Demand for Computer Engineers

[LinuxFanBoi]

I'm majoring in Computer Engineering, and I want to fully understand how my skills will be applied in the real world once I graduate with a bachelors degree.

How will I apply my skills to the real world? I don't want to get into a field of study that's never really leaves academia. I'm looking for a career that will have practical applications in the real world.

What are the day to day duties and responsibilities of someone with the skills I'm studying for? what demands are placed on them by their employers? These are the kinds of things I need to know at this point. Is this a career that demands a Masters to remain competitive or is that something I can set as a more long term goal rather than just staying in school until I have a graduate degree?

[nobodysbusiness]

In University, I took computer science, but I now have the job title "software engineer", so I'll offer my thoughts. I suppose that my work life is divided into three things: meetings, designing and coding (thankfully not with an equal amount of time spent on each of those). Meetings are all about talking to other people who know the business and trying to puzzle out what you're actually supposed to be doing. Designing often involves writing a lot of design documents, so having good written communication is valuable. And then there's the coding itself, obviously.

You don't need a masters to stay competitive in the field, but you do need to keep constantly learning and improving your skills. I found this link to be of value:
http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/03/get-that-job-at-google.html

In time, you will probably have most of a masters degree worth of knowledge, even without the piece of paper. Just don't stop learning.

With any computer skill at all, it's not too hard to get a job writing CRUD (create, remove, update, delete) applications, but that's hardly interesting work. It's surprisingly difficult to get into the really interesting programming stuff. I suppose you have to keep your eyes wide open for hidden opportunities to apply your true skill. And while I'm giving advice here, I also think that you should try to develop the confidence to push back on stupidity. Being forced by your boss to do a crappy job on something is demoralizing (though sometimes there's no avoiding it; just buckle down and get it done).

[LinuxFanBoi]

Thats what has me so confused right now. I see a lot of technology related career opportunities, but no one specifically looking to hire someone under the title of "Computer Engineer."

I tend to be more inclined to sit and write code, because I'm a patient person and somewhat driven in a sense that if I where to have an unsolved problem, it will preoccupy me until I solve it. When I do write something that works, I get a sense of accomplishment that's somewhat addictive, thus prompting me to begin a new project.

I guess I just want some reassurance that I'm choosing the right major before I start taking classes that are going to be useless should I change my mind and switch majors to something else. As of yet the credits I have and the classes I'm enrolled in can be applied to any major I choose, but soon I will have to start taking classes more specific to one field of study.

[nobodysbusiness]

I don't know about the Uni where you're going, but at my Uni, CompEng was sort of a cross-over between CompSci and hardware stuff. I had a friend who did CompEng, and he said that he was hit with all sorts of stuff like radio frequency communication and other very close to the hardware things, and now he's a web-developer with Java and jQuery. So a lot of the stuff he took in CompEng didn't end up being relevant.

I guess there's a lot of Software Developer/Engineer positions, and a lot of Electrical Engineer positions, and not a lot that specifically say Computer Engineer, although with that degree you'd have the ability to move into either side. Are you interested in embedded/close to the hardware programming? Or do you like the high-up theoretical Lispy/Haskelly stuff? Something to consider...

[HermanAB]

Well, first of all, when considering a job involving computers, you got to learn how to say "Yah want fries wizzat?" with just the right intonation...

[lisati]

Well, first of all, when considering a job involving computers, you got to learn how to say "Yah want fries wizzat?" with just the right intonation...

:) And deal with the regulars who might want to tease you with a fake hold-up.

[LinuxFanBoi]

When it comes to the kind of career I would like to have, it's really very simple. I want a job where I'm a problem solver. That's what I'm good at. Hardware, software either would suit me just fine. When I say problem solver, I would like to separate myself from the kind of problem solver who has to answer tickets that read "My password doesn't work," with "turn off your caps-lock."

I want to be involved with things like "hey, we have this piece of hardware than needs to use 20% less Electricity without giving up more than 5% performance" or "we need the software on machine X to be compatible with machine Y."

I guess I wouldn't mind being involved in R&D but I would rather stay away from lofty things like helping some Ph.D. work out some abstract theory that may have no practical value as a professors aid.

[Richard1979]

I'm majoring in Computer Engineering, and I want to fully understand how my skills will be applied in the real world once I graduate with a bachelors degree.

How will I apply my skills to the real world? I don't want to get into a field of study that's never really leaves academia. I'm looking for a career that will have practical applications in the real world.

What are the day to day duties and responsibilities of someone with the skills I'm studying for? what demands are placed on them by their employers? These are the kinds of things I need to know at this point. Is this a career that demands a Masters to remain competitive or is that something I can set as a more long term goal rather than just staying in school until I have a graduate degree?

To be brutally honest, a degree isn't worth much in computing.
Granted, you'll have knowledge of C which is always very good but experience and knowledge counts for more these days.

FWIW, I don't have a degree and I manage 100 desktops and 30 CentOs servers which includes pretty technical stuff such as MySQL replication and spreading loads across multiple cores. You only learn things like this from experience.
The DB Admin who sits next to me does stuff like this:
http://www.jonathanlevin.co.uk/2010/02/328-thousand-queries-per-second.html

Get yourself a Red Hat certification.
Sorry.

[LinuxFanBoi]

I agree with you that experience does count for more than a piece of paper. Yes, I fully expect to earn a Red Hat certification. I already have what I consider a rudimentary understanding of how Linux works, which I think is a good head start walking into the door of that classroom, so to speak.

If a prospective employer publishes that they are considering applicants for employment and they ask for a bachelors degree in a field of study relevant to the position. Someone without that "piece of paper," would have a tough time even getting a phone call returned. If by some chance they did get to sit down face to face with a prospective employer, They would have to have something pretty impressive to show them to make up for the lack of a degree.

When it comes to my school work, I only have a little more than 2 semesters, but have a 4.0, and I keep a portfolio of all my work. I wouldn't completely object to doing an internship as I approach graduation either, provided it's not oppressively long.

I definitely do not expect to be hired in a company at the top rung of the ladder, or start as the GOTO [pun] guy that can do everything no one else can. I fully expect them to demand that I prove that my skills are worth retaining.

While you are entitled to your view, it's fairly common knowledge that those with a degree are more likely to be hired over those without and are more often than not, paid higher over a lifetime.

please don't take this the wrong way, but I believe your post is a kin to those weight loss product adds where at the end you see fine print that reads, "results not typical, actual experience may very." Nevertheless, You have every reason to be proud of what you have accomplished, and applaud you for being successful. I'm sure you work no less hard than anyone else at your firm.

[spikyjt]

To be brutally honest, a degree isn't worth much in computing.
Granted, you'll have knowledge of C which is always very good but experience and knowledge counts for more these days.

FWIW, I don't have a degree and I manage 100 desktops and 30 CentOs servers which includes pretty technical stuff such as MySQL replication and spreading loads across multiple cores. You only learn things like this from experience.
The DB Admin who sits next to me does stuff like this:
http://www.jonathanlevin.co.uk/2010/02/328-thousand-queries-per-second.html

Get yourself a Red Hat certification.
Sorry.

Just to join in, I went to the university of life like you. I run a similar sized network, but all Ubuntu based, not CentOS (hey, this is an Ubuntu forum!) I've been considering certification for future career enhancement, but wondering what to take. Do you think Red Hat certs are the only ones worth bothering with? Or should I take Ubuntu's, as I have the most experience there? (I used to use CentOS but got fed up with its bloat, inefficiency, dreadful package management and non "tried and tested" packages, despite claims of being rock solid. But that's a whole different story).

[LinuxFanBoi]

Out of curiosity, I think I'll start a poll on the topic of degree/non degree Computer careers.

[Sporkman]

I agree with you that experience does count for more than a piece of paper.

A four-year degree may be a "piece of paper", but it represents 4 years of proven success at researching unfamiliar topics, applying that knowledge to solving problems, and interacting with others during the course of solving those problems.

Education is a good thing. :)

[Mark Phelps]

What you may be missing is that "hiring managers" (the folks who decide whether or not to hire someone) do not see a degree as a "piece of paper", but instead, see it as the willingness to pursue a long-term objective (i.e. degree) that has no immediate reward.

Projects in the real world are much like this -- lots of work, long hours, stress, unpleasantries -- with the reward coming months or years later.

So, when these "hiring managers" see a degree, they see someone willing to apply themselves to a difficult and long-term effort.

[Mark Phelps]

Thats what has me so confused right now. I see a lot of technology related career opportunities, but no one specifically looking to hire someone under the title of "Computer Engineer".

That's because jobs in the computing industry tend to be very specialized. If you were to look, you'd also find there are no jobs advertised for "physicians" or for "lawyers"; instead, there are jobs for specific legal specialties and for specific medical specialties.

An exception to this is the general category of "Systems Engineer", which today, means practically anything except project management or programming.

In my corporation, for example, we have no less than seven different categories of computer "engineers", including software engineer -- the most common one used for programmers.

So, if you're really interested in a programming job, look for software engineering.