Electrical Engineering along with Computer Science?

[Applesmack]

My school has an dual degree in Electrical Engineering and Computing technology for a total of 5 years. Basically I take a standard Electrical Engineering degree but another whole extra year is added due to the fact I will also be taking Computer Science courses.

Here to give you a perspective. If I do the computing option, these are the programming courses that will be added onto my electrical engineering degree:
ITI1120 Introduction to Computing I
ITI1121 Introduction to Computing II
CSI2101 Discrete Structures
CSI2110 Data Structures and Algorithms
CSI2120 Programming Paradigms
CSI2372 Advanced Programming Concepts with C++
CSI3120 Programming Langauge Concepts
CSI3131 Operating Systems
SEG2105 Introduction to Software Engineering
SEG2106 Software Construction
And finally the last course is an elective in a computer engineer, computer science or software engineering class third year or higher.

Do you think it is worth it to take Electrical Engineering and these CS courses and stay an extra year in university? Will it make me significantly more marketable and increase my job market? Is programming useful and used by electrical engineers?

 

[edgepflow]

I think it is totally worth it. The versatility you will have is a big plus and will offer many more career options.

 

[Floid]

It can't hurt. I am a EE and spend plenty of time programming. It is a valuable tool and used in a lot of different EE areas.

I would also say though that if you are a EE and put on your resume you can program and can demonstrate some experience in that departement I think that is sufficient for many employers.

 

[Applesmack]

well the downside as I mentioned is that I graduate 1 year later, which means I will be missing a year of experience compared to the people I started with. Also, my semesters become significantly more difficult as I have to take 6 courses instead of 5 on many semesters and my "relief" elective courses are basically replaced by these CS courses. Did you take this into account when stating it was worth it? Is CS used in control systems? That is the specialization I'm mostly interested in.

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

Is CS used in control systems? That is the specialization I'm mostly interested in.

Yes. It is. My degree is in Electrical Engineering. I have a strong background in computers (self-taught starting from my teenage days) and I am a control systems engineer.

One thing I noticed missing from that CS effort is anything to do with security systems. That is very marketable these days. It is not enough to be an engineer, you need to make your systems safe AND secure. If your C classes still teach you to use printf and scanf, tell your instructors to get some new books.

A course in embedded systems would also be a good idea.

This is just the start of a very deep, very broad career. I recommend it highly.