Electronic and computer engineering

[turbotongue]

Thinking about going to university to study electronic and computer engineering. Do you think this will open up the same kind and range of jobs that are available to computer science graduates? This is the course:

Edited by Guvna on Sunday 8th August 17:35

[Geoff82]

I can't say for certain whether or not it would open the same jobs, but the electronic engineering with computing is a very different degree to computer science.

A few of my mates did that particular course and I know a few others who did computer science at York - the course you are looking at is very much an electronic engineering course first and foremost with some additional programming and computing modules tacked on.

I did the Electronic and Communications MEng and the only mandatory modules on that list I didn't do was 1st year operating systems. Obviously my options were slightly different but not as much as you'd think - I still had to do 'C' and a year long Java project.

By comparison the comp sci guys did very little in the way of engineering as such and were more focussed on computer architectures and programming. Not very much in the way of maths and solid state electronics.

If anything the engineering course seemed to be a bit broader and give you more options when you graduated, but if programming was your forte you might stuggle to demonstrate you had sufficient skills and experience.

If you do choose this course, make sure you do the MEng as this means you do the Java project I mentioned as well as your 4th year project as well. The BEng guys just do a smaller project and don't cover Java.

Hope this helps.

Edited by Geoff82 on Friday 19th March 21:28

[turbotongue]

Thanks for the reply. It good to hear from somebody who did a smiler course. I have been accepted for straight electronics and I am sure that is what I want to but but when thinking about career options working in software engineering is something that really interests me so am thinking about changing to computing. How did you find York? What college would you recommend living in for the first year?

Edited by turbotongue on Friday 19th March 21:39

[Geoff82]

turbotongue said:

Thanks for the reply. It good to hear from somebody who did a smiler course. I have been accepted for straight electronics and I am sure that is what I want to but but when thinking about career options working in software engineering is something that really interests me so am thinking about changing to computing. How did you find York? What college would you recommend living in for the first year?

Edited by turbotongue on Friday 19th March 21:39

If you want to do software engineering then you definitely want to switch to the computing MEng. Depending on what type of software engineering you want to get into this could be a better option than comp sci as you'll cover control systems and the joys of the Fourier Transform and Digital Signal Processing which the York comp sci undergraduates did not.

As for York, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Lovely place, and was relatively cheap when I was last there 6 years ago, though I can't vouch for that now. Big enough to have plenty to see and do, but small enough to avoid 'big city' problems. Excellent pubs as well, I still go back occasionally to catch up with people who stayed there after graduating and it's still a cracking night out. Leeds and sheffield are very close by as well.

In terms of colleges, you don't get a choice and it makes no difference. The colleges are not like Cambridge or Oxford and are purely administrative. I think a lot of the old accomodation has now been replaced and a lot of it is now ensuite.

[john_p]

Where would you say your interest lies - pure electronics? "software+hardware" development eg embedded stuff? or software engineering and related theory?

[purplepolarbear]

I did a similar course (but not at York). In the final year you could choose options and a project and do mostly computer science or mostly electronics as your interests develop.

I did a mixture of both, and it hasn't affected my ability to get any software related jobs. If at the time you see that most jobs use Java, then make sure you do a final year project that uses a lot of Java so you can talk about it.

[Mr E]

Geoff82 said:

I can't say for certain whether or not it would open the same jobs, but the electronic engineering with computing is a very different degree to computer science.

This. Exactly this.

It is not a computer science degree. It is an engineering degree with bits of computing tossed in. You will need very solid maths, and the first couple of years focus on analogue and digital electronics (so gates, transistors, op-amps, all that good stuff).

Unless you actually want to code for a living, I'd suggest electronics on it's own makes you attractive to the HW industrym, and electronics and communications makes you attractive to the mobile telecomms industry. That being said, I'd always recommend you study what interests you most, rather than what you think will get you a job.

Collage wise, York is small enough that it doesn't really matter. I'd try to live on campus for the first year and join a decent sports club (canoe club was my particular bag) if you are so inclined.

James (York, 1998, Electronic Systems Engineering BEng (Hons))

[james_gt3rs]

Make a list of the modules that you can do at this university. Then pick your 5 favourite ones. This will tell you which side you're more interested in.

[DJC]

What are you?

Are you an engineer?
Are you a coder?
Are you a hacker?

Ask yourself those questions. You will get your answer. Or maybe you wont, I dont know. I only know this, whatever you think you are training for will not be the job you think you will be doing in 10yrs time. The industry simply isnt like that.

[CHIEF]

I'll give you a top tip here, Go into RF!

RF engineers (good uns anyway) are getting thin on the ground and this is reflected in wages.

[Mr E]

DJC said:

What are you?

Are you an engineer?
Are you a coder?
Are you a hacker?

I can answer "yes" to all three of those.

[deckster]

If you want to be a general hacker-cum-techie, do as little formal work as possible and start writing Linux device drivers.
If you want to go into corporate programming, any degree will do. Numerate if possible.
If you want to go into consultancy, any degree will do. Wear a short skirt.
If you want to go into engineering, do an engineering degree.

Engineering remains one of the few disciplines where your degree will have a direct impact on what jobs you can go into later. An engineering degree will open doors into engineering jobs, but is unlikely to close any for other jobs in IT. Becoming a chartered engineer is much more difficult (ie takes much longer) if you haven't done an accredited course as well.

[spikeyhead]

CHIEF said:

I'll give you a top tip here, Go into RF!

RF engineers (good uns anyway) are getting thin on the ground and this is reflected in wages.

No, don't, I want my salary to keep increasing