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/sci/ - Science & Math

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6231764 No.6231764 [Reply] [Original]

Computer Science vs Computer Systems Engineering major

Which is best?

>> No.6231770

Largely depends on what you want to do. Computer engineering is a healthy combination of digital electronics and embedded software engineering. The "jack of all trades but master of none" argument applies here. It can be difficult at times for that reason to find solid work. Companies looking for a hardware guy want an EE. Companies looking for a software guy want a CS grad. I've literally up-talked every computer engineering major in my graduating class to help them get solid work because of this.

Computer Science is far more theoretical at times, and more interdisciplinary imo. You will get the full exposure of programming and software engineering from all fronts. You will get a basic scope of computer hardware, architecture, and design, but not to the extent a computer engineering gets. Expect a lot of math. You'll be doing basic overviews of essentially any math that deal with enumerable collections and quantities. This includes the proofs that go along with it. By extension, computability, complexity, automata, and formal methods are also studied thoroughly. The logic learned in CS goes beyond the scope of mathematics, I should add as well, especially when discussing things like expressive completeness, invariant semantics, entailment, and the like. The best way to describe it: CS is very a much a science trying to be more engineering oriented.

>> No.6231778

>>6231770
I'm a CS major atm in the middle of my Sophomore year but I've been getting more interested in microcontrollers and FPGAs recently just for creating my own projects at home for fun so I've just started wondering. Not sure if I'd want to fully switch over though based on a whim

So CS is the best bet if I don't want to do full on EE? How hard is it to even find a job with a CS degree and a moderate amount of programming projects in my personal portfolio? Do you know if it's easier in the US or England?

Thanks for the reply.

>> No.6231793

>>6231778
I honestly don't know how the market is in England, but here's what I can tell you about the US:

Programmers are in high demand, and pretty much any company outside of web or mobile app development expects you to have a degree in CS to get your foot in the door. Still, computer engineers that prove their coding abilities are still equally employable, especially in embedded systems. Having a portfolio of projects significantly improves your status when trying to get work. EE guys who can prove they know how to program is also a big help.

In the States, there's a big stigma that if you don't have a CS degree, you can't program. You can't really blame them either. Everybody who's been to w3c schools seems to think they are God's gift to programming and apply for jobs they are nowhere near qualified for. As a result the over saturated market of the under qualified but high demand of programmers has a made it more difficult for those truly qualified to pierce the employment veil.

>> No.6231800

>>6231793
Awesome thanks for the info. So many conflicting sources on the internet, everything from "You will be unemployed for 5 years then end up working at Geek squad" to "You will have 10 job offers before you graduate"

>> No.6231805

>>6231800
I guess I didn't answer your other question. Really because I don't know for sure. I think I'm making this whole thing sound worse than it is. Being in CS, CE or EE is all equally very good positions to be in. You won't have to worry about getting a job. It's more like you're fighting for that one single job other skilled people are trying to get. You will definitely get job offers regardless, don't worry about that, just make yourself known to potential employers.

>> No.6231809

>>6231805
Well that sounds good to me

I'm not in it for the money anyway but if I end up making a good amount that's great. I just want enough for me and my girlfriend to not starve in the future so I think I'm in luck

>> No.6231809,1 [INTERNAL] 

You should read about it. Try to find some friends who work there and ask them about salaries and work conditions. As for me, computer science is more perspective and there are a lot of places to get hired.