Switching from Comp. Sci. to EE?

kedalion asks: "For the past five years, I've had a good job doing perl programming for the same company but I'm starting to worry. With the current trend in the marketplace to send programming jobs overseas, I'm beginning to wonder if my job will be 'exported' in the near future. With the glut of good programmers out of work, hiring salaries will be depressed as well. About a year ago, I started going back to school to finish my computer science degree. Now, I'm starting to wonder if it would be better to abandon the CS path, and go into either computer or electrical engineering. As an older student, this choice is made even more difficult because I would need to drop to part-time to take an engineering track. Also, I'm concerned that I would only qualify for an entry-level position if I took an engineering job. Anyone have thoughts/suggestions?"

Comments

Finish your CS degree

[Apreche]

I'm a 4th year cs student. At my college, RIT, we have a co-op program. This requires me to work at 4 real world cs jobs prior to graduation. Because of this requirement I job hunt for CS jobs on a daily basis. Let me tell you what I have seen. If you don't have a CS degree you can't get a CS job worth crap. I can't tell you how many times I've seen job postings for which I meet and/or exceed the required knowledge, but don't meet the degree requirement.

What has happened is the .com boom ended, but companies still need programmers. But because there are so many out there, and because of cheap overseas labor, they are only going to hire the best. All the coders who lost their jobs at the end of the boom can't get rehired, because most of them didn't finish their degrees. I know too many people in that position, and now they can't afford to finish college.

If you are willing to relocate to anywhere in the country CS jobs are not hard to find. But having a degree is an absolute must. Companies are just throwing away every resume that doesn't have a degree written on it. So, if you like CS more, finish it up. If you really like EE a whole lot more than CS, switch it up. Do what you like. There are jobs for people who finish college.

Get a grip!!!

[Otter]

OK, please stop panicking, everyone.

Yes, there is outsourcing going on. Yes, there is a completely real, entirely serious issue here. But the panic that's set in over the last 6 months that every high-tech job in the US is about to be packed off to India is insane. It's completely counterproductive and has a nasty undertone of racism, to boot.

People need to grasp the fact that 1998 isn't coming back, and that you're not going to get paid a fortune to reboot servers or do Flash animations. That doesn't mean that no one will ever write code again east of Calcutta.

Re:Don't Even Think About It!

[stevew]

I'm a practicing EE - have been for 25 years.

I work for a consulting company that has half their staff in India, i.e. we actively outsource EE work there. Becoming an EE isn't going to protect you from this trend. Doing ANYTHING in high-tech is probably open to being sent over-seas at some level.

The only reason I still have a position (I live in Sillycon Valley) is because I DO have 25 years of experience. I do architecture work, project lead work, etc. I have LOTS of friends who are out of work, and have been for a year or better.

I can safely say that I would recommend someone going for a degree OTHER than EE or CS for the time being. What EVER you do - the fact that you've got some practical experience is going to help you...but the life-long career in EE or CS is really a harder choice than it was when I got into it.

Good Luck!