Should Systems Engineers Worry About C++ Coding Skills?

[JesseJC]

Hello, so I'm going into my second year of engineering and everything is swell. I plan to choose the systems option when it comes to that time. There's only one thing that has been giving me trouble, and it is the introductory c++ course, I cannot, for the life of me, code. I can't really stand to do it either, I find it mind numbing, dull, and difficult. How important is this? I've heard that some engineers code a lot but other engineers do not; I'm not looking to become a software or computer engineer, so if I'm bad at coding, should I worry about my future as an engineer? This is the first course that I've taken where I'm fairly certain I will fail.

 

[.Scott]

The only engineers that really need to code in C or C++ are software engineers. However, many engineers have their own software tools for modelling the systems they are working with - and many of those are, in fact, coding. For example, MATLAB is probably used by more other engineers that software engineers - and it is coding. For that matter, skilled use of Excel spreadsheets often taps the same detailed-oriented, patient, self-involved analysis needed to get software working.
Also, C++ provides a structure for encapsulated designs - a concept that can be applied broadly to many engineering disciplines, especially systems engineering.
Finally, advantages to learning when you are young (which, perhaps you are) is that in some ways you are more trainable and anything you do get from the C++ course, will be available to you for life. Chalking up just a couple of small successes in your C++ course could go a long ways in your ability to tolerate "mind numbing" analysis.

So my answer:
---> Systems engineers absolutely require some knowledge of certain C++ concepts;
---> They don't need to know how to code is C++; and
---> Give the coding a serious shot, because the mental discipline can have career advantages.