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Is a Computer Engineering degree worth it?

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Paul Olson:
I have been going to school for a couple uf years now, and I am enrolled in the Civil Engineering program. I chose Civil because there are a lot of jobs available, and at age 37 (probably 40 when I graduate), I don't want to struggle to find a job. The only problem is: I am really not very interested in civil. Computers and electronics are my main interest, and that has been true forever it seems.

I am thinking of changing to Computer Engineering and maybe adding a minor in video game development. I would like to have the skills to design things like arcade encoders and all of the stuff we spend time with every day. I need to be able to make a living though.

So, what do you think? Are there still good jobs available for someone with that degree? Interest wise, I think it sounds perfect. But if I can't make a living at it, I need to do something different. I have taken about all of the core courses, so I would only be wasting a couple of civil courses, intro and surveying. I would have probably taken at least the surveying class as an elective, so I am not really losing much. I have taken a lot of classes that don't count for anything, but that is the same with either program (why did I waste all of that money at University of Phoenix? :-( ). It is pretty much now or never, if I change later, I will be wasting time since most of my remaining classes are major specific.

Thanks,
Paul

RayB:
There's a running joke among engineers that civil engineers are the ones who couldn't get into Mechanical or Electrical engineering.  ;)

Follow your passions. Will there be jobs? Probably. It's not an obscure field, so your only worry might be the amount of competition for jobs.

What exactly is "Computer Engineering" anyways? I've heard of going into Electrical Engineering as an avenue into the hardware side (ie: circuit board design), or "Computer Sciences" to focus on the software development side. Does Comp Eng bridge the two sides?

Paul Olson:
I can understand the joke after taking a couple CE classes. We try to learn more here for a hobby than they want to learn for a degreee.

Here is the program I am looking at: http://www.cse.unr.edu/programs_bscie.html

ChadTower:

Jesus, even the course descriptions are vague.  That could be teaching you some solid stuff or it could be teaching you surface only user abilities.  The descriptions are not specific enough.

Figure out what you want to do and move into that.  Too many of us start a degree program, discover 75% of the way in we don't really like it, but finish it anyway.  Then spend the next 15 years in a career that isn't fun.  Now is the time to figure out what you enjoy about engineering and chase it, even if that means taking a step or two backwards after you discover the path. 

shardian:
A truly sad fact about engineering: most 'engineers' don't engineer anything. In most cases, you will be a salesman, a bureaucrat, glorified supervisor, or 'the guy who stamps drawings' (AKA, sacrificial lamb if things go wrong).

I wish I had never went into engineering.

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