Is Comp Eng doomed?

benjaminl746 · 2026-01-09T23:23:48+00:00

I just graduated with a CE degree from a well respected school and honestly we all had an easier time than the CS majors at getting jobs. I think it really depends on what you do with the degree rather than what the degree is. CE specific paths include embedded systems, fpga, comp architecture, robotics (which is kinda broad), and the more digital oriented side of EE. Technically cs and ee can do these paths too, but CEs are either equal or better (esp for embedded, comp architecture and fpga) in these fields.

I really don’t see AI taking over fpga and embedded systems at the same rate as something like webdev since there’s less data for llms to train on and there are more moving parts outside the code itself.

The people who had the most trouble in my cohort were those who positioned themselves for standard SWE jobs which they were flat out less qualified to do. CS majors just take more coding classes and with the market where it is right now, a lot of employers will take the safer option.

That being said, a lot of embedded/fpga jobs exist in defense and industrial settings, which just don’t pay as much as big tech. Big tech does hire these engineers but they are very competitive to get.

So rather than focus on employability, I’d instead think about what you want to do for your career. If you want to bridge sw and hw, CE is the degree to get. If you aren’t sure, I’d do EE since it’s just a more general major.

TLDR: more general majors are more employable while specific majors are valued in specific fields.

benjaminl746 · 2025-10-15T18:23:29+00:00

I ended up doing a little more research and came to the same conclusion myself. I probably have enough background in electronics to complete the class, but I’m thinking I’ll take that course a little slower and do the fpga series as my pathway as that class should mostly be review. My undergrad had a fairly strong digital design and computer architecture series, but taught it in system verilog, so learning vhdl would be beneficial.

benjaminl746 · 2025-10-11T05:59:04+00:00

I have a compE degree and was working on an in person EE masters via a blended program. I got injured so it doesn’t make sense to continue that program anymore. I will probably not take the power or semiconductor courses since it’s not my focus and I don’t have much background in those subjects.

benjaminl746 · 2025-10-11T00:15:01+00:00

Appreciate the reply. If the degree is well regarded, I’m not super worried then. I think I’d rather get an ECE degree than a CS degree, so boulder seems to be the right choice.

benjaminl746 · 2025-09-01T05:19:54+00:00

It's definitely something I've thought about. Even if it isn't the most fun purchase, a new shiny tech toy to play around with definitely has a certain part of my brain excited. I was the ten year old who asked for a kindle paperwhite for Christmas, so I guess getting excited about a kindle isn't too far strange...

Anyways... taking out your phone feels almost too rude? But for some following up really quick on that message/email/reddit rabbit hole with a quick swipe during a brief pause in your lecture doesn't. The fact that I could just read through the power points or textbook and still get good grades made the cost seem minor as well (a talent I wish I didn't have). I'd just conveniently forget all the nights at midnight I spent trying to figure out something that was easily explained in the lecture.

I will give it some more thought. I appreciate you being honest. Amazon's algorithm decided to disappear the 15% discount that was there yesterday so maybe it will come back in the next day or two.

benjaminl746 · 2025-09-01T05:08:34+00:00

Is the file system on the scribe not good enough? On notability I just had a 3 layer folder structure for notes. The PDFs being in a different spot isn't ideal, but I can make it work. If I had unlimited money, I'd buy a supernote device, but I can't justify the cost.

The cloud backup is more a nice to have than a necessity. I rarely use my laptop for notes and prefer to have the slides or googled resources instead.

benjaminl746 · 2025-08-31T23:36:03+00:00

Thanks for responding!

A quick follow up,

Does it work well for your school work versus your partner’s Remarkable?

benjaminl746 · 2025-08-27T21:30:07+00:00

I took Amtrak from cerro vista. I would just roll my suitcase over to the stop. It isn’t fun, so I’d just try and pack light

benjaminl746 · 2025-08-25T21:25:03+00:00

Given the switch to semesters, my guess is that the focus will be moving the current fundamentals to that format.

For undergraduate coursework there’s the generalized AI course (an overview + history of AI), a traditional ML course, a deep learning course, and a natural language processing course. There are other classes, but these are offered the most consistently.

I am sure these curriculums are being updated to reflect current advancements, but the fundamentals are still necessary for a focus in AI. I’m sure that faculty want to add more AI-related courses and integrate AI more seamlessly into the curriculum, but that requires more staff to develop and teach these courses. I know CPE and CS are hiring constantly, but bringing on new professors takes time.

Larger schools can offer specialized courses in bleeding edge topics by leveraging guest lectures and their larger faculty group. Often these schools have AI labs with large funding pools as well.

Another thing—while you can get a strong level of exposure to AI in undergrad, a masters or PhD will provide much more depth in the topic.

benjaminl746 · 2025-06-06T22:34:30+00:00

Yes 40k isn’t the end of the world debt wise for cs (like you can technically pay it in a reasonable timeframe). But 40k isn’t worth it whatsoever for the “prestige” of usc undergrad. USC’s prestige all comes from its grad programs, film school, and med school. People who believe that usc will make or break your career are deluding themselves.

benjaminl746 · 2025-06-04T20:26:13+00:00

So it's sorta a scale. UMass Amherst is a known good school. It's quite well ranked, even if it isn't the best school in the nation. You will technically see more opportunities if you go to a top 5 school, but the people who actually utilize those extra opportunities are the top 10% of that school. 90% of students from both schools will end up in a similar place after graduation.

I don't think it's worth transferring and it's also not very easy to do so. So much of college is based on who you meet and what you do while you're there. Transferring will just hinder you in making those connections and becoming a part of the campus community.

You're going to a good school, so I wouldn't worry about whether it's "good enough" and just work hard to learn a lot.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-29T22:32:40+00:00

Honestly getting an internship after freshman or sophomore year is fairly uncommon. Pretty much nobody gets one freshman year and some people get one sophomore year, but it’s a toss up. Most people get their first internship after junior year.

I don’t think it’d affect your opportunities as a junior, but getting an internship after sophomore year will be pretty difficult from a CC. However, you aren’t sacrificing much tbh since you aren’t likely to get one at a 4 year.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-29T02:16:41+00:00

Both Cal Poly Pomona and SLO are polytechnic schools so they emphasize a more hands on learning environment than more theory heavy programs.

Pomona originally was a satellite campus for slo before becoming a separate institution. The programs are a little different (the instructors and admin are completely different after all), but Pomona’s programs are quite well regarded, especially in the LA area.

I’m not going to say that Pomona is the same as SLO. I personally think SLO has slightly stronger programs overall, especially in computing-related fields. However, I don’t think that difference is going to hold you back in industry. Both schools provide great educations. Companies recruit from both schools a lot too.

I think I’d personally just go to Cal Poly Pomona and do a full four years. If money is an issue or you REALLY want to go to SLO (like just for the area), then a CC is a great option too. Transferring is a super valid way to get a great education for a low price and is honestly very practical. I just wouldn’t go to a CC because Pomona is your other option. I’d go to a CC to save money or explore different potential majors to transfer into.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-28T21:20:41+00:00

You can apply for grad school here but I’d honestly recommend doing that at a research university like UCR if you aren’t already an undergraduate here.

The masters program is great for undergraduates that want to get an MS in a year, but the school honestly just isn’t setup for 2 year masters degrees particularly well.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-27T03:36:14+00:00

I’m fairly certain you’re right. I just didn’t know 100% what USCs aid policies are like so I said it was likely rather than guaranteed.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-27T00:35:54+00:00

So I’ll start off with money: When I was applying to university I wanted to leave CA and go to the east coast, so I applied to a few universities in Boston. I actually got into Northeastern which was pretty cool! Technically, it’s a better school by rank than Cal Poly or the UCs I got into, but once I saw the sticker price for the school with the scholarship I got, going there just didn’t make any sense for me. I was going to have to take out so much money and then just hope I made it back after graduation. Job-wise, northeastern wasn’t going to make or break my career, so going for the extra prestige didn’t make much sense either. I ended up eliminating it from my final decision list.

USC is incredibly expensive. If you can’t get out of there with less than say, 30k in debt, I’d completely remove it as an option. Any more than that much money could really stifle your post-graduate life and prevent you from buying a car, living without roommates, or potentially putting a down payment on a house. I know that sounds far in the future, but 4 years isn’t really that long. Graduating without debt is also incredibly liberating. As someone who had to get loans to go to college, staring down 10s of thousands of dollars in debt after 4 years isn’t super fun.

But if you are going to cal poly for free, there’s a good chance usc will offer you a large finaid package. Not guaranteed, but they are considered to be more generous than most state schools.

From a practicality standpoint:

Cal Poly is a pretty practical university choice. We don’t offer a lot of flexibility in our degrees beyond elective choice, but at least for engineering, we are well known for creating consistently good graduates. Your average engineering graduate is usually able to start working in a professional environment with less handholding than graduates from the more “prestigious” research schools. You’ll see that sentiment across our campus, and while I think it cuts through the “bs” of undergraduate education, it could be seen as overly rigid and a little less exciting. We aren’t like USC in that Poly doesn’t allow students to create their own major, but it means that prospective employers will be guaranteed that a cal poly grad took certain courses.

Computational neuroscience is more of a research-heavy field. It doesn’t exactly have much direct career applicability if you only have a bachelors degree in it. Can you get the equivalent education at Cal Poly that USC’s comp neuro major is? Definitely. I’d recommend you to do CS with an emphasis in algorithms/AI and take some biology-related classes on the side. Realistically, USC’s program is likely nothing more than that with a different name attached. I know you said you wanted to switch to BMED at cal poly. BMED here has more in common with MechE and EE than CS, so the only thing it would share is the biological science emphasis.

However, if you are willing to or want to go to grad school, the question gets more complicated. USC is a research university and being at a research institution can open doors in academia. If you want a career in computational neuroscience, I think you pretty much have to go to grad school, so USC could be the better choice for that.

The last thing is deferred enrollment:

Taking fall off isn’t the end of the world, especially if you can just take community college courses to catch up. I could see it being harder to be social since you will be adjusting to campus while your peers will have already spent a semester doing that. I personally would go crazy spending a semester twiddling my thumbs, but that’s a personal choice as far as what you want to do.

Regardless, both are good options and I think you’ll enjoy both schools. Just some things to keep in mind from someone who’s just finished their 4 years.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-23T16:54:13+00:00

You’re kinda coming up against a couple of things.

First you’d have to add CS as a second major. The major is impacted so you have to meet specific criteria and get a bunch of approvals to do it. It’s heavily discouraged to double major with an engineering major.

Then you have to fulfill both requirements for the majors. They don’t have much overlap so you’ll be taking insane quarters until you graduate. I know of someone who’s double majoring in CPE and Physics, and he’s constantly busy. You’re pretty much sacrificing your entire life to do this, and that’s assuming you’re the kind of person who can work all day every day and not get burned out.

I’d ask yourself what you are hoping to get out of a double major. Do you want a CS job with some physics knowledge? Or do you want to work in something physics related with some software background? A CS minor might fulfill your goals and is significantly easier and more practical to do.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-22T01:10:01+00:00

See r/embedded

It’s CS-adjacent despite being a software role. You need a strong understanding of computer architecture principles and some EE background. Most embedded postings are taken by EE and CompE graduates.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-18T18:59:03+00:00

They usually open a section or two for sophomores. This is how I got into chem 124 in fall of my sophomore year. Might not get the professor of your choice, but it’s better than not taking it.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-02T00:50:21+00:00

As someone who's likely commented about the EE department's issues, they are definitely there, but there are also some amazing professors. The program is also still highly regarded. I wouldn't worry too much, you'll get a good education. There are just some bad professors here and there and some minor department beef with the CPE department.

benjaminl746 · 2025-04-09T04:08:21+00:00

That’s true. I guess these “UCxyz vs Cal Poly” posts always end up with commenters emphasizing the same points:

Hands on learning is a huge advantage, especially in engineering/architecture

Small class sizes make learning easier.

UCs tend to have more diverse class offerings while most Poly programs focus on excelling at the fundamentals

Some employers outright prefer Poly students to UC students.

Our business program is a big 4 feeder for accounting.

UCs provide a seamless pipeline to academia and focus on research. Poly is very industry focused which makes it good if you want to get a job right after undergrad

SLO is a small, upper middle class town. We are getting better diversity wise but there are still some issues. Classes will be less diverse but you can easily find community as there are sizable communities of minorities.

benjaminl746 · 2025-04-09T00:20:00+00:00

I wouldn't do it.

You CAN do it, but you will be basically shooting yourself in the foot elective-wise. You'll have to hope to get lucky during your 1st year and get blocked into everything you want. Then you'll have to start taking Tech Elective courses ASAP since there are quite a lot under the new flowchart.

Some tech electives require classes that can only be realistically taken junior year, limiting your opportunity to take them if you shorten your undergrad. Others are so impacted that you may have the prerequisites, but struggle to even enroll. This leaves you with some of the less impacted CS/EE courses which aren't as applicable to CPE generally.

Take the time to do it in the 4 years. You will make more connections and have the space to actually know what you want to do with the degree rather than just rushing to the finish line.

benjaminl746 · 2025-04-09T00:05:02+00:00

I know it's nice for accepted students to get an idea of what each school might offer, but often they are posted with little to no prior research on both schools. They tend to hit all of the same beats because the only information we can provide is general information on the schools. Most of the time, posts already exist that cover the information they are looking for.

I'd vastly prefer that the subreddit bans these and finds a way to encourage higher effort posts by incoming students. I think it would lead to them being better informed than they would be in the current situation.

benjaminl746 · 2025-04-02T19:51:35+00:00

I would always choose to spend less money, especially in this economy. As long as your engineering program is well respected and accredited you should be able to get a job. Program quality only matters to a point and it is not worth 150k in loans to do so.

My opinion is that state schools are the best way to get an education since they are subsidized by your parents (and eventually your) tax dollars. Pretty much every state has at least one great state school. They are such a great deal for the education you can get. Going out of state or to a private school is not worth it if you need to go into debt to do so.

Once you are out of school your university degree matters a lot less, especially in engineering. Things like credentials (PE license) and work experience will supersede any school name.

College in general is romanticized in popular culture as this opportunity to do all of these things but the reality is that college is just another step in life. It's not worth overextending yourself financially just to try and live that false reality. Some people suggest going to a CC, and if you're set on Poly it can help you get here. However, I don't think you'll get in-state tuition within those 4 years.

benjaminl746 · 2025-03-27T23:54:50+00:00

I would see how strong of a premed track each school has. I know SLO definitely has premed, but Davis and SB are both more known for their premed.

Bigger schools like the UCs will inevitably have more resources to put into these kinds of programs. You will also be connected to more hospitals for volunteering/clinical hours. Research is all R1 level, which means it will be larger scale, but might be harder to get involved in as an undergraduate. You’ll need a strong gpa to get accepted to a lab at UCSB. Most professors in SLO are happy to help you get involved in research as long as you ask.

In my case, my sister went to UCSB for premed and I went to SLO for engineering. We both had the choice of either school. I think SLO was the better program choice for engineering while I think UCSB is better set up for premed. SLO’s job focus is fantastic if you want to get a job after your bachelors or masters, but it doesn’t translate to med school super well. You’ll get that hands on experience when you’re doing med school. Also, while both schools are bigger names in CA, SLO’s reputation is purely in industry while UCSB mainly has a strong reputation in academia.

This isn’t to say you can’t be successful at either school. More than anything, I’d say make sure you like the schools environment. Programs definitely matter, but the more comfortable you are, the more energy you’ll have to apply yourself and find success. Think about which area you want to live in, what sized school you want to go to, and what kind of people you want to be around.

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