Computer Engineer? Computer Science? Software Engineer?

[Qamar]

Hey, so this year i'm applying to universities and i was just wondering if anyone could help me out with this, what are some key differences between Computer engineer, Computer Science, and Software engineer ?

Thanks,

[Tony]

Reference to degrees of CS is the typical response, unless you ask about something more specific.

[Pockets]

Computer engineers tend to deal largely with low-level coding, computer architecture and design. A good example is the folks who design new processors for Intel, and code new compilers.

Software engineers aren't focused as much on programming as they are with coordinating major programs. They deal with code in an abstract sense in order to make large projects more doable. Every decent dev team will have at least one software engineer.

Computer Scientists are sort of in the middle. They're the people to whom CEs go to design code to maximize their new hardware functions, and the people to whom SEs go to hammer out the technical details of their implementation. There's also several flavours of CS specialists.

It really boils down to what you enjoy doing. There's no "best" field, each one has plenty of decent-paying jobs for the skilled among us, and there's plenty of mutual respect between the fields.

[Qamar]

hey, thanks, but could someone explain it a bit more... i enjoy writing up programs (turing and a bit of java) and i have also worked with breadboards with AND, OR, NOR, XOR etc. and it seemed cool.. i also want to go into something that has a lot of team work. also, what does anyone think about OUIT computer engineering and software engineering... i'm not sure if i should consider them since there just a new university starting up.. but there requirements are really low and it'd be easy for me to get in, compared to waterloo (which is my #1 choice) and or toronto. oh and i also think it'd be cool to work around with robots, but i'm not sure where that would be classified as ?

[jbking]

Any of computer engineer, computer scientist and software engineer can vary from little team work to lots of team work depending on a number of factors like company size and their style of doing things, e.g. a big company may grant a developer lots of room to do what they want without interaction from others while another company may have something like SCRUM that can bring a team closer together. To rephrase this, think about whether an artist works with a team or not. If the artist is doing a movie or TV show then there will likely be others involved in helping the artist while if the artist is painting a picture there may not be that same level of team work.

A new university starting up may make for a good safe choice in case the others don't work out, though I would want to be aware of what kinds of research are done there and if I'd want to get into any of that. The low standards to get in may not be all that good if this means that you'll be the smartest one in the class, e.g. you get A grades will all of your classmates had C+ may not make for the most challenging of environments.

Working with robots can be any of computer engineer, computer science or software engineer really. Software engineers could be those that write the Operating System for a robot to perform tasks in a particular manner. Computer Scientists may also do this same task as well as possibly consider changes to the hardware to assist in making a better robot so that there is a bit more flexibility there. Lastly, the computer engineer is in many ways like the computer scientist in working with potentially both the hardware and software to achieve an end.

At Waterloo, there is a real time lab in the Math & Computer building for a 4th year Computer Science course called "Real Time Computing" that is about programming an operating system to work in real time where one of the choices is this train track where the o/s you'd write controls some switches and some of the engines though there will be a zombie one called a zamboni that you have to try to avoid collisions on the tracks. The other choice involved a robotic arm I believe.

[Qamar]

Hey so tomarrow a bunch of universities are coming to a near by high school... does anyone know what questions i could ask them ??... i know some, but others input would be appreciated !!
so far what i'm thinkign of asking is first year, i know some universities have it neutral.. then on 2nd year you pick.... and then stuff about co-op... switiching between either or.. teh differences ?

thanks

[jbking]

I'd ask them to describe the differences between their computer engineering, software engineering and computer science programs, how hard is it to get into each and what kinds of jobs make sense for going into each program.

Also, are there any courses that can be skipped? I remember back when I went to Waterloo that there was the option to skip the first CS course if you thought you could handle taking the second one first, which was CS 134 and CS 130 was the one that got skipped by some. You may also want to ask if there are any advanced courses or special first year courses to take as part of a special program. I remember Waterloo had some advanced Math courses I took, e.g. instead of 13x I had 14x which was intended for Pure Math majors.

[rahzab]

I also have a few questions.

are there lots of job openings for software developers, electrical/computer engineers, etc.?

which one offers the most jobs?
what type of engineering would get me a good job as soon as I graduate from university?

thanks guys.

[jbking]

There are various job openings for those with a degree in software development, electrical/computer engineering, etc. A key point is to recognize certain indirect skills that can be learned while one is taking classes, e.g. creative problem solving, justifying a solution to a problem, and thinking abstractly. Part of a programming job is to work within a given language and so this may involve self-study in some cases.

Most jobs has a few big qualifiers on it, I think:
1) Is most defined by current public job openings among all companies within Canada or some other geographic region?
2) Is most defined by the variety of job openings in that same region, e.g. the different job titles and duties that exist?

Any engineersing can get you a good job as soon as you graduate if you go through a co-op program that lets you get some experience while getting your degree. IIRC, Waterloo's engineering program is a co-op only.

[Horus]

hey guys i have a question:

I like coding a lot, what I want to do is code or design the algorithms for codes (in pseudocode, UML and etc...). I don't really care about hardware stuff.

So which one of these 3 should I go to?
and why is chemistry required for software engineer and computer engineer?

[Unforgiven]

Horus @ Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:45 am wrote:

I like coding a lot, what I want to do is code or design the algorithms for codes (in pseudocode, UML and etc...). I don't really care about hardware stuff.

Sounds like classic computer science to me.

[Tony]

Sounds like Computer Science to me.

Horus @ Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:45 am wrote:

and why is chemistry required for software engineer and computer engineer?

Because you need to take Chemistry in order to become an Engineer. Also -- Chemistry for Software Engineers

[Horus]

Tony @ Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:08 pm wrote:

Sounds like Computer Science to me.

Horus @ Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:45 am wrote:

and why is chemistry required for software engineer and computer engineer?

Because you need to take Chemistry in order to become an Engineer. Also -- Chemistry for Software Engineers

but computer engineer and software engineer are not really engineer. We are making stuff on the computer, not the real world...

and waterloo is the only university that requires chemistry >.>

[Tony]

Horus @ Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:17 pm wrote:

but computer engineer and software engineer are not really engineer.

In Canada they are. A Software Engineer, upon graduation, gets to call him/herself an Engineer (although not yet a P.Eng, but that is true of any undergrad program), gets an Iron Ring, and is (technically) allowed to design bridges. Just as much as a graduate of a Structural Engineering school. As such a student of any Engineering program is required to take Chemistry, in order to graduate. It is up to the University though, if they want to require a high school chemistry course.

The term has been hijacked in the United States. Anyone can be "<name of the company> certified <in whatever> Engineer"; but the title of Engineer actually means something in Canada. See this for example:

Quote:

On Tuesday, October 4th, 2005 the Quebec Court of Appeal denied Microsoft's motion seeking leave to appeal the decision of the Superior Court which held that only engineers, member of the Ordre d'ingenieurs, can use the designation "Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer" in the Province of Quebec.

[Horus]

Tony @ Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:18 pm wrote:

Horus @ Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:17 pm wrote:

but computer engineer and software engineer are not really engineer.

In Canada they are. A Software Engineer, upon graduation, gets to call him/herself an Engineer (although not yet a P.Eng, but that is true of any undergrad program), gets an Iron Ring, and is (technically) allowed to design bridges. Just as much as a graduate of a Structural Engineering school. As such a student of any Engineering program is required to take Chemistry, in order to graduate. It is up to the University though, if they want to require a high school chemistry course.

The term has been hijacked in the United States. Anyone can be "<name of the company> certified <in whatever> Engineer"; but the title of Engineer actually means something in Canada. See this for example:

Quote:

On Tuesday, October 4th, 2005 the Quebec Court of Appeal denied Microsoft's motion seeking leave to appeal the decision of the Superior Court which held that only engineers, member of the Ordre d'ingenieurs, can use the designation "Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer" in the Province of Quebec.

Oh... so being an engineer is actually a good thing?

So if I study in UTS, and do computer science under the software engineer branch can I call myself an engineer?