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Businesses The Almighty Buck

To Be Or Not To Be A CET? 86

Posted by Cliff from the today's-risky-career-choices dept.
maxdamage asks: "After reading an earlier Ask Slashdot article and the responses, I am very worried about my future career plans. This fall I am going into CET, which is essentially a cross between a CS and an Electrical Engineering degree. According to these responses, CS majors are doomed to spend their lives waiting tables. Does a computer related engineering degree give hope or should I change to a more general engineering program, before its too late?"
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To Be Or Not To Be A CET? More

To Be Or Not To Be A CET?

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  • Hard question (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pauldy ( 100083 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @03:45AM (#8957677) Homepage
    Here is the short answer if you are looking for big money IPOs and have little interest in computing technologies above and beyond that then don't do it. If you have a real passion for how computers work both hardware and software then the CET degree is for you. Jobs are to be had but employers are wising up to the flakes that have plagued the industry for the past 10+ years.

    I'm assuming your talking about the DeVry University program and as they are local I can only tell you my experiences in the Dallas area. They are profit motivated, the recruiters get paid commission (CET/EET/Bio are the most expensive programs), and they have a few teachers who ought to be elsewhere, their registration system blows rhinos. If you read all that and thought so I just want to learn then I would say don't worry any more about it and just go for it you will be glad you did.
    • If he was talking about the DeVry program, I'll chime in and echo your comments as well. I'm currently in the CET program at DeVry, and while I don't get a lot of background in the pure sciences to head on to that coveted PhD program in the sky (I still could, but I'd not have as much Math or Science as a typical "Engineering" undergrad would), I am finding that generally it's a decent enough program to be in. For me, the system does blow chunks in terms of quality of education, HOWEVER I am a pretty self-m
      • Both you and the AC are speaking in generalities about a University with campuses all over the country and Canada too. I hardly think that you have enough of a scope to speak about anything but the experiences you have had at the particular campus in which you where enrolled.

        I think experiences on this can vary due to the fact that DeVry is a for profit organization and I'm sure they fall prey to the ills that plague the work force as well. People often overstate their abilities to "get the job."

        I found

  • Do what you really want to do (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jgardn ( 539054 ) <jgardn@alumni.washington.edu> on Saturday April 24, 2004 @03:47AM (#8957680) Homepage Journal
    10 years from now, the last thing you want to do is realize you majored in a subject you don't like and you followed a career path that doesn't suit you. Don't major based on the pay scale of job opportunities -- major based solely on what you want to be doing in 10 years. Choose a major and a career path that will make you happy, and you will rise above the pack.

    If all you are interested in is money (which some people find an enjoyable pursuit), then you are in the wrong field. Get a law degree, accounting degree, or a business degree. Those tend to work with a lot of money, and they never have a short supply of it. No matter where our world goes, we'll always need lawyers, accountants, and businesspeople.

    • 4H Recruitment drive. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "Choose a major and a career path that will make you happy, and you will rise above the pack."

      Become a farmer. No one complains about them, and we certainly can't be outsourced. Plus you will be in touch with your roots (so to speak). People will be coming to you, TO YOU, to buy things. And yes farming is a very technical field, despite all the "image" in the media e.g. dumb hicks.

      "No matter where our world goes, we'll always need lawyers, accountants, and businesspeople."

      The same applies moreso to being
      • Doesn't the modern family farm, with land, stock, machinery, barns, cost over a million bucks? Any you thought that student loan was going to kill you?

        • Re:4H Recruitment drive. (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward
          That's a modern farm. If you have
          The trouble with doing this is that the profit margins are fucking small, really really small. If you don't already own the land, don't bother. If a disaster happens, you'll have a net loss for the year. If you're interested in making profit in cattle farming, then you'll need that million bucks. You'll be feeding your cattle moldy rotten feed and sheep hay to cut costs, and they'll live a miserable life. Cows will die because it's cheaper to let them die than to do
          • profit margins are fucking small, really really small

            Yes, yes they are.

            Today to be successfull in farming you need lots of money. Most farmers today of pretty much any size are millionaires on paper. Most of their money is tied up in assets tho. Many farmers are strugling to maintain a livable cast flow. Anything today that is small cannot survive. In dairy farming for instance, a standard herd 10-20 years ago was 30 milking head. Today, the minimum you need to have to possibly have a chance in the futur

        • 4H Recruitment drive.-diversify. (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward
          As I pointed out elsewere. Farmers diversify into other crops, or meats e.g. ostrich meat, strawberries. Heck, some farmers are going into fish farming. I wouldn't recommend the professhion for anyone afraid of hard work. And the answer to your question is yes, but then any suggestion of going into business is going to involve financial risk. The question is how much risk can one handle?
        • yep, and tax law discriminates against you for having a farm that's so small.

          Profitability is highly variable and it takes a keen business mind to stay in business.

          The best be to make the money is to get paid by agracultural researchers to use you land for researching the viability of new strains of crop as that's gaurenteed to produce a profit.

          In short farming is very hard work that you typically get underpaid for.

    • Re:Do what you really want to do (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Satan's Librarian ( 581495 ) * <mike@codevis.com> on Saturday April 24, 2004 @09:49AM (#8958525) Homepage
      At the moment your alternative fields are also pretty hard-hit. Last year's graduating law-school classes at many of the top 10 schools had horrible placement rates. Entry-level hiring as a whole is Down as well [nalp.org].

      Reasons range from over-hiring during the boom and cuts during the recession to the boost in the unemployed pool caused by scandals like Enron. There were a few firms who even revoked the offers they made to graduating lawyers - dropping them on their butts late enough in the game to almost ensure they remained unemployed for a while. That's a rather unheard-of event in the legal profession, as reputations are everything - it'll kill those firms' chances of hiring the top lawyers out of law school for years to come. Not pleasant. I know people that graduated high up in their classes from top law schools last year that are shoveling snow and mowing lawns for a living right now. Jobs are starting to come through, but typically they aren't anywhere near what one would have expected three years ago.

      Accounting hasn't seemed much better - the major scandals dumped a lot of experienced accountants on the streets, and some of the biggest firms collapsed hard [cnn.com]. There's also a smaller number of startups to pick up individual accountants. And business? You talked to any VC recently?

      It's rough out there right now. But I agree with your primary recommendation - do what you think you'll love doing. Hell, it probably isn't a bad idea to extend the college-time a bit trying out different fields to find that love until the economy picks up - if one is optimistic that it will. I think it's starting to, if we can try to avoid starting any more long quagmire-style wars and get our government spending in check before things really go south we might have a chance.

    • My example (Score:5, Interesting)

      by jtheory ( 626492 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @12:20PM (#8959326) Homepage Journal
      I graduated with a degree in Music composition and performance, which I very much enjoyed. I took other classes all across the board, trying to get everything I could out of college. When I graduated I got a job as a Java developer (based mostly on non-academic programming projects I did). Now I'm doing quite comfortably.

      I may get an MBA a bit down the road, since it would make a nice complement to my programming experience (and what I've already learned about how business works, on the job)... but the point here is that if you're bright and hard-working and show some initiative, you can get *something*, which will give you experience, which is what most employers want.

      Yes, degrees matter (and can affect your salary), but having or not having one doesn't doom you to failure.
      • My experience pretty much mirrors yours, except that I got my degree in Jazz Performance. ;-)

        One thing that everyone seems to forget is that there is no degree that will make you a success.
        You can be a plumber and starve, or you can be a plumber that makes millions of dollars.
        It all depends on how you approach your professional life.
        People with good work ethics are in extremely short supply (and always will).

        I wish people would stop painting the job future so bleak.
        If you are professional, imaginative, an

    • If all you are interested in is money (which some people find an enjoyable pursuit), then you are in the wrong field. Get a law degree, accounting degree, or a business degree. Those tend to work with a lot of money, and they never have a short supply of it. No matter where our world goes, we'll always need lawyers, accountants, and businesspeople.

      I would disagree. If you all you are interested in is making money, then stick with the computer engineering/Physics/Math degree, depending on where your true in

  • If you have CS experience than the degree could get you past the resume screening. If not than expect alot of helpdesk (if there are any left in the US).

    I would closely consider these articles Here [mac.com] that deal with freelance tech support work. They were posted on slashdot withing the last year. I learned alot from them.

    I can speak from experience that in an area with one of the highest IT unemployment rates than I have never been without a job. The last year has shown nothing but success.

    Why? Because of

  • No degree dooms you to a life waiting tables... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Karora ( 214807 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @03:52AM (#8957697) Homepage


    And also, no degree will provide a guarantee of success.

    The pluses and minuses have a lot more to do with your ability to get along with other people, your ability to think through problems properly, and your willingness to do the things you are asked to do.

    Ultimately, I think that studying and working within two obscurely related disciplines will make your skills more valuable and usable though. Whether that's CS and EE though - the relationship is perhaps too obvious. CS and CE might be a more worthwhile choice right now.

    • Odds are that CET stands for "Computer Engineering Technology".

      I've never really figured out if there is some difference between a *ET and a *E degree, tho. I'm not sure if it's just an alternate naming convention or an 'applied engineering' degree...
      • Engineering is a form of applied Science.

        The difference between the *E and the *ET degree is mostly a matter of ciriculum. With the *E degree you focus more on math, science, base theory, modeling, etc. The (IMHO, correct) assumption is that technology changes so fast it's better to leave you get that on your own(at your first job as a Junior Engineer) and to focus on the basic skills and theory that will always apply.

        With an *ET degree you get some of the theory but not nearly as much. The focus is mor

      • I meant for "CE" to stand for "Chemical Engineering", but after I posted, and realised the possible misinterpretation it wa s"Oh well... :-)"

      • Certified Electronics Technician

        From the Electronic Technicians Association website [eta-sda.com]

        "Since 1978 the Electronics Technicians Association International (ETA-I) Certified Electronics Technicians program has accredited electronics technicians worldwide who excel in areas of electronics equipment service and support. An electronics technician who successfully passes an ETA-I certification exam is professionally recognized as having the necessary knowledge and technical skills to meet international de facto elect

  • If you hope to be making decent money... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by shfted! ( 600189 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @03:56AM (#8957707) Journal
    If you hope to be making decent money in the ensuing years, you've basically got two choices. One is to get a service oriented career -- like a mechanic or a plumber, or anything that requires your presence. Alternatively, you can own a business of some sort. Either way, keep in mind that any job that can be done somewhere else cheaper will be . This does include just about any kind of engineering degree, too, except for maybe onsite work. Your best bet if you're looking for a career with decent money is a trade that requires physical presence or a management/business-ownership path.
    • Talk about a pessimistic outlook.

      Yes, the offshoring of technical jobs is disturbing but its still a small chunk of the overall jobs available. The people who are out of work, by and large, are because of the economy and increased productivity levels. Not because of offshoring.

      Even if your outlook were true, if all the good paying technical jobs dry up there won't be anyone left to pay for the plumbers andmechanics.
      • I don't mean to be pessimistic, just realistic. This movement happened to the manufacturing industry two or three decades ago, and it would be foolish to ignore it. I'm an optimist at heart. What I see is a change -- driven by economic forces. With change comes opportunity -- if you are prepared for it -- and disaster if you aren't. Of course, this trend is just an overall happening. It doesn't mean that there will be no residual jobs, just like how some things are still made in first world countries today.

  • Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by r00k123 ( 588214 ) <(ude.ssamu.tneduts) (ta) (etsnerob)> on Saturday April 24, 2004 @04:15AM (#8957748)
    This fall I am going into CET, which is essentially a cross between a CS and an Electrical Engineering degree
    First warning sign you'll have career trouble: no one in your target field recognizes your major.
    • First warning sign you'll have career trouble: no one in your target field recognizes your major.

      Having done an MEng entitled "Information Engineering" (essentially Electronics and CS), I was worried about this. In every CV I've ever sent, I've included the list of courses I took as part of the degree attached as an appendix. Employers love it and I've had no problem finding jobs here in the UK. I don't get bored in my job because I get to do both, and ultimately it lead to my being in a R&D positi

  • my advice (Score:3)

    by Tumbleweed ( 3706 ) * on Saturday April 24, 2004 @04:17AM (#8957753)
    Move to the country, and eat you a lotta peaches.

    Short of that, think about what kind of career you want, and what companies hire people that do what you want to do. Call said companies (or e-mail, whatever), and ask the people there what would be most useful.

    But trust me on the peaches.

  • I have an EET and CNS degree (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Gary Destruction ( 683101 ) * on Saturday April 24, 2004 @05:01AM (#8957831) Journal
    I have degrees in both Electronics and computer network systems. Unfortunately, finding a job in either field seems to be rather difficult. Then again, I live in a state that was by far one of the hardest hit in the recession. I'm open for relocation but I haven't had much luck. I'm thinking about starting my own company because between the economy sucking for so long and employers playing games, I'm tired of messing with it.

    • Re:I have an EET and CNS degree (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Hmmm - two 2 year degree programs do not equal a four year degree from a real college/university with a real Engineering program. Wonder if there's any correlation between that and your difficulty in getting a job?

  • The "T" stands for technology (Score:4, Informative)

    by Gary Destruction ( 683101 ) * on Saturday April 24, 2004 @05:12AM (#8957854) Journal
    For things like EET and CET, the "T" stands for technology. It's an Engineering [i]Technology[/i] degree, not an engineering degree. Now you could go up higher beyond a bachelor degree to a masters degree in engineering. Then you could take the test to be a certified engineer in your state. But a technology degree deals with things on a more hands on, technical level. It's applied science. Engineering, on the other hands, veers toward the more theoretical aspect. Example, Engineering Technology emphasizes how to use an equation to solve a problem. The equation's origins are irrelevent. But Engineering would actually derive that equation and seeks its origins.
    • Very few people who graduate with Engineering degrees actually do the Professionsal Engineer exams for their state. This is usually something that Civil Engineering majors might do, some jobs in the construction industry look favorably on this.

      It seems to my a physicist would say something very different than what you are saying regarding applied versus theoretical approaches. Physics in the theorical aspect of science, Engineering is the applied science.

      Your equation example is also off the mark. An

  • More food for thought (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Slugworth01 ( 738383 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @05:23AM (#8957873)
    My advice - get the degree in the field you like. CS/EE majors don't need to wait on tables after college - you just need to make sure you are more employable than your peers.

    My employer looks at a number of things that are not related your GPA, which school you went to, etc., when looking at new college grads:

    1. Work ethic - are you willing to take responsibility for getting your work done, asking questions when you don't know something, willing to contribute when you have a good idea?

    2. Ability to work in a team - we don't have any individual projects. Work with the team, try to get along with your co-workers.

    3. language skills - do you speak a second language? In the industry in which I'm employed, a second language is very helpful, our customers are from all over the northern Hemisphere. A willingness to travel goes along with the language skills.

    4. "business common sense" - like it or not, we're all in this for a profit. The path to this is keeping customers happy while making common sense business decisions.

    It's my bet that if you can exhibit a number of these skills after you finish your BS degree, you should have no problem with getting a decent job. So while working through your CET degree, look for opportunities to improve your skills in these areas.

    • http://www.mwcc.mass.edu/catalog/cet.html
      • I was aware that you were referring to a two year associates degree as opposed to a four year Bachelor of Science degree in an Engineering discipline from a college or university. I am also in violent agreement that an associates degree in CET does not equal a Bachelors degree in CS, EE or Computer Engineering.

        What's your point? The original question was about whether to get a CET - which was stated as a cross between a CS and Electrical Engineering degree. Maybe I'm assuming the original question is ref

        • I agree... regardless of the degree type 4 years is the way to go. 2 year or 4 year, you're still going to be a newbie when you get hired, and you may or may not be a brilliant programmer. What the boss is looking for is how you coped with dealing with a 4 year program and if you learned "how to learn."

          I went right from highschool to a computer engineering program. After my first year I got an internship, and then I was hired by my employer and I started finishing up my last 3 years of school at an on
        • A CET is a two year degree. The "T" is Technology. It's a technology degree. It's not an engineering degree. It's not a cross between CS and EE. That would be ECE -- Electrical and Computer Engineering.
          • A quick google search would find quite a few BS in CET degree programs, about half of which are actually Computer Engineering Technology and half are Civil Engineering Technology. Either way, a 4-year engineering technology program is better than an associates degree, but an actual engineering degree is going to make you more employable, as the focus is really more on how to solve problems in general rather than using specific technologies.
      • Wow, only 'basic algebra' required to take the whole slew of circuit analysis courses. Something wrong here?

    • Re:More food for thought (Score:4, Informative)

      by SagSaw ( 219314 ) <slashdot@noSPam.mmoss.org> on Saturday April 24, 2004 @09:47AM (#8958518)
      One thing to add to you list: Internships.

      Many colleges and universities offer (or even require) internships as part of their engineering degree programs. Even if your school doesn't have an official internship programs, it is in your best interest to find a company to intern for during the summer or even part-time during the school year.

      When you talk to potential internship employers, make sure that you find out how they handle their internship programs. You probably don't want an internship where all you do is clerical and go-for work, especially if you're beyond your first or second year. Instead, find an employer who gives their interns actual projects/responsibilities as part of their experiance. "Implemented an automated end-of-line test system for [insert widget here]" looks much better on your resume then "Reorganized storage rooms". While a certain amount of clerical/go-for work is part of almost any internship, it should not be the only thing you do.
    • Mods, the parent post is interesting.

      3. language skills

      And where would you learn such a languange? Right, you learn them abroad. Preferably from that beautiful slender sexy french girl or that hot petite chinese, who both love it when you talk linux.

      So do what I did and do your majoring in another country. When you apply for jobs, your resume will really stand out. I sure wouldn't have gotten my current job if it wasn't for the time abroad. And since there is no way escaping the offshore experience, yo

  • Remember the late 1990s? Yeah, those years where the guy with a psychology degree got a $100,000/yr job at a .com company because "his skills were relevant to how the company developed its web site" or some such crud? Those days are gone.

    As software and computer engineering matures and the industry grows (yes, this is arguable right now, but over the next 20 to 40 years I have no doubts it will grow), the primary differentiator between you and the next guy for obtaining a job in CS/CE fields will be tang

  • Oh please.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jotaeleemeese ( 303437 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @06:30AM (#8957966) Homepage Journal
    I was discouraged by so many people (even my own Uni!) when I went into IT 125 years ago that it was not funny. All of them were wrong of course.

    Look, doom scenarios are normaly wrong, what you read here is mostly innacurate tosh, specially when it comes to outsourcing and levels of unemployment.

    Only the bitter and unemployed have the time to rant, all the others are too busy making a living.

    Success is combined with a lot of luck, of which you have no control.

    So study whatever you want, enjoy it, and drop the idea that what you learn will somehow 100% influence what you earn.

    There are people with no education whatsoever who became millionares for having one good idea or for being in the right place at the right time.

  • I have no degree at all (Score:5, Informative)

    by foniksonik ( 573572 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @06:48AM (#8958005) Homepage Journal
    I'm happy, I have a beautiful fiancee, I just finished a 4 year term as Art Director for a software company and I'm currently bidding on several large projects while waiting for the right company to find my resume. I've never found it hard to find interesting and lucrative work to do. Having an open and active mind and a willingness to apply found knowledge is all you really need in this world of ours.

    If there is one thing you absolutely need to learn early in life is how to learn, how to find the information you need, how to comprehend and apply that information and how to express to others, in a language and terminology that they appreciate, the total of your learning and knowledge.

    GO learn how to do these things and get a degree, any degree, if you want to be able to prove that you are capable of them without having to demonstrate them. Then go and apply for jobs you think are interesting or lucrative. If you apply for enough jobs of this sort you will find one that appeals to you. Do you really care if it uses all the skills you learned in college? Most of those skills will be nearly obsolete in 5 years. The skills that won't be obsolete are the ones concerning how to learn. You can always teach yourself how to do any job. Just remember that it will take you a year or two of study to really understand that new job well enough to earn money at it. Plan ahead.

    Personally I think people should change jobs significantly every 5 or 6 years. Start in CS, move to Marketing, switch to engineering and manufacturing, run your own business for a while, teach at a community college, buy a farm, fly a corporate jet, become a paralegal... why not. None of them are really that difficult but they do take some specialized knowledge to do them well, probably about 2 years of serious study will teach you what you need to know for any of them.

    • Job experience is typically very good to have. As long as it's relevant and you can show some results it may even be better than a typical degree. However, I doubt that you'll be able to find a job which gives you an impressive resume today if you don't have an academic degree to back you up.

      But I agree that being flexible and willing to do new things and new areas are very important. It's hard to put that on your resume though.
      • If you have lots of flexibility and varied experience that you want to demonstrate, I recommend modeling your resume after this college entrance essay: http://www.meyerweb.com/other/humor/application.ht ml [meyerweb.com]
      • Luckily I already have an impressive resume ;-p and I disagree. Opportunities are all around. The only careers you need a degree for are also ones which require a graduate degree and some sort of State license to work, ie: Lawyer, Physician, etc.

        Anything else you really want to do is possible. Now most average jobs will be easier to get with one... only because HR doesn't care enough about the position to take the time to find out anything about the applicants. So granted, your run-of-the-mill white collar

  • Excellent Combination (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Geccie ( 730389 )
    I originally earned an EE degree in '87, then returned to school for a CS degree in '92 while working. Even back then, I found that hardware was boring as hell without the intelligence that could be realized through software.

    Pure CS folks have a lot of difficulty communicating with HW and EE's tend to write crap code or end up with very tedious jobs.

    The combination opens up a whole realm of opportunities such as autonomous vehicles, home automation, simulation. It's F'ing great!

    As for a career choice,

  • Don't knock waiting tables. A good waiter can make good money. Perhaps not quite as much in the long run as the degreed guy, but the waiter starts at full wages earlier. $60,000 a year is reasonable for a good waiter to take home, without working full time. (just get the lunch crowd in a busness area)

    It takes the right personality to do it though. I'd never make a good waiter as I don't have the right people skills. People will wait in line to have the best waiters serve their table, even though ot

  • There's always room for another good engineer (Score:4, Interesting)

    by nadador ( 3747 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @10:15AM (#8958636)
    > According to these responses, CS majors are
    > doomed to spend their lives waiting tables. Does a
    > computer related engineering degree give hope or
    > should I change to a more general engineering
    > program, before its too late?

    There is always room for another good engineer. If you take your education seriously and apply yourself, you'll be able to differentiate yourself from your peers. Then you won't be stuck waiting tables.

    There is always room for another motivated engineer. If you take a job out of school that isn't quite the job you imagined, but are agressive in pursuing every opportunity at work - you volunteer to finish off that project that no one wants to do, you offer to lead the project thats the opposite of glamorous - you'll differentiate yourself from your peers. Then you won't be stuck waiting tables.

    The world is always lacking honest, competent people who will go the extra mile to get work done. If you're one of those people, there will be work for you in the current economy. It might not be the job you want, or even the one you were trained for, but there will be one.
  • One of my acquaintances here is majoring in Computer Engineering, but he works for the CS department. He's got a MS internship over the summer... Of course he's a damned sellout, but the jobs are out there. Don't pursue another major just because you are concerned about finances.
  • I'm graduating this year with an EE/CS degree, and I don't think I'd do anything differently except take harder classes and get started earlier. (I used to be CS and switched to EE/CS my junior year.) I personally think that the degree actually affords you more opportunities, because you have both an understanding of EE and CS even if neither is truly in-depth. I personally focused more on CS and garnered most of my skills outside of the classroom anyway. The only huge problem I've run into is explaining wh
  • The people in that other Ask Slashdot took the employee, safe route. There was one business degree respondent who was working a help desk. Many of them had "what level salary to ask for" down to a science.

    These people are people who will never be anything more than helpdesk or Cobol-cubicle material, especially when their tone suggests they believe they're living "the good life." How about that fellow who thought he was eating $1000/mo on $150 of onions, cheap bread, meat sauce, and melted-down cubes of ch

  • Accreditation is the name of the game (Score:3, Interesting)

    by matthewcharlesgoeden ( 764440 ) on Saturday April 24, 2004 @03:51PM (#8960493) Homepage Journal
    Make for damn sure your program is accredited by ABET [abet.org]. Also, I found most degrees that end with the word "technology" are not near the realm of a cross between EE and CS.

    Anyways, my point is, Be Careful; otherwise, you are just another lamer with a fake engineering degree.

  • CET? (Score:2, Informative)

    by pertinax18 ( 569045 )
    My advice to you would be to drop the whole CET idea and get a real CS or a real engineering degree. They will be worth a whole lot more in the long run. Or do a dual major with CS/EE and NOT a CET. A CET will cover the basics for CS and EE, but nothing more, you will have lots of general concepts but little hard core, real knowlege. Most high ranked Universities don't offer CET programs, the only ones I know that offer things like CET are 2 year programs, mid-low ranked state schools or ITT Tech trade
  • People may talk about the market being bad, whatever. Any real engineer from a real university will get a job if he has some work experience and some common sense. I'm sorry, but most people I know that whine about not getting jobs should choose another field as they're not qualified. Notice I said "most" not "all." In any event, they tell you the different engineering disciplines are different. Really, it's just a facade to get you to come to "their" program. Granted, you will learn different things. Howev
  • Thanks for all your advice. Probably should have mentioned that I already have a CCNA and am A+ certified.
  • You already have 'IT' experience / qualifications - what do you want to do? I believe that a strong understanding of software is a lot harder to get than a strong understanding of hardware.
    I am cautious of hybrid degrees - I would be concerned that they water down the content to pack it into the time available.
    If you're passionate about hardware, go EE. If you are passionate about software, go CS. If you want a foot in both camps, you could do what I did - CS, and then buy a copy of Horowitz and Hill

  • Any course of study you follow with an aim of making piles of money in a single area of limited scope puts you at risk of failure because of some cyclical swing or technology shift. Diversifying your knowledge will prepare you to deal with anything that life throws at you. This is the way it works in the animal kingdom, and I think in human society as well.

    This is not a put-down of engineering or of any other course of study. I majored in Spanish and endured a lot of jokes about how I would have to work

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