in the hardware, the electrical and circuitry aspects, more tinkering and well, engineering, and don't mind a bit more physics, go Comp E.

Thank you bake for your reply, so just another quick question for you; what made you decide computer engineering was the major for u. I understand that this is personal and u may not want to answer but thanks anyway

 

[nikirock021]

1. You can think of computer engineering as half computer science and half electrical engineering.
2. Computer engineering will prepare you for the same industry jobs as computer science, which are largely software engineering positions. Computer engineering could possibly open a few more doors if you're more interested in hardware.
3. They both are very broad.
4. I work as a software engineer. I have designed, developed, and maintained an IDE for a proprietary language and platform for the last ten years.

Thank you Jaeusm for ur detailed answer this really helped

 

[Bake]

Thank you bake for your reply, so just another quick question for you; what made you decide computer engineering was the major for u. I understand that this is personal and u may not want to answer but thanks anyway

I chose Computer Engineering because I've always been interested in Computers, Physics and Mathematics. Computer Engineering is a combination of those things. I always thought electricity was cool, so that's also a huge bonus since, like I stated previously, Comp E is Electrical Engineering combined with Computer Science. I took Comp E over CompSci because I didn't want to spend all my time coding, or most of it for that matter. I wanted to work more on the hardware side of things. I really enjoy Artificial Intelligence, and at my school there are various projects to create helpful robots and all sorts of cool gadgets. It's the feeling of creating something that awesome what made me pick Computer Engineering.