What to Do About College?

[busydude]

Hit the nail squarely on the head....lol Everything is pretty much done in software now.

Yup. Coding did make my life a lot easier.

 

[CanOWorms]

Most people worth anything do not sit in a cube 8 hours a day. There are tons of meetings, client visits, etc. If you want to do even more interaction with people, then apply for a position in Applications Engineering or Technical Marketing. You still need a technical background, but those positions are more social.

 

[xalos]

I mean experience working with people. And yes, obviously the money.

I would definitely look into an internship. Thanks for the advice.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about them caring about that. You're not going to get the type of
teamwork experience that you need by working at CompUSA. You need the type of experience where the whole freaking project is going to fail because someone or everyone isn't pulling their weight and how to deal with that situation.

If you're going to go into sales, I won't really argue with your logic there. I would argue that you would be better served by working at Best Buy or something where they teach you to sell things. I think college students should work at their college whenever possible. Sure, the wages are at the minimum. But, where else can you sit and do your homework while you work?

 

[CountZero]

Most people worth anything do not sit in a cube 8 hours a day. There are tons of meetings, client visits, etc. If you want to do even more interaction with people, then apply for a position in Applications Engineering or Technical Marketing. You still need a technical background, but those positions are more social.

This is good advice. For example if you are interested in VLSI you can work as an AE for Synopsys or Cadence and your job will be working with various companies and engineers are their problems with your tools. You travel and work with a variety of people.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

the only thing compUsa experience is going to be good for is working retail the rest of your life.

studying computer science... you should be picturing yourself creating the products the college dropouts are selling at compusa.

college can be some of the most productive time of your life. do research, start a pet project. you have more free time now than you will once you are working 9-5.

if you see getting an education as wasting your time, you probably dont belong in school in the first place.

based on your interests, sounds like you should be doing EE or some type of computer engineering discipline instead of CS.

 

[FoBoT]

not everybody has to go to 'college'
either get a job or go to http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=zuccotti+park+nyc&hl=en&cid=5460553027199764388

 

[Gibson486]

EEs need to know calculus. To do the hardware stuff that pays a lot, you need to know Fourier and how to solve 2nd order questions. If you think they pay you the big bucks to just layout a PCB, you are wrong.

That said, even hardware people have to code. EEs are now being pushed to DSP and micro controller stuff. That is mostly coding now. There is really a small market for just hardware and they want you know the the software as well. Trust me on this. I am an EE and I had your attitude when I graduated. I am jobless now because I went into controls in the process industry and hated it. To get a strictly hardware job, you need be at the top of your class or from a masters from MIT.

If you love interacting with people, you should think about going into consulting. It's the business side of engineering, but you have to deal with a lot of BS as well.

 

[CountZero]

EEs need to know calculas. To do the hardware stuff that pays alot, you need to know Fourier and how to solve 2nd order questions. If you think they pay you thie big bucks ot just layout a PCB, you are wrong.

That said, even hardware people have to code. EEs are now being pushed to DSP stuff. That is mostly coding now. There is really a small market for just hardware and they want you know the the software as well. Trust me on this. I am an EE and I had your attitude when I graduated. I am jobless now because I went into controls in the process industry and hated it. To get a strictly hardware job, you need be at the top of your class or from a masters from MIT.

If you love interacting with people, you should think about going into consulting. It's the business side of engineering, but you have to deal with a lot of BS as well.

Eh, I wouldn't agree with this.

Plenty of jobs don't need to ever apply fourier directly. All of the math you need for EE is really so that you develop a gut level understanding of how things work. The only aspects that require more rigorous math constantly are DSP and controls. Even analog IC design, which is inherently math heavy, is still mostly served by a deep understanding of how things work so that you can feel confident the simulation makes sense and that you can make design decisions without having to simulate everything up front.

Furthermore I assure you that folks laying out PCB that can route 10GHz signals between chips with hundreds of signals are getting paid well.

When I said EEs code I didn't mean they write DSP stuff. I mean they code something. You might write spice, verilog, tcl to work with a tool, perl to generate reports, a modified version of LISP to work with another tool, etc.

You don't have to be top of your class to work on hardware but you better have great intuition of the fundamentals. The best folks I have worked with don't necessarily remember every math trick out there what they have is intuition that guides how things should work.

My background comes from VLSI so maybe the rest of EE is vastly different.

 

[Gibson486]

Eh, I wouldn't agree with this.

Plenty of jobs don't need to ever apply fourier directly. All of the math you need for EE is really so that you develop a gut level understanding of how things work. The only aspects that require more rigorous math constantly are DSP and controls. Even analog IC design, which is inherently math heavy, is still mostly served by a deep understanding of how things work so that you can feel confident the simulation makes sense and that you can make design decisions without having to simulate everything up front.

Furthermore I assure you that folks laying out PCB that can route 10GHz signals between chips with hundreds of signals are getting paid well.

When I said EEs code I didn't mean they write DSP stuff. I mean they code something. You might write spice, verilog, tcl to work with a tool, perl to generate reports, a modified version of LISP to work with another tool, etc.

You don't have to be top of your class to work on hardware but you better have great intuition of the fundamentals. The best folks I have worked with don't necessarily remember every math trick out there what they have is intuition that guides how things should work.

My background comes from VLSI so maybe the rest of EE is vastly different.

I would love to see people who just do PCB layouts. All the ones that I see doing only have 2 year degrees. Other companies expect their engineers to do it themselves (the mixed signal people), but no company is going to pay a guy over 60k to just layout PCBs.

Also, there is more to life than DSP, but that is the hot hand at the moment. I certainly did not mean it's gonna be a DSP and that is all. In the end, it's all coding and you are going to have sit in a cube and do it.

Maybe it has to do with location. I am in MA, and whenever I had a strict hardware job interview (like IC analog design), the first questions are...

1. What college did you come from?

2. Is your GPA over a 3.5?

 

[Ricemarine]

EEs need to know calculus. To do the hardware stuff that pays a lot, you need to know Fourier and how to solve 2nd order questions. If you think they pay you the big bucks to just layout a PCB, you are wrong.

That said, even hardware people have to code. EEs are now being pushed to DSP and micro controller stuff. That is mostly coding now. There is really a small market for just hardware and they want you know the the software as well. Trust me on this. I am an EE and I had your attitude when I graduated. I am jobless now because I went into controls in the process industry and hated it. To get a strictly hardware job, you need be at the top of your class or from a masters from MIT.

If you love interacting with people, you should think about going into consulting. It's the business side of engineering, but you have to deal with a lot of BS as well.

I have to partially agree with this statement. Digital is taking over, and analog is dying, but there are still other fields available besides DSP and embedded systems. Power, VLSI, and biomed devices are also pretty hot right now. If I had to give my opinion on the biggest two concentrations coming out of EE right now though, it'd be in power and embedded systems.

To add on about the different kinds of coding done (but not limited to):
Processor development: Verilog/VHDL
DSP: MATLAB/Octave
Embedded systems: C/C++

 

[ichy]

I was going to say, it seems like most electrical engineers spend their days programming FPGAs nowadays. If you want to actually build stuff go into civil or mechanical engineering. Also, CS doesn't necessarily mean you're writing code all day. A smart CS major has all kinds of options.

Edit: I don't think too many guys with just a bachelors are doing VLSI. Actually designing modern ICs is crazy complicated, hence the popularity of FPGAs. Much easier to program stuff than to do custom designed hardware.

Ugh, just thinking about this stuff makes me depressed. I wish I'd become a tugboat captain, engineering sucks balls.

 

[Born2bwire]

i congradulate you on fulfilling every puerto rican's lifelong ambition of becoming a porter.

that is why you're going to janitor college, right?

Well, I was going to point out that it's absolutely no surprise to me that the OP is a teenager that only has a retail job BUT.... :awe:

 

[punjabiplaya]

Most people worth anything do not sit in a cube 8 hours a day. There are tons of meetings, client visits, etc. If you want to do even more interaction with people, then apply for a position in Applications Engineering or Technical Marketing. You still need a technical background, but those positions are more social.

:thumbsup:

Or biomedical applications. Work in hospitals or labs if you like that environment (which I love).

 

[piasabird]

Every degree has requirements for things like Math, Engl, Acctg, Psych, speech, phil, soci, Usually one or two Science one with a lab.

As far as Computer Science is concerned maybe you would be happier with networking. Not much of a call for American Programmer these days.

 

[timosyy]

InfoSec/Risk Analysis... or look into Infrastructure stuff (SysAdmin?).

For those you'd probably want to find whatever major is your school's "MIS" (read: IT) major.

 

[Texashiker]

Get a job on an offshore drilling rig and make some real money.

 

[chusteczka]

All this teenage angst is too much for me. Do not focus on the end result. Rather, take the classes that interest you. So long as they are engineering classes, you will graduate as an engineer. Then your expertise will be in the classes you enjoyed the most.

Also, do not worry about the General Ed. classes they make you take. Those are some of the best and unexpected experiences that will be more enjoyable than you realize.

EDIT:
There is an interface layer in hardware where the hardware design ends and the programming starts. If you take hardware classes, you could always work on the hardware design side of the interface. That is a fascinating area to work in.

 

[chipy]

My advice? Stop thinking about a job/career as something that will fulfill you. If work was so great they would call it 'fun' and not work. But seriously, most people don't love their jobs.. its something they do so that they can afford to do the things they do love. Very few people actually get paid for something they love to do or really enjoy doing.

I have a 4 year degree and I also agree that some of the general courses are difficult to plod through. I think what it does give you is a broader experience that you can apply to your life/career overall. By the time I was a senior in college I wanted nothing more than to just get the hell out and start earning some money. In the end though, I think its worth it to stick it out. The degree will definitely help open some doors and give you a higher income so you can afford to do things you do enjoy on your time off.

it all depends on the person (case by case scenario), but i completely agree with FNE. but that's just me. looking back on it all, i think i would have gotten a degree in something that would have helped me make more money (not that i don't make a decent living now) than concentrate so much on what i want to do.

but like i said, it depends on you. some people like myself are flexible and others are intent on doing a particular job or working in a specific industry. i don't hate my job but it's not all fun and games... and sometimes it downright stressful. i just wish i made more money so i could enjoy my time outside of work (travel, different hobbies). yup, FNE hit the nail on the head.

 

[James3shin]

Disregard

 

[Via]

Just make sure your cover letter doesn't start with "I'm currently on college..."

 

[PhaZe]

Work for Microchip, their field engineers come out every other day it seems to work with a boatload of different teams at my work since we use a ton of their chips in many different products.

 

[DanDaManJC]

Most people worth anything do not sit in a cube 8 hours a day. There are tons of meetings, client visits, etc. If you want to do even more interaction with people, then apply for a position in Applications Engineering or Technical Marketing. You still need a technical background, but those positions are more social.

Absolutely this.

With that CS degree you can and will get a job as an entry level programmer. You'll be working in a team. You (should) be interacting with your customers on a daily basis to make sure you're meeting their requirements. You most certainly won't just be sitting at a cube staring at the pc all day.

You can easily work your way into another position from the entry level developer. Some kind of "product engineer" -- the guy who sits with the clients and figures out requirements. Still need the technical skills, but your primary focus will be requirements gathering rather than coding. Or choose a path into management... working your way up from entry level coding you'll always have to get your hands dirty with some coding, but there are definitely positions out there that are much more social.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Here is an idea, Software Quality Assurance aka Software Testing. Sounds like you don't want to be a code monkey the rest of your life, but enjoy it to some degree. Software Test Engineers are ultimately responsible for the quality of the end product.

As for how your coding skills would come into play for a tester, the majority of it will be writing automation wrappers for test tools, simple web front ends so upper management can make those pretty graphs, reports, and pie charts they so love. Knowing some coding helps interface with the Dev's who wrote the code you are testing and filing more complete bug reports against the code owner.

When I started out at Microsoft in testing, I knew zero coding basically. After seeing the opportunities that exist for testing that have some coding knowledge convinced me to dig in. Plus, there was no shortage of uber sharp devs at MSFT to help, lots of great people there.

Obviously there is way more to it than that but have you considered Software Testing? I did so at Microsoft for over 10 years. The only reason I am still not there is due to an injury on the job.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks a lot. It's the first time I've ever heard of it, actually, but it sounds like a great idea that I can get involved in. How do you apply or get into this?

Hit the nail squarely on the head....lol Everything is pretty much done in software now.

I guess I'll just have to live with it. At least I get to have a lot more knowledge about hardware and electronics if I go with CE, and I wouldn't have to code as much. Calculus is a HUGE part of it, the most important one, so all I can hope for is I end up liking it. I've taken Pre-calc and I didn't have much in the way of problems, but Calculus seems like a very hard subject from what I've seen.

In any case, I'm gonna transfer to the other university I was thinking of because they'll accept all my credit-hours and even if I choose to stay with CS their program is better and they have more internships.

 

[guyver01]

Calculus seems like a very hard subject from what I've seen.

Calculus is really easy. In fact.. if you're going to College, you've taken the basics of calculus in high school algebra.

Diff-Eq and Discrete Structures... now those are bitch subjects.

 

[CountZero]

Thanks a lot. It's the first time I've ever heard of it, actually, but it sounds like a great idea that I can get involved in. How do you apply or get into this?



I guess I'll just have to live with it. At least I get to have a lot more knowledge about hardware and electronics if I go with CE, and I wouldn't have to code as much. Calculus is a HUGE part of it, the most important one, so all I can hope for is I end up liking it. I've taken Pre-calc and I didn't have much in the way of problems, but Calculus seems like a very hard subject from what I've seen.

In any case, I'm gonna transfer to the other university I was thinking of because they'll accept all my credit-hours and even if I choose to stay with CS their program is better and they have more internships.

Make sure you check out the CE program you are thinking of going into. Some are little more than CS with a couple basic EE classes and others are EE with a couple basic CS classes and depending on what you hope to get from it the program at a particular college might not suit you. Also because CE bridges essentially two majors it frequently has even less room for elective courses (meaning if it is CS plus a little EE there is little room to take more EE classes if you want). This isn't a universal truth but check it out before you commit.

Also if you have any intuition with math Calculus is very easy. If you find math befuddling though calculus will seem like black magic. You can do it but it will require effort.