What is Computer Engineering
What is Computer Engineering
Computer engineering is a new branch of engineering that has come about recently as the result of the “internet age” where hardware and software need to be connected more than ever. It is a cross between electrical engineering and computer science trying to work at both the high and low level in order to solve the problems that come about when trying to integrate systems and develop new things. Today computer engineers are innovators in all parts of life as they have the ability to work on things we use every day such as smart phones and Amazon’s Alexa to manufacturing to web development.
What do they do
Although computer engineering is a newer field that is not to say it doesn’t already have many responsibilities. There are so many different areas of computer engineering it would be hard to describe the requirements of all of them but I will describe a few. Computer software engineer develop, design and test software or construct, maintain computer networks, programs for companies including new interfaces, operating systems, new programs and apps. Computer hardware engineer research, develop and test hardware or computer equipment including chip-set, mainboard. Embedded systems engineers are responsible for ensuring the software works with the hardware of a device. Then there are many more responsibilities of computer engineers depending on the industry and field they go into.
Difference Between Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering
Electrical engineering and computer engineering are two very similar fields in fact in most schools, such as mine, they are housed in the same department and even the same building. Moreover there is so much overlap between the two majors that it often requires 20 credits or less to get a double major between the two degrees. However, there is a difference between the two disciplines. Computer engineering has a much more programming focus than electrical engineering in modern engineering, not to the degree of software engineers and computer science majors but they are more software focused. Electrical engineers on the other hand are much more focused on hardware. This being said if one is considering doing the double major I would highly recommend it.
Different Areas of Computer Engineering/ Concentrations (most schools)
- Artificial intelligence
- Artificial intelligence is a new branch of machine learning focused on creating a interactive assistant in some cases and a pattern learning machine overall.
- Computer networks
- Computer networks is focused on connecting computers in new and more efficient ways.
- Embedded systems
- Embedded systems is all about integrating hardware and software so the software works on the hardware properly.
- Microchip design
- Microchip design is all about creating new chipsets that are more powerful than their predecessors.
- Network security
- Network security focuses on ensuring communications between machines are as safe as possible for the users.
- Robotics
- Robotics is all about creating machines that are designed to do a task and do that task efficiently.
- System Performance
- System performance is all about ensuring the software that is designed makes the greatest use of the hardware it has available to it.
Graduate School Areas
As you can see there are a variety of areas for continuing education in computer engineering. most are continuing the different areas and concentrations that a student could study in undergrad with a much more detail and separation between topics. Personally I find artificial intelligence, robotics, and embedded systems the most interesting graduate school areas.
- Artificial Intelligence
- Chip Design, Architecture, and Emerging Devices
- Databases and Data Mining
- Embedded and Mobile Systems
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Languages, Compilers, and Runtime Systems
- Networking, Operating Systems, and Distributed Systems
- Robotics
- Secure, Trustworthy, and Reliable Systems
- Theory of Computation
- Warehouse-Scale and Parallel Systems
Careers in Computer Engineering
With all the different areas of study as a computer engineer engineer there are just as many if not more areas that one could pursue as full time employment. The most popular ones are listed below.
- Software engineer
- computer hardware engineer
- computer systems engineer
- computer programmer
- robotic engineer
- web developer
- embedded systems engineer
Salary
It is well known that engineers tend to make a very good salary and will be able to live a good life. In fact that is what draws many people into engineering. This being said computer engineering tends to be one of the more highly compensated areas of engineering, due to the demand. It has even surpassed electrical engineering in both salary and demand. Obviously salary is greatly dependent on the company, the area of computer engineering you are in, and experience. That being said listed below are some common expectations in terms of salary one could have as a computer engineer.
- Median Salary: $111730
- Low Salary: $59000
- .High Salary: $120000
- Average Salary: $84068
- Base/Starting Salary: $7073
Best Companies to work for and what you could do there
These companies are consistently rated as some of the best companies to work for as a computer engineer. Each has a different area of focus and engineers would do various different things at each company.
- Google
- With all the things they are doing with consumer electronics, cloud computing, and their search engine computer engineers would have the possibility to work in all areas described above.
- LinkedIn
- LinkedIn is a software company first and foremost taking a similar approach as Facebook did except focusing strictly professionally. Therefore the work would mostly be on the software side as a web developer, software engineer, and programmer.
- Apple
- Unlike LinkedIn Apple is a hardware company first with software designed to support it, however they have recently branched out into the cloud and cloud computing opening up a new door for them. Therefore like google computer engineers would have the opportunity to work in all areas of computer engineering should they so choose.
- Facebook
- Facebook is the largest social media network in existence and that is not including all of the other businesses they own. With this they are a software company therefore the work would mostly be on the software side as a web developer, software engineer, and programmer.
- Amazon
- Amazon, the second largest company in the world, and the largest online retailer is a monster in the computer engineering space. With all of the consumer products offered, manufacturing, cloud computing, and retail they offer computer engineers can work in all areas described above.
- HP
- HP is one of the largest computer manufacturers in the world and their business focuses primarily on hardware therefore computer engineers can expect to do much embedded systems and hardware engineering here.
- IBM
- IBM was once the top manufacturer of business computers for around the world however it has since switched its focus to cloud computin, cognitive computing, commerce, data and analytics, internet of things, mobile, security, and artificial intelligence with their WATSON machine. Therefore computer engineers here can expect to be busy on the software side with software engineering being their main task.
- Cisco
- Is a home and small business provider of communication products such as phones and switches to house communication over internet. With the focus on products computer engineers can expect to be busy creating hardware solutions to problems and improving existing hardware
- Qualcomm
- Qualcomm is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world and supplies chips to many of the smartphone manufacturers including apple up until recently. Because semiconductors are a piece of hardware computer engineers can expect to do primarily hardware engineering here.
- Intel
- Intel is one of the premier chip makers for laptops, desktops, and other consumer electronics where a device which carries an Intel chip is expected to be of high quality. Again because those chips are a piece of hardware computer engineers can expect to do primarily hardware engineering here.
Best Cities
Then following cities have been ranked as the best cities for computer engineers to live in due to the industries, high pay, and quality of living in the area.
- San Francisco
- San Jose
- New York
- Washington DC
- Brooklyn
- Boston
- Los Angles
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Philadelphia
What I’m Interested in
Personally for me because I am an electrical and computer engineering double major I would like to make the most out of both of them and learn and grown in my career. There are really only three areas of electrical engineering that interest me for that reason controls engineering, hardware engineering, and embedded systems engineering. I feel like these tree areas suit me the best and I would like to get to learn more about them through use and internships. It also helps that these have the most room for growth in scope, as more and more things are dependent on these areas, and are often compensated very well.
Future of Computer Engineering
The future of computer engineering looks very strong as it is an expanding field and is predicted to increase by 7% from 2012 to 2022. Also it is one of the fields least likely to get automated should automation reach a point where it can automate more industries. In addition computer engineering majors are in high demand as there is not enough people to fill the current roles and there is 88% employment of computer engineers at any given time. Hardware engineering is slowing down for the moment but the software side is greatly increasing especially in the areas of software engineering and embedded systems engineering. I am most excited about is the increases in electronics and technology advancements that will be brought about by computer engineering. I may be slightly biased but I feel all new innovations such as autonomous vehicles, space exploration, and other monumental achievements like that will not be possible without a majority of the work being done by computer engineers. The future of computer engineering is strong and I look to see what electrical engineers will bring.
Sources
I got much of my information from outside sources and mixed this information with my own personal opinions. It is this fact that made it hard for me to source material throughout my post so all places I got information are listed and linked below.