Any Computer Engineers (or related) here?

[deals4j]

Hey guys,

I need the help of a computer engineer or someone in a related field that can answer 5 quick questions for a career project for CAPP (Career and Personal Planning) class. If you can spare 5 minutes or so of your time to help a fellow RFDer, that would be awesome. (Just 2-3 setences for each would be great) The questions are as follows:

1) What made you decide to go into this field?
2) What do you like most about your job?
3) What do you like least about your job?
4) What kind of traits/attributes/etc. do you think you possess that help you succeed in this career?
5) What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a career in this field?

Oh, and I'll need your name/job title to go along with it. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post it here.


Thanks so much!

[simms]

How about Chemical Engineering?

1) What made you decide to go into this field?

My own personal goal, solid foundation for higher education above those in Arts/Science for Masters in Business Admin (ideally a P.Eng with an MBA)

2) What do you like most about your job?
State of the art equipment, highest paid starting salary on average of all undergraduate degrees

3) What do you like least about your job?
No girls, but I have a girlfriend.. so no problem. Otherwise, long hours of work and HARD work at that.

4) What kind of traits/attributes/etc. do you think you possess that help you succeed in this career?

Organizational, time management. It's who you know, not always what you know. Learn to work independently and present results as a team.

5) What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a career in this field?
You better have straight A's in high school and be willing to work hard with not a lot of recognition. But at least the pay is awesome.

[ronny1980]

im a Sanitation Engineer..aka janitor

[deals4j]

Thanks for your quick response! If no one answers, I guess Chemical Engineering will do, since I'm supposed to do the best I can. (More towards computer related fields though) Keep the reponses coming! Thanks again, simms!

How about Chemical Engineering?

1) What made you decide to go into this field?

My own personal goal, solid foundation for higher education above those in Arts/Science for Masters in Business Admin (ideally a P.Eng with an MBA)

2) What do you like most about your job?
State of the art equipment, highest paid starting salary on average of all undergraduate degrees

3) What do you like least about your job?
No girls, but I have a girlfriend.. so no problem. Otherwise, long hours of work and HARD work at that.

4) What kind of traits/attributes/etc. do you think you possess that help you succeed in this career?

Organizational, time management. It's who you know, not always what you know. Learn to work independently and present results as a team.

5) What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a career in this field?
You better have straight A's in high school and be willing to work hard with not a lot of recognition. But at least the pay is awesome.

[Agent_J]

im a Sanitation Engineer..aka janitor

you didn't answer any of the questions

[guest10586]

I'm a computer engineer...it wasn't worth it!

1) I like computers and computer related stuff
2) Money and perks, and occassionally doing work
3) No girls, and it is true...computer engineers are the geekiest of all engineers. Some of the people you work with are full of sh*t but those are
the computer scientist you work with not the comp engs. This engineering lacks the group work that other engineering does so if you want to be in a group go to civilE, chemE or mechE cause this doesn't have it at all.
4) Hard work, leadership skills, humor and the ability to get things done under very harsh conditions.
5) Be willing to work hard and give up personal time but if you want a pretty good job it is worth it if you have 4 years to kill...

[relativity]

Thanks for your quick response! If no one answers, I guess Chemical Engineering will do, since I'm supposed to do the best I can. (More towards computer related fields though) Keep the reponses coming! Thanks again, simms!

I forwarded your question to a friend of mine ( my manager at work, I'm on coop actually ).

I applied to both computer engineering and computer science for waterloo, got into both, and decided I prefered software and the theory/math level stuff myself so I went into CS. Make sure you know the differences between Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Software Engineering. Trust me, the differences are massive, even between Soft Eng and Comp Sci, Soft Eng focuses more on processes and management, CS has more focus on math and algorithms.


1)
Interest, having an interest in this field is very important. You will most likely fail out if you don't "like" engineering if you go to a decent university. If you're in it for the money, then look elsewhere, engineering salaries aren't as high as they used to be, even with a P.Eng ( and there are some minor limitiations with having a P.Eng that relate to ethics )

2)
being hands-on. The job pays quite well, but again, it's what I work with and the atmosphere around you.

3)
It's very technical, sometimes very frustrating. Expect a rough time through University, it will be difficult.

4)
The Ability to learn and time management. University is not so much about what you learn, because >70% of what you learn won't be used directly in your job, but you will hone your ability to learn new ideas and concepts, that's University.

5)
Make sure your marks are high enough. Even straight A's might not be enough, some High Schools are harder than others. Know your limits, but don't be afraid to push them. Also, if you go to one of the more difficult universities, get used to not being the smartest person in the class.
Do some research, and make sure engineering is what you want. Too many people spend 2 years of their lives and lots of money and find that they hate engineering, and fail out.




Anyway, the responses:

[65505201]

3) What do you like least about your job?
No girls, but I have a girlfriend.. so no problem. Otherwise, long hours of work and HARD work at that.

But....all of the hot female engineers are in Chem....where did they go?

[simms]

But....all of the hot female engineers are in Chem....where did they go?

They're still there. But some are taken by guys like me. And not all hot fem engineers are in Chem, there are a few exceptions in Mech and Civ.

Just that Chem roughly has 50/50 boys girls doesn't mean the girls or the guys are exactly good looking. Remember, these people know how to get grades, but they barely know how to dress themselves nicely.

[deals4j]

I forwarded your question to a friend of mine ( my manager at work, I'm on coop actually ).

I applied to both computer engineering and computer science for waterloo, got into both, and decided I prefered software and the theory/math level stuff myself so I went into CS. Make sure you know the differences between Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Software Engineering. Trust me, the differences are massive, even between Soft Eng and Comp Sci, Soft Eng focuses more on processes and management, CS has more focus on math and algorithms.


1)
Interest, having an interest in this field is very important. You will most likely fail out if you don't "like" engineering if you go to a decent university. If you're in it for the money, then look elsewhere, engineering salaries aren't as high as they used to be, even with a P.Eng ( and there are some minor limitiations with having a P.Eng that relate to ethics )

2)
being hands-on. The job pays quite well, but again, it's what I work with and the atmosphere around you.

3)
It's very technical, sometimes very frustrating. Expect a rough time through University, it will be difficult.

4)
The Ability to learn and time management. University is not so much about what you learn, because >70% of what you learn won't be used directly in your job, but you will hone your ability to learn new ideas and concepts, that's University.

5)
Make sure your marks are high enough. Even straight A's might not be enough, some High Schools are harder than others. Know your limits, but don't be afraid to push them. Also, if you go to one of the more difficult universities, get used to not being the smartest person in the class.
Do some research, and make sure engineering is what you want. Too many people spend 2 years of their lives and lots of money and find that they hate engineering, and fail out.




Anyway, the responses:

Thanks so much relativity, that's JUST what I needed! Gotta love the RFD community, hehe. If you don't mind, can you PM me his name? I'm supposed to include a references section with it.

Can't wait till university next year, I've applied for both computer engineering and comp sciences (comp sci as second choice), but I'm more interested in going into comp eng, so hopefully I'll enjoy myself! Thanks again! And thanks to everyone else for their input as well!

[P__S__2]

man im only 13 and today we got our forms for highschool courses and i picked Computer engineering.....im pretty good with computers....

Even though i didnt start this thread thanks for the answers above....very usefull.

[simms]

man im only 13 and today we got our forms for highschool courses and i picked Computer engineering.....im pretty good with computers....

Even though i didnt start this thread thanks for the answers above....very usefull.

Taking computer engineering in high school was the SOLE reason why I didn't go into computer engineering.

Spending months writing code to make lights light up? No thanks. I'd rather be processing steam reactors calculating the production rates of gasoline than programming in QBASIC watching LEDs go on and off.

[MTL]

I agree. Thinks long and hard before doing engineering. You need to have real interest in the stuff, and really enjoy it. If you're doing it for the money... fugetaboutit. Money won't buy happiness.

[deals4j]

if you want to go on into engineering in university, make sure you excel at the math and sciences or have some real strong interests in it. ive seen some people want to go into computer engineering only for their interest in computers and didnt do so well in math or hated math.

Yep, everyone I've heard from says the same thing. Good thing Math is my favourite subject.. (yay for 99% in the class )

[guest10586]

It isn't that math or any subject is hard. The only thing you need is the want to pass it. I hardly remember any of my math and I always passed my exams. I didn't know anything for a stats course and passed it. Not grades that were amazing but I passed.

BTW I would really research computer engineering in YOUR area if you plan on working there when you finish cause I took mine in Alberta and there aren't many jobs here.