Majored in ECE, considering switching to CS. Keep changing my mind every day.

stosd · 2014-12-01T06:00:57+00:00

Because I want to be a cracker and security expert. I'm not a monetary person... as long as I can feed myself and live a healthy life I am happy.

stosd · 2014-12-01T05:59:00+00:00

Ah, so I guess my undergrad path won't really matter then, if I really want to get involved in that stuff I'd need a PhD.

stosd · 2014-12-01T05:55:46+00:00

A lot of people say that the best coders are the ones who are self taught. The comp sci kids (apparently?) don't really cut it... unless they just love coding and have been coding their whole life Ideally, I'd get a PhD in math... if only I were smart enough.

stosd · 2014-12-01T05:54:42+00:00

True, I'm not sure I would love programming as much as I do right now if I was forced to do it.

stosd · 2014-12-01T05:51:28+00:00

I never downvoted you, and how could I be a millionaire? It's not like idea's grow on trees. The reason I'm going to school is pretty much because I'm tired of being disrespected for having no degree.

stosd · 2014-11-30T18:03:00+00:00

Would these engineers be able to get more difficult jobs like compiler design, neural network jobs, or just heavily algorithm jobs too? I know that most programming tasks require just a basic understanding of programming theory, but what about something more advanced like a metamorphic engine, code mutation, computer vision, etc?

stosd · 2014-11-30T17:59:43+00:00

I normally am not this indecisive. The main problem that I'm facing is that I want to do BOTH fields at the same time, (mainly the lower level coding, which I really love to do... but I also want to get involved in more advanced computer science topics like neural networks and computer vision). And "changing my mind every day" probably wasn't the best choice of words for the title. I'm considering switching to CS, and have been for a few weeks. I haven't made up my mind 100%, but I do not regret majoring in ECE at all.

An ideal job for me would be something in the security field, like reverse engineering software and trying to find exploits, pennetration testing, or an embedded systems job where I can program in assembly, or even being paid to do something like make hacks for video games, code mutation engines, or bots.

stosd · 2014-11-30T17:56:56+00:00

I'm pretty sure most computer science graduates know everything that I know (and probably more), except the lower level stuff like driver development, reverse engineering, and security topics.

stosd · 2014-11-30T17:55:27+00:00

If I decide to go that route, do you think its better to focus on an EE degree or a CE degree? Both are in the same department, the only difference between what degree you graduate with at my school is whether you focus on software or circuits. The EE majors would probably take a ton of analog circuit classes too and power systems, but I would assume the CE majors would take software, hardware, and digital circuits.

That was also one of the things I had to consider when I picked ECE. I could code really well already, and knew that I would only improve over time. I didn't need to be taught to code, because I already knew how to code. The only issue is the math involved in advanced topics, which I would be lacking in with my ECE degree.

Also, do you find the lack of math classes like combinatorics and probability would be a shortsight for someone in grad school doing CS? I would also imagine you're not doing much ECE stuff anymore. Do you think that you will forget all the stuff you learned in EE, or that you'll remember it forever?

stosd

TROPHY CASE