I totally agree with this. I was going to pursue a PhD where I am now, but I am just starting to get burned out. Instead.... I have chosen law school. I think a lot of people convinced themselves that CS was a lot more interesting in the job place then it actually is (like me for instance). All my industry experience has been eye-opening and horifying at the same time. It is like all the rejects from undergrad managed to follow me to each of my internships and grew 10 years older but still didn't know anything.
Like this from a UNIX sysadmin at one of my jobs. What is a shared library? I should have just jacked that guy in the face.
This is definately the case. I am a combined degree Computer Engineering student and I am now going to be attending law school following the completion of my MS in Comp Eng
In my case it is a combination of current trends along with my realization that I really don't want to be a traditional engineer anymore. The real problem is that there aren't that many interesting problems to solve in the field. The majority of the work for graduating engineers is life-less Database Applications or some other horribly boring nonsense. Even traditional hardcore engineering isn't that attractive to me anymore. The nature of the work is no longer dynamic, and I feel as though I stopped learning some time over a year ago. Everything is just a permutation of something I have already seen/mastered.
I also agree with the statement that many of our graduating EE/CE people don't know what they are doing. I certainly saw enough of that through TA and tutoring.
It is really unfortunate, but it seems like an entire generation of very talented folks got into Computer Science/Engineering and EE but ended up finding out that at the end it really isn't as challenging in the everyday job. As a result, people like me that are at the top of their class and have lots of experience are looking for other options to avoid the horribleness of the employment situations.
Here at Florida computer science is through liberal arts and computer engineering is through engineering. The distinction between the two is like most people have said, ie engineering core etc.. The computer classes are essentially the same, but engineering students are required to take Digital Design and Mircoprocessor Applications. These two course are very valuable in my opinion, and I wouldn't want to have just the computer science degree from here. But, the again Robert Love is studying computer science and math. So what do I know.
As far as jobs and interviews, I have never had trouble with that. I destroyed the undergraduate program here (Summa cum laude) and I am currently destroying the graduate program. The biggest thing now is the flashy companies like IBM, Microsoft etc.. aren't hiring all that much. So if you want a job you probably have to work for Harris, Lockheed, Northrup etc... Traditionally these are the jobs that the less qualified graduates get from here. There will always be jobs for the well educated and talented engineer/science person who has done well at their university. It is just a matter of whether you want that job or not.
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I totally agree with this. I was going to pursue a PhD where I am now, but I am just starting to get burned out. Instead .... I have chosen law school. I think a lot of people convinced themselves that CS was a lot more interesting in the job place then it actually is (like me for instance). All my industry experience has been eye-opening and horifying at the same time. It is like all the rejects from undergrad managed to follow me to each of my internships and grew 10 years older but still didn't know anything.
Like this from a UNIX sysadmin at one of my jobs. What is a shared library? I should have just jacked that guy in the face.
This is definately the case. I am a combined degree Computer Engineering student and I am now going to be attending law school following the completion of my MS in Comp Eng
In my case it is a combination of current trends along with my realization that I really don't want to be a traditional engineer anymore. The real problem is that there aren't that many interesting problems to solve in the field. The majority of the work for graduating engineers is life-less Database Applications or some other horribly boring nonsense. Even traditional hardcore engineering isn't that attractive to me anymore. The nature of the work is no longer dynamic, and I feel as though I stopped learning some time over a year ago. Everything is just a permutation of something I have already seen/mastered.
I also agree with the statement that many of our graduating EE/CE people don't know what they are doing. I certainly saw enough of that through TA and tutoring.
It is really unfortunate, but it seems like an entire generation of very talented folks got into Computer Science/Engineering and EE but ended up finding out that at the end it really isn't as challenging in the everyday job. As a result, people like me that are at the top of their class and have lots of experience are looking for other options to avoid the horribleness of the employment situations.
Here at Florida computer science is through liberal arts and computer engineering is through engineering. The distinction between the two is like most people have said, ie engineering core etc.. The computer classes are essentially the same, but engineering students are required to take Digital Design and Mircoprocessor Applications. These two course are very valuable in my opinion, and I wouldn't want to have just the computer science degree from here. But, the again Robert Love is studying computer science and math. So what do I know.
As far as jobs and interviews, I have never had trouble with that. I destroyed the undergraduate program here (Summa cum laude) and I am currently destroying the graduate program. The biggest thing now is the flashy companies like IBM, Microsoft etc.. aren't hiring all that much. So if you want a job you probably have to work for Harris, Lockheed, Northrup etc... Traditionally these are the jobs that the less qualified graduates get from here. There will always be jobs for the well educated and talented engineer/science person who has done well at their university. It is just a matter of whether you want that job or not.