We talked about this on a different thread, but basically if your school's accredited it's more or less covering the same material as every other accredited school. .Wisey said:
I'm a senior in compE, but the professor for my integrated circuits class was working as a compE. The work is all circuit design, either on a transistor level or a gate level. There's also lots of programming work out there, but the work is all applied. I've had vector calculus show up in a handful of courses, nothing in the upper levels. Even the theory stuff is mostly programming hardware to do very shiny things. There's some semi-conductor research, but you can get into it with a physics major too.seanbow said:
I wasn't crazy about my intro circuits course, so everything else was like pulling teeth. Almost all the other courses build on intro circuits-it's more of that but with a focus on digital signals/digital electronics.
russ_watters said:
Depends on the school. At mine, every engineer takes about 5 courses from the math department as a requirement, and then the major courses teach tons of math. EE's end up with loads of functional analysis, but ME's do tons of differential equations. They're equally hard in different ways.TyErd said:
What country are you in? Generally I think staying an extra year in high school is a bad idea 'cause you should be able/are required to take the math in college (where it's usually 3 or 4 courses), but your country could do it differently.
I don't think that's the greatest idea 'cause compE is a totally different playing field, but you'll sort that out as you go along, or you'll switch into a physics major (if you can.) Learn whatever you want in your free time, as you still have that luxury.
Find other resources for the material. It could just be that the way the material is being presented to you doesn't work for you.
TyErd said:
Since I'm in computer engineering, I've taken a lot of the math needed for signal processing (so fourier, laplace, and Z transforms), a decent amount of statistics/probability/combinatorics and some vector calculus. My school makes all the engineers take 3 semesters of calculus, differential equations, and vector calculus. Like I mentioned in my previous post, my friends in mechanical engineering do a lot of differential equations because almost everything they study reduces down to diff EQ's. I don't think differential equations (it's kind of like algebra with integrals and derivatives thrown in) are all that difficult, but it depends on the person and it's a bit of a practice makes perfect type of deal.TyErd said:
That's true almost everywhere. Engineering at my school has one of the highest freshman enrollment rates and one of the lowest graduation rates. A lot of the people who drop out were totally unprepared for the major in the first place and couldn't hack calculus. Most of the people I know who drop after the calculus sequence are done in by the crazy weed course that seems to exist just to get engineers used to getting Cs or teaching themselves upper level coursework to get As.
Architecture.JYouker said:
No, but it's a bonus. You can get out of a comp sci program just fine if you know which solution to use for which problem.
You apply for jobs in those sectors, maybe pad your resume with related coursework. If you want to do really shiny stuff, you get a phd in the specific field and take some comp coursework/learn to code. Nobody sticks a gun to your head and says you have to code business apps.
Same as above, you apply for those jobs. The entry level stuff probably will be boring anyways-it almost always is 'cause you're probably still not good enough to do something really shiny well-but stick it through and eventually you'll have enough experience that you may be able to get hired for the shinier jobs. A PhD may also help get you into research jobs. Just remember that knowing how to design a good doorknob (that thing that most of the planet uses in one form or another) is just as important, in its own way, as coming up with the latest new gizmo.
I am well over twice your age and still love playing with Lego (mostly with my daughter these days). I would say that lego is a good way to build mechanical intuition.familysimpson said:
familysimpson said:
So you go up to the guy who knows how to use the lathe and ask him to teach you and bug him 'til he does. I've worked on far too many robots while not knowing how to use the machines, so I don't see why it's an issue. Legos rock; I still use them and the robotics at my school club keeps 'em around for prototyping and new students. Dexterity is definitely something you can improve and it's easy to learn; just keep building things and have someone who's better at it than you look over your work and take their criticism constructively. When I started school, I had never soldered anything, so a friend sat me down and made me do it a zillion times and now I can make some awesomely clean solder joints. It's really just practice and experience.familysimpson said:
Probably. In the short term, you're salary is much better and you're a more attractive hire. Do some job searches for the fields you want to go into and see what the requirements are and take it from there.
. Let the incessant pratice begin! Hopefully, I will have something to show for it in the end. 
Do you like it enough to devote yourself to it? Engineering requires a measure of masochistic passion for the subject. By the time you get to the upper level courses, it'll still be the same 30 guys just 'cause programs usually aren't that big. I don't know, I think you'll have more fun with urban planning or maybe sustainability, but it's all down to you.sizzle said:
That's usually a masters in a business focused engineering program, not a bachelors engineering degree (where the business aspect only shows up a handful of times if at all.)
Computer Engineering! Seriously, that's what the major's for, and 'cause you've already taken CS courses so you may be able to get through the major faster.lubuntu said:
brusier said:
My EM homework or a group project or some crazy lab report or a paper for one of my core courses or research. It's definitely a combination of the work being difficult and time consuming and there being a lot of it, which adds up to not so many free hours.kyleb40 said:
story645 said: