EE student thinking about changing major

[SuperMiguel]

So i stared as Comp Sci major about 3 year ago, very quickly changed to EE since i got interested in robotics and stuff like that. Since then i been playing with electronics, doing a lot of robotics work and i really like it... and i think its a hobbie that matches with me 100%. But now that I am taking more into clases of EE I am feeling bored of my career like its to much theory and not a lot of doing which is the part i like... So I am thinking to go back to comp sci or comp eng

 

[SuperMiguel]

i changed from comp sci because i didnt want to have a job that i would be programming 8h a day.. but then there are not many jobs as EE so i rather have a job :) and i don't mind programming 8h anymore =)

 

[SuperMiguel]

any comments?

 

[SuperMiguel]

should i go for comp sci or comp eng?

 

[Integral]

You will have a much greater chance of getting your hands dirty with a EE then a comp sci degree. If a EE degree is too much theory and you really want to work with hardware then get a mechatronics degree. That will get you a good job with lots of opportunity to make good money.

 

[SuperMiguel]

ya EE is to much theory

 

[SuperMiguel]

which major is easier? CS or CE?

 

[SuperMiguel]

which major is easier? CS or CE?

bump

 

[nlsherrill]

which major is easier? CS or CE?

Which one do you find more interesting? Maybe that's the question you should be asking. Or is all you care about the easiest route to 60k a year?

How in the world could we answer that question anyway? We have no idea what school you are at, so we cannot compare programs. CS, CE, and EE are probably the closest majors that I know off in terms of engineering, and I consider CS engineering. I doubt either major is "easy" by comparison to 90% of the majors at all schools, by the way.

 

[SuperMiguel]

im at USF, university of South Florida

 

[SuperMiguel]

so i pulled the undergrad catalog (http://www.ugs.usf.edu/pdf/cat1112/15engin.pdf) and here are the differences between CS and CE:

CS: 120 total credits
Deparment upper-level Elective (CSE theory elective)
Deparment upper-level Elective (CSE elective)
Deparment upper-level Elective (CSE elective)
Deparment upper-level Elective (CSE elective)
Deparment upper-level Elective (CSE elective)

CE: 128 total credits
Electronics Materials
Electrical Systems I
Computer System Design
Computer System Design Lab
CMOS-VLSI Design
CMOS-VLSI Design Lab
Computer Science Project
Deparment upper-level Elective (CSE Hardware elective)

 

[SophusLies]

which major is easier? CS or CE?

I would say that CS is applied logic and CE is applied physics and applied logic. The CS kids I knew were mostly the math types. The CE types were from a wider range, some were technology driven, some math driven, some physics driven. Rarely, did I meet a CS kid that liked physics.

With this said, the difficulty of each major depends on your interests and what you're good at too.

Why do you think EE has too much theory? I remember a lot of EE/CE kids lived in the lab 7 days a week working on projects. I would be very surprised if an EE/CE curriculum was strictly theory.

 

[niehaoma]

@SuperMiguel,

I think you are in the midst of realizing the transition from idealizing a hobby to discovering the real world, at least to date via your EE classes. For instance, I know many an avid avionics/aerospace enthusiast that entered an Aerospace engineering program due to their love of "flying". Just because one might enjoy being a pilot, doesn't mean they want to study thermal and fluid dynamics. If at the end of the day you just want to tinker and build things, perhaps all you need to pursue is that of an Electrical Technician, of which you do not need a 4 year degree. If instead, you want to "truly" attempt to understand your discipline, and with that understanding, analyze/build/design/consult, etc, then you should pursue the EE degree, and accept that nothing is easy. The theory is there for a reason. Instead ask yourself, "What will I know, what will I be capable of WITHOUT the theory?" Just my opinion, as I have a B.S. in Comp Engineering and I am currently pursuing an M.S. in EE.

 

[SuperMiguel]

another thing is that i got few friends that graduated from USF with an EE degree and they don't even know how to turn an LED on/off with an arduino board... the program is really bad in my opinion with only one programming class (matlab) and 1 microcontrollers class.. Thats another reason i want to change...

 

[DrummingAtom]

one of the biggest problems i face is that i got few friends that graduated from USF with an EE degree and they don't even know how to turn an LED on/off with an arduino board... the program is really bad in my opinion with only one programming class (matlab) and 1 microcontrollers class.. Thats another reason i want to change...

I know how to do that and I'm only a sophomore in my EE program but that's because I learned it on my own. It doesn't mean your program is bad, it could mean that your friends didn't put in the time to learn anything except pass tests. There's a mix of people in my program, the ones that have been soldering since 5 and the ones that heard getting an EE degree will get you a job.

If you want to learn more programming than what's in EE, learn it on your own; no one is stopping you.

 

[SuperMiguel]

I think ima go for CE

 

[hrstar24]

I am about to graduate with an EE major, and I can fully understand what you mean with too much theory. It is just something you have to get through for school, but once you graduate you will be doing a whole lot more than simply rehashing Maxwell's Equations and Kirchoff's laws. Your Senior Design class is the closest you get in school to experience what its like working as an EE, and it is full of applications. If you are worried about too much theory, I would not go into CS.

 

[cmos]

It's superfluous to switch from EE to CE (and even worse EE to CS) if your reasoning is that EE is too much theory. All engineering curricula are, in your words, "theoretical." The reason is that you need to learn the fundamentals so that, when you are in industry, you have strong intuition with what you are doing. If you just want to build things and tinker with parts right now, then you should be looking for an Engineering Technology program.