r/ECE • u/trackbandito • 16d ago
UNIVERSITY CS —> EE/CE?
As the title so vaguely says, I’m currently a CS major in my sophomore year. I’ve loved CS ever since I was little. I made games on Roblox in elementary school which got me into it and then continued to make games and take programming classes in middle school and high school which perpetuated that love.
The reason I’m considering the major switch is because I’m realizing more and more that sitting at a desk typing and plugging into AI all day every day isn’t necessarily for me.
Additionally, when scrolling between the ECE and the CSmajors subreddits, the CS one is constantly depressing with everyone talking about how life/work/jobs suck and how they regret going into CS while the ECE subreddit has more people who are confident in their major and their careers and find a little more fulfillment.
Just curious if anyone has any insight into this major switch and how confident you all feel in your major/career? Additionally, how much of your work is hands on or has you doing things that stimulate you and your brain?
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u/zacce 16d ago
Your post didn't indicate any passion for ECE.
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u/trackbandito 16d ago
Yeah I’m realizing I never really included anything. I’m not really sure if this is EE or CE or neither haha but I built a couple computers and my brother and I tried getting into Raspberry Pi’s when we were younger.
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u/umnburner 16d ago
grass is always greener on the other side
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u/radMMOgamer 15d ago
Not even trying to add to the doomerism surrounding CS right now. But currently, maybe it is lol
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u/clingbat 16d ago
Maybe things have changed, but back in my undergrad CE program in the mid 2000's, CS was the major CE/EE majors dropped into when they couldn't cut it in ECE. That or the business school, they all generally did fine after the switch in either case.
If you already missed most of the foundation math/physics/ECE classes, you'd likely be setting yourself a year or two behind making the switch to catch up on all that.
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u/trackbandito 16d ago
I’ve definitely got some of the math and ECE classes taken as a lot of kids in my classes last year and a couple this year are ECE. But yeah it would definitely set me back a little probably
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u/Appropriate-Baker755 16d ago
I wouldn't switch in your case. Subs are full of bots who spread doom
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u/trackbandito 16d ago
Haha yeah I’m definitely not switching just because of Reddit. That was just an add on
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u/Till-Obvious 14d ago
I was an CE major, even did a masters. Worked in western digital. Became technical lead at Crane. 4 years in the industry I realized how mug of a mistake this major is. I learned systems design picked up Django, built systems on AWS. Now I’m a senior backend dev in NYC.
No matter what people tell you, no matter what these circle jerkers tell you. Unless you are willing to live in a third world state and are okay with being in the same company for a long time. Stick with CS. I wish I did.
You might have a bit better job stability but there’s very little jobs out there. And none of the CS perks.
Don’t give up.
If you had to then take CE and take all the CS electives you can.
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u/garibaldi_fan 16d ago
Dude, it’s no different. It might be easier to find employment, but work will feel very similar.
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u/trackbandito 16d ago
I was thinking I’d have more of a hands on type role in ECE. And by hands on I don’t necessarily mean physically hands on but rather a role that doesn’t involve me just reading code, putting prompts into AI and pasting it back etc.
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u/garibaldi_fan 16d ago
I hate to break it to you, but almost all engineering jobs are: do something (maybe code, maybe enter some circuit schematic, etc), then write code to test that thing and understand whether or not it’s working. The content changes, but the use of computers for most of the day does not. You could go to trade school to be a lab tech.
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u/akaTrickster 16d ago
Don't abandon your passion because of the trends bro
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u/trackbandito 16d ago
Thinking less of the trends and more of how long I’ll be able to program when the joy is taken out of it and I have to do it rather than am doing it for my own sake.
I didn’t include this because I guess I forgot but I built a couple computers and was semi-into raspberry pi’s with my brother but idek if that counts haha
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u/trackbandito 16d ago
Thinking less of the trends and more of how long I’ll be able to program when the joy is taken out of it and I have to do it rather than am doing it for my own sake.
I didn’t include this because I guess I forgot but I built a couple computers and was semi-into raspberry pi’s with my brother but idek if that counts haha
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u/densemiIk 15d ago
I switched from CS to EE some years back and enjoyed it a lot more. Not saying that you wouldn’t enjoy it, but from your post you seem more into high level programming so I’d just stick with CS. EE is a lot of work
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u/NewSchoolBoxer 16d ago
You never held a real CS job but you think it's plugging into AI all day? That's not how it works. Stop using AI and not learning anything.
I have a BSEE and switched to a CS career 15 years ago. Was a good idea then for easier work and slightly more pay but it's not more pay now and CS is overcrowded as all hell. Never been job security even in the good times.
EE majors are way more likely to find jobs than CS and even CE that itself is overcrowded for the same misperception of it being sexy easy money. CE isn't in nearly as bad a spot as CS though.
If you switch with no interest in electronics and/or lacking math talent, you're going to get crushed. Expected time to graduate where I went at Virginia Tech is 4.0 years for CS, 4.4 for EE and 4.6 for CE. The EE degree is 90% practical math of mostly analog circuits. I coded in 1/3 of my courses in assembly or scripting. Not a single object.
Additionally, how much of your work is hands on or has you doing things that stimulate you and your brain?
You don't know this but want to change majors? EE/CE is a white collar career. We're not electricians or technicians, we're the designers. Work is fine. It's just a job. Coolest stuff I did was Excel calcs for electronic medical devices. Worst was LabVIEW hell in the same job. Some EE jobs have a coding component and some do not.
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u/Mystic_Wolff 16d ago
Best advice is to either delete reddit /block cs subreddits/ dont doom scroll/ ignore reddit posts that make you overthink.Ppl who have cs jobs usually won't be posting on cs subreddits. The job market will get better .If you aren't interested in ECE you aren't going to make it far because it requires extreme study hrs, hard math and circuit modules.You have more projects and programming experience then most ppl doing cs.You will be fine, do what you enjoy
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u/trackbandito 16d ago
Yeah I completely agree with you. The Reddit posts themselves aren’t really getting to me but more of added on to my pre-existing thoughts
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u/Either-Pay8150 16d ago
If you love CS, you will do just fine. Most people in CS don't even like it. They did it because software paid a lot. I.e. they did it for money. Of course they will be miserable. I hated CS. I hate coding. I stood my ground and continued with EE and I have no regrets.
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u/OnYourSyde 16d ago
ECE has a diverse group of subfields. I would do research into the subfields (power, communications, IC design, Hardware Engineer, etc.) and see what you find yourself drawn to. Hands on physically is varied. Hands on mentally is something you should also get doing CS.
Ultimately, it sounds like this comes down to if AI use will dominate your job. I think if this is the primary concern, you need to realize that AI will be incorporated in all technology sectors. The best thing to do is to determine how you can work with and around AI to support you in your passions.
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u/trackbandito 16d ago
Yeah I’m aware that AI will be/is integrated into most sectors. My concern was more of a fear that I’d just be mindlessly hitting copy, past, and enter over and over into an LLM. I know it’s not that mindless but that is what my concern is. I figured that for ECE it would require more human input however I also haven’t researched much about the usage of AI in ECE so I could be completely wrong
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u/OnYourSyde 16d ago
I work in IC design. As of now, AI is mostly used to handle to administrative side of things and not so much on the actual design aspect, but AI is pretty good at aiding design. I have no way of predicting what role AI will play after you graduate though
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u/publishdraw 15d ago
After AI, the traditional coding jobs will go through a lot of change. That is probably not going to happen soon in ECE because the engineers need to engage with physical layer frequently. However, if you use AI as a tool, you can become more productive and probably get time to give ECE a try.
Becoming good in a field in ECE takes time and lab experience.
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u/Anxious_Alps_4150 13d ago
CS is having a hard time right now.
EE hasnt been hit as hard by AI. That said, EE is still a very competitive field.
If you aren't a good candidate, you probably wont get hired. For the past decade, it's pretty much been "You must do well at everything and get at least one internship. If you do that, you get a job. If you don't, you do not get a job"
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u/Right_Jello_6695 13d ago
damn i wish i had better resources to learn Lua when i was playing Roblox young. the roblox based tutorials made me immediately give up cause i didnt understand wtf they were talking about, now im learning python and im thinking holy shi i couldve been a roblox programmer and make money
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u/trackbandito 13d ago
Haha yeah I never really made much money but I always had a blast making dumb little games with my friends. Started off watching YouTube tutorials and copying code for everything I wanted to add and then got interested in how it worked and wanted to learn for myself. A lot harder to earn money on there than it seems
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u/Valuable-Poem-6796 16d ago
Well unfortunately EE/CE is mostly the same just different application, you're going to have to use AI to help you in most engineering positions. That is alteast my experience as a ECE student.
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u/trackbandito 16d ago
Yeah I know I’ll have to use AI in most fields I go into now but I was hoping it wasn’t as brainless
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u/Acrobatic_Charge_489 16d ago
E/CE could be good if interested in hardware/physical circuit design at all
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u/bluee-pk 16d ago
Don't scroll on reddit. It's full of negativity