EE vs CpE Jobs: What's the Difference?

[lubuntu]

I am trying to nail down what exactly the difference in jobs are between a Electrical and Computer Engineer. I think I have a relatively good idea of what to look for in CpE since I am a bit more familiar with what kinds of work they do and know of a good website to browse representative jobs in the field, DICE.COM. I have a little more trouble figuring out what sorts of jobs are more EE style. I am not interested in working on power systems or anything more like electronics, is there maybe a site that is geared more toward the EE side of things so I can take a look at what sort of jobs are out there?

 

[kote]

I don't have a ton of experience with EE jobs outside of computer engineering. I can say that the relationship between computer engineers and electrical engineers is like the relationship between aerospace engineers and mechanical engineers. Computer engineering is a subset of EE, and EEs generally are not at any sort of disadvantage when applying to CpE jobs, depending on the actual classes taken and any research done etc.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm covers the basic spectrum of what EEs do. You might also want to check http://www.ieee.org/. Look at the open working groups and the news articles on there. EEs are doing all of that - developing wireless communication protocols, control systems for power plants or anything else, robotics for different purposes, etc.

 

[lubuntu]

Here is my thing:

1. I prefer the EE track at my school since it is more physics heavy whereas CE is more CS heavy. I'd rather work on stuff where I'd be dealing more with physics type problems than CS ones. I find CS to be a really dull field, no offense, and I definitely don't want to become some "Software Engineer" who just programs all day I'd like to actually get hands on and work with electronics.

2. EE is more nebulous to me I think if I could find a job board that listed a bunch of jobs for EE's and what sort of stuff they hire for it would help. I guess I will get a better idea of what EE's do day to day once I get more into my classes though.

3. Is the Bay Area a top spot for EE jobs or just more CE jobs? I'd really like to move out there when I graduate so this is somewhat important to me.

 

[ranger]

Here is my thing:

2. EE is more nebulous to me I think if I could find a job board that listed a bunch of jobs for EE's and what sort of stuff they hire for it would help. I guess I will get a better idea of what EE's do day to day once I get more into my classes though.

This should be obvious, but have you visited the careers section of actual companies yet?