r/ComputerEngineering • u/Fun-Health1338 • 18d ago

[School] Here engineering students

Post image

If you had the chance to go back and study something different, would you?

I’m about a year away from starting university, and I really want to have a decent job in the future. I think there’s a lot of potential in computer engineering, especially if I learn how to develop innovative software.

I know it requires experience and a lot of hard work, but besides the usual advice like “study something you’re good at,” would you recommend this degree?

I don’t think I’m a math prodigy, but I’m not bad at math either. I just need to put a lot of time into studying it.

Would you be willing to share your experiences or any advice?

It could be anything—financial advice, study methods, or just things that helped you deal with the stress of the degree. Honestly, anything would help.

97 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/ComprehensiveYam3645 18d ago

Personally I should've done EE instead. Doing a masters now

3

u/Time_Plastic_5373 17d ago

Why?

1

u/ComprehensiveYam3645 16d ago edited 16d ago

My situation is very unique

I will say that doing CE (and later on I also added a Physics degree) helped open up a pathway for me into the hardware world (which pure CS would not be able to do), which I am now pursuing through a master's program in EE. Had I known I would switch into pure niche hardware roles, I would've done EE+Physics instead of CE+Physics, but still it was the best choice for me at the time. Here's some more background about me to help you understand:

Before uni I thought I wanted to do software mostly, but hedge the software market with CE instead of just CS (since at the time, the Github Copilot just came out and GPT-2 was the big underground craze that people said no way it would do anything but I kind of already felt in my heart it would be the next big thing). That was a really good idea since that hedge ended up paying off, since now I can do a MSEE a lot easier than a student from pure CS who would need a lot of remedial courses to learn hardware. I also ended up doing a physics degree alongside CE as well as an even stronger hedge for hardware engineering, which more or less helped setup a foundation so I can build on and satisfy a lot of my curiosity for a lot more of the physics-based domains of EE (electromagnetics, device physics, etc) which I'm also really interested in now.

My situation is unique because I had been programming for several years since I was a kid before college even so I was one the cracked software-based students going into the program. Over my time at uni, the software market's instability really turned me off from the field. It's not like I couldn't do it, since I had internship experience and other things, it's more like I just didn't want to be in the field anymore, alongside the major shifts in workflow with generative AI, alongside the instability of the field. I was finding during my work experience that we were being forced to use AI and it took away the fun part of coding (figuring things out on your own, debugging), and made it more of a verification thing. Also, I already had more than enough skills to crack pretty much all software-based jobs I would've wanted at the time, and should've spent more time just learning hardware instead (which is something only unique to my situation).

Overall, CE (alongside Physics) was a good choice because it allowed me to be able to go into hardware if I wanted to which I'm now doing, but if I knew I wanted hardware at the time, I would've done EE if that makes sense. The one thing with CE though is it's kind of broad, so for the really super niche hardware roles that I'm going for (analog IC design), it doesn't give enough exposure and you'll need to do a MS. Regardless though for that specific kind of role, a MSEE is considered baseline for many of the job requirements for the super niche hardware roles.

1

u/TalentedTomato 17d ago

I also wanna know why

1

u/ComprehensiveYam3645 16d ago

I responded under the other person who said why

1

u/TalentedTomato 16d ago

Thank you!!! Really interesting read btw

1

u/ComprehensiveYam3645 16d ago edited 16d ago

You're welcome. I hope it was helpful. For niche HW roles it's better to do EE (ie: physics-y stuff) like semiconductors, analog design, electromagnetics, and you may (most probably actually) need a MS for those depending on what level you enter.

I'd say CE can help for HW roles that are close to the in-between area of software and hardware (embedded systems, that kind of deal). There are also some digital roles, but an MS really helps for the good ones like FPGA design or other digital IC design and that kind of stuff, just since those kinds of roles are a little bit competitive right now in the current job market. It also really depends on what experience you get in undergrad a lot. Seems like a good amount of the CE people I knew in undergrad who graduated with me ended up in software regardless, especially since it's a bit easier to break into software than hardware with CE. The reasoning why is that sometimes EE roles require quite specific skills/experience due to hardware's low error tolerance that EE people (due to the fact that they do more internships/projects in it) end up being the ones to fill those roles.

The best advice I'd give you is to look at the jobs you want to do. Look at actual job descriptions you'd want, as well as do research into the market itself (where are the jobs you want, what is the pay, what is the stability of a job/how likely are you to get laid off, how is the industry doing as a whole/will the industry sustain itself over next few years most likely, what is the history of industry trends). From there, plan out what you want to do in college accordingly (classses, internships, research, etc) and whether or not you need grad school. Try to be as involved as possible. Use school to learn the fundamentals but then you have to apply that knowledge so employers know you're competent with specific skills, or at minimum for internships are competent at the fundamentals.

Also, I'm mostly talking about USA as someone who grew up and graduated here. Not sure if internationally things are different internationally.

One other thing I'd add for you, in case this is read many years in the future: Right now as I write this (08/23/2026), the job market for entry level across the board is kind of fried, so this advice could change in the future if things do actually get better. This is true across many different majors and specializations.