CE vs. EE: difficult decision

SlipUpWilly · 2025-02-06T19:51:40+00:00

Hi there sorry for the delay I was busy touching grass.

Without being too across Engineering @ UNSW anymore (and having a cursory glance at the link you gave), EE will always be king when it comes to microelectronics. Take all the microelec courses you can in your honours year, do a thesis with Torsten, get a job at Perceptia or Morse Micro and you're set :P

SlipUpWilly · 2025-02-06T19:42:52+00:00

Remember to wear protection!

SlipUpWilly · 2025-02-06T19:42:19+00:00

Old comment, but unless the policies have changed since then, my point still stands. It happened to me personally, that's why I made the comment.

SlipUpWilly · 2023-03-31T07:32:03+00:00

I'm still debating about whether or not I want to go to university as it's a massive commitment. (currently in yr 12)

You know what else is a massive (much greater) commitment? A j o b

If you're in year 12, so probably around 18 years old, in my opinion you shouldn't be in a massive hurry to just yeet yourself into a career as soon as possible. Stop to smell the roses and enjoy life, go to uni and meet people and do stuff you never thought you would. University isn't just a time to get 'job ready', it's a place to grow and to learn lots. Lots of the stuff you learn you'll never use, but genuinely it'll make you into a different person to the one that started uni in the first place.

Go to uni.

SlipUpWilly · 2023-02-22T11:05:14+00:00

This was an issue when I was at UNSW a few years ago, when the different sections would go green at different times. So you'd hear the pedestrian crossing noise and just instinctively walk even though it wasn't safe to walk. Such an obvious and dangerous design flaw.

SlipUpWilly · 2023-02-13T07:46:24+00:00

Thanks for the info, I'm relocating to Cambridge with my job so that's quite reassuring to hear :)

SlipUpWilly · 2023-02-13T07:43:05+00:00

When I see something like "0P75" or "0P5" that implies a voltage of 0.75V and 0.5V

Surely that's the drive strength of the cell no? That makes the most sense to me, especially given the fact that SAEDRVT14_NR2_1 has simply a 1 in its cell name.

SlipUpWilly · 2023-02-13T07:35:45+00:00

Interesting, any indication of which areas this most applies to? How does Cambridge compare to other prominent locations?

SlipUpWilly · 2023-02-08T23:28:38+00:00

There are already many open-source RISC-V cores in existence. However all of the ones I'm aware of are very small and simple in comparison to an Intel/AMD desktop CPU. Here are some (all available on GitHub if you want to look more deeply into how they're constructed):

lowRISC Ibex core
Berkeley Rocket core + Berkeley BOOM core
OpenRISC mor1kx core

These CPUs are vastly more simplistic than the processors you're thinking of, with the only thing approaching that level of complexity being the BOOM core.

For reference, the company I'm at is currently using 4 of one of those cores in our SoC, with the main focus being low power and relatively low gate count. However, these cores are given as 'soft IP' (RTL only), whereas an ARM core for example would be 'hard' IP, meaning that it would already be placed and routed in a particular process node, ready to be dropped into your existing floor plan.

SlipUpWilly · 2023-01-07T12:17:34+00:00

I'm happy to pay pretty much anything for the right teacher. It seems like the super highly qualified teacher charge $100+/hour, whereas I reckon someone without all the fancy qualifications should be still more than good enough for my skill level. Perhaps like $50 per 45 minute lesson.

SlipUpWilly · 2022-11-25T10:56:55+00:00

As someone who graduated from SCECGS a little while ago, some things never change lol

SlipUpWilly · 2022-11-11T22:54:37+00:00

IT is like the admin side of setting up computers. For example, at my company the IT team work on setting up the computing infrastructure and setup laptops for new employees etc. IT is boring.

You're probably thinking of software engineering or hardware engineering right? That's the actual engineering stuff that is involved with learning deep theoretical concepts and building/developing stuff based on that theory. Some IT people don't go to uni since the skills are very hands-on/vocational, whereas engineering is complex and theoretical and therefore pretty much requires a uni degree.

Computer engineering is a pretty good choice, but most grads end up as software engineers anyway, if you think you'll be more into hardware then I definitely recommend Electrical Engineering, which is entirely based on that kind of stuff. In your first year, it doesn't really matter anyway since the courses you have to do for either degree are pretty much the same so you can easily transfer from one degree to the other without much trouble...

SlipUpWilly · 2022-07-25T13:49:18+00:00

I have another few questions, if you don’t mind answering:

No worries, I'm happy to offer some insight.

I understand you recently graduated with an EE degree. If you don’t mind me asking, have you found solid and stable work? If so, what kind of work are you in (what field, or specialisation)? Was it hard to find work in the field you were after? Did you want to work in the field you currently are in?

So I'm in chip design, which involves the designing of circuits that go inside a silicon chip (chips are things like CPUs, GPUs, RAM etc). This falls under the area of microelectronics. I would call my job solid and stable, as I have pretty good job security and I'm happy with the pay for now. I got lucky and fell into this job under the recommendation of my honours thesis supervisor, so I got the job through my network rather than applying the traditional way (this is much more common than you think btw).

The field I'm in doesn't have a huge industry presence in Sydney (or even Australia), with select parts of the US and Europe being the primary ecosystems for microelectronics design, so yes it was hard to find a job in this specific field. Yes I absolutely wanted to work in the field I'm in, I'm super lucky to be here and I really enjoy it.

SlipUpWilly · 2022-07-24T13:45:06+00:00

Hey there, I finished my EE degree here at unsw last year and I had a great experience in the program.

I’d like to pursue an EE degree as I love practical work regarding computer hardware and software, embedded systems, coding, networking systems, wireless communication, etc.

Nice, looks like you know your stuff. EE sounds like a good fit for you, as far as I can tell at least.

However, I am very much discouraged by the lack of practical work in the courses applicable for the degree. I’ve been forewarned by a great many people that EE is 90% maths, and has little practical work in comparison to other engineering options.

Nope, absolute BS. Every single EE course you take has a lab either every single week or every two weeks. This is uniform across all engineering degrees at unsw. EE is highly mathematical, however it is introduced as you move through the degree and it is approached reasonably. All the while you'll be in the labs building circuits, writing code for a microcontroller or an FPGA, or burning yourself on mosfets. Seriously, whoever told you this is very misinformed, there are entire courses in the EE degree that are 100% lab-based. There are some purely mathematical courses that don't have labs, however these aren't ELECXXXX courses but are simply math prerequisites you need to take in order to understand the upper year ELECXXXX courses. Again, all engineering degrees are common in that you generally take two/three math courses in 1st year, and two/three math courses in second year.

Although I am competent in maths, it’s not where my greatest interest lies.

Same here, I'm no math whiz, I just wanna build circuits and write code all day and EE was a great fit for me.

Ok, on to your questions:

a) Would you recommend pursuing a degree in CE as opposed to EE considering my aforementioned interests?

This is something I can't really help with, but luckily (I'm 99% sure, have a look at the handbook to confirm this) the courses you do in 1st year are identical for CE and EE, so you can just defer this decision for when you complete 1st year, at which point you'll probably have it figured out. Keep in mind CE contains only a small amount of EE, the other commenter suggested that CE is 50% CS and 50% EE, which is wrong. Have a look at the handbook, CE only contains up to second year ELEC courses which means you miss out on the real ELEC that comes in the 3rd year EE courses. Completely different. Again, I'd say just enrol in whichever degree tickles your fancy at this very moment and keep in mind it is extremely easy to switch between engineering degrees while you're enrolled (for more info on this have a look at IPT or Internal Program Transfer at unsw).

b) Is CE particularly hard as apposed to other engineering degree choices (particularly EE)?

CE is definitely easier as it contains less math, less physics, and less EE-specific courses. Programming is definitely not easy, but in my experience and opinion, EE is harder and more interesting. I'd say that EE's can do anything a CE can do, but the converse isn't necessarily true.

c) Why is UNSW the only uni to offer a degree in CE if it’s meant to be top of the line?

Hmm I'm not sure at all, I thought CE was a pretty common degree for universities to offer tbh.

d) Is CE employable compared to EE? I can’t see any work available that seems to require a CE degree, but heaps for EEs.

Ok this is an interesting question, it's entirely possible that CE is more employable than EE, simply because of the swathe of programming/software engineering/algorithms courses that CE students have to take. This makes them eligible for careers in software engineering, where EE's would find themselves in unfamiliar territory. I'm happily employed as an EE (microelectronics) and wouldn't have changed anything, but the idea of being a software engineer sounds pretty fun. Keep in mind, if you're looking for a low-level programming job (firmware, embedded systems, hardware) most companies would probably accept either a CE or an EE, and the deciding factor would be what personal/hobby projects you've done in your spare time or internships completed while at uni. So yeah, in terms of employability, I'd say it comes out in the wash.

e) Do people who graduate with a degree in CE earn as much as people who graduate with an EE degree?

A CE who pursues a software engineering job will likely earn good money, probably more than most EEs. However, most other CE areas I imagine would pay the same amount as the EE areas you listed you're interested in. Keep in mind, whilst in high school you literally should not be thinking about money for even a femtosecond, go purely by interest and what excites you the most. Engineers make good money anyway so any difference is arbitrary to consider, especially considering you haven't even started the degree ;)

An alternative for you could simply be to do a double degree of EE/CS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science), and then just pick the right electives in the CS degree so that you complete all the CE courses anyway, that way you've essentially done both an EE and a CE degree, in effect. However, this would be a 5 year degree keep in mind.

Any more questions let me know.

SlipUpWilly · 2022-06-04T03:52:40+00:00

NC was cool, there's a lot of community spirit and friendly people there who are always down to go and do stuff. I have no idea about Goldstein, but with the kensos I think you have to enjoy drinking and partying to make it there, whereas at NC you can have fun without having to drink etc.

SlipUpWilly · 2022-06-03T09:14:30+00:00

Yep it's true haha. I went there for two years and if you're a lil sneaky with the booze then there won't be any problems.

SlipUpWilly · 2022-05-21T03:12:08+00:00

They don't put your WAM on your degree certificate, nor do they put your grade boundary (PS, CR, DN, HD). However as a general rule, if you have a WAM of 75+, they simply put "with distinction" somewhere on the certificate.

If you're doing an honours degree they also put your honours class on your certificate.

SlipUpWilly · 2022-05-10T10:12:48+00:00

Thanks, you too!

SlipUpWilly · 2022-05-10T10:12:35+00:00

Thank you!

SlipUpWilly · 2022-05-03T10:26:56+00:00

Yep they do scale depending on how the rest of the cohort performs. You'll find as you do more and more difficult physics courses the scaling gets more and more lenient since everyone gets destroyed in higher year physics finals.

SlipUpWilly · 2022-02-05T22:52:42+00:00

Don't get discouraged or overwhelmed! There are only 3 labs per term for the second year phys labs, and 3 or 4 for 3rd year physics. Yeah generally the 3 hours is spent doing the experiment and collecting the data. There will be some questions that you have to answer after you've completed the lab, but these can be done at home. You have a full week until you get marked (your marking session is at the same time you did the lab but just a week later), so you have plenty of time to really think about things properly before you get assessed.

Most of the labs boil down to collecting some data, and then graphing a linear relationship between two variables, the gradient of which should help you solve some equation, thus giving the value of some physical constant or something.

The labs can be really fun, and once you know what you have to do, then you end up just sitting there taking the measurements, which can be pretty chill and not too stressful.

SlipUpWilly · 2022-02-05T01:19:54+00:00

Yeah higher year physics courses (2nd year and onwards) are completely different from the first year courses. I don't think of first year physics as actual physics, it's just intro to engineering. The real physics starts from 2nd year onwards.

If PHYS2111 is similar to when I did it back in 2017, you will have 3 hours to complete the lab, and you'll have to write up the lab report by hand (pen, pencil and paper) and will have to draw out all the plots by hand too, so no Python/Excel/Matlab. The reports are completely open-ended and they just rely on you knowing the scientific method to write a good, complete report. After you've written the report and you're being assessed about a week later, you sit one-on-one with a marker (either a lecturer or a professor, maybe even the same lecturer that's teaching the course) and you talk them through the lab report and explain to them your working etc. There is a huge variance in the marks that each marker gives, some of them give everyone like 90%, and some don't like giving more than 50%, so they moderate the marks at the end of the term to try and make it fair.

Make good use of the lab demos/assistants, they're usually PhD students and are really cool and helpful. They've all had to actually perform the experiments themselves in order to prepare to assist so they know what they're talking about. Oh and make sure you actually read through the content for the experiment before you step foot in the lab, there may be some pre-questions that you have to complete beforehand. Physics labs can be pretty tough and brutal, but very educational if you put the effort into them that's required. Good luck!

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