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Taking stuff apart and fixing it is one thing. Designing it is another. If you just want to fix computers, college isn't even a requirement. In fact, it could be a detriment, as you will be "over-qualified" I did work for a small computer shop repairing Macs and PC's while I was in school, but it was clearly a "pay the bills for college" job. I'm not even sure I mentioned my EE degree on my resume for that. It was fairly rare that I needed to use anything I learned in school at that job - as it was largely an exercise in deductive reasoning and reading manuals.

If you really want to design, you need to decide which aspect interests you more. Hardware or software. BTW - this divide runs down into FPGA's as well, the HDL that describes the FPGA's function is still hardware; and the software for embedded processors is still software - no matter how muddled the term "firmware" may get. (Idiots who confuse VHDL/Verilog for software are doomed to produce lousy designs, and likewise for hardware engineers who treat software like hardware)

I wanted to go into hardware design, so I got my BS and MS in electrical engineering, but with a leaning towards computer science. (Most of my electives were CS electives). This has served me well, as I understand at an electrical level what is happening in a given piece of hardware. I've done everything from ASIC/FPGA design to board layout. I know enough C/C++ to get me through, and I can write simple test software to exercise my hardware designs.

However, if you want to go into application/operating system design, a true computer science degree is probably the better approach. You will want more of the algorithm/programming courses, rather than the more hardware oriented hardware architecture classes.

You don't, as a general rule, have to decide immediately. Most 4-year colleges have you slogging through almost identical pre-requisites for the first two years anyway.

Bren wrote:

I like that your NeXT is listed under "My Macs!"

Major in Liberal Arts. That's where the big bucks are.

Exactly! I have an English degree and now I live in an apartment with electricity and running water!

@radarman
You do have a good point about fixing and designing. I definitely want to design stuff, its fascinating that I can make a combination of materials do so many things. The problem is deciding on computer science or engineering, i didn't realize the divide ran that deep. I have spent equal amounts of time doing both, getting those little board kits from Frys and learning how to program in Cocoa on my mac to make some apps. Hmmm.

The real problem is I am in my sophomore year here and like you said I am still sifting through pre rec classes so I haven had a chance to really experience either courses.

Whats the average day like for electrical engineer, if you dont mind my asking?

@Bren
Lol, yeah, its amazing to see the similarities between NeXT and the current mac systems, I love booting it up and just playing around with it.

As for the liberal arts, I do gig around my campus, I play sax flute and clarinet, it pays mostly in food .

macdudeosx wrote:

@radarman
You do have a good point about fixing and designing. I definitely want to design stuff, its fascinating that I can make a combination of materials do so many things. The problem is deciding on computer science or engineering, i didn't realize the divide ran that deep. I have spent equal amounts of time doing both, getting those little board kits from Frys and learning how to program in Cocoa on my mac to make some apps. Hmmm.

The real problem is I am in my sophomore year here and like you said I am still sifting through pre rec classes so I haven had a chance to really experience either courses.

Whats the average day like for electrical engineer, if you dont mind my asking?

@Bren
Lol, yeah, its amazing to see the similarities between NeXT and the current mac systems, I love booting it up and just playing around with it.

As for the liberal arts, I do gig around my campus, I play sax flute and clarinet, it pays mostly in food .

Wow, an average day varies wildly depending on where you work, and what your exact position is.

My first job involved pretty much pure FPGA development in VHDL. I modeled peripherals that were implemented in Altera FPGA's, and debugged them in a lab using an o-scope and logic analyzer. For some peripherals, it was necessary to use a VME bus analyzer - but those are really just special purpose logic analyzers. It was a great gig, but I felt kind of pigeon-holed after a while. I became known as the synchronizer guy. (A synchronizer is the core timing system in a radar - it determines when everything else occurs in a communication interval/sample period) Nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to do a wider variety of systems.

My current job is a bit more varied. I do everything from board design to FPGA development. I just finished a spin of a printed wiring board as part of a larger test set. I had to specify which parts I wanted to use, place the appropriate footprints on the board, and route the nets (traces) between them. I then ran through the design rule checker to make sure the board could be built by a fabricator, and worked with the fab to make sure the board was built properly. At the same time, I put together a complete list of components, prices, and links to distributors to create a purchase order.

While I am waiting for the board to be populated, I'm writing firmware in VHDL for the FPGA. It's also a peripheral, so it has a bus interface to the rest of the system - so at some point, I will probably end up looking at the PCI bus on the test-set chassis. However, it's a simple peripheral, with no internal microcontroller; so no embedded software this time. (The application guys will do the software that controls it from the host)

I personally like FPGA development, because you can model complex systems and try them out without spending a boatload per spin. If you mess it up, you can fix the model, recompile, and try it again. You can also model things that would be nearly impossible with discrete hardware - like image processing algorithms that operate on pixel streams (real-time processing)

The trick is finding something that doesn't seem like work, but you still get paid to do it anyway. For me, hardware modeling is that something. Your "something" will likely be different.

Definitely don't settle on anything concrete during your first year in.  Just go undeclared and get your classes that you will most likely never remember.  I went in, pressured to get into a career, thinking I was going to major in music education.  I dropped out without even completing a semester because I realized that I am not that good with music, and I am definitely not that good of a teacher.  Also, I managed to see what a band director's paycheck looks like.  Arguing with a professor about the method of composing 12 tone rows and the necessity of saying "mi" instead of "major third" was fun, though.