Comments on: Electrical Engineers versus Computer Scientists

By: suchit

suchit — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:56:36 +0000

I guess the more we are educated, chances are that generic sense in us is lost… with due respect sir to your age and experience, one doesn't need any degree to do be expert in any field,all you need is passion towards your work , of course degrees like EE / CS might make your job easier, and of course, I am a CS at graduate level and MS in Software Systems with subjects like DSP,Digital Electronics,Analog Electronics and Microprocessors etc…. all coming under my kitty when I was studying my graduation and MS, yet they were mystery for me… until I joined the industry started discovering the real meaning of what I studied and loving my world of technology…So in short you need to have passion in the field you work… no degree makes a better coder towards embedded systems…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:42:06 +0000

I don't understand why a person's skills are based solely on the degree they got in college. Quite honestly I'm used to these types of generalizations coming from EE undergrads. Whether you go for an EE or CS in college, both degrees teach the critical thinking skills that allow either a EE or CS to do work on both sides of the fence in the real world.There is nothing stopping a CS from learning the hardware side of an embedded systems project. That is the biggest issue I have with this post. And I see this alot from EE undergrads; that mentality that EE cannot be learned unless you get a degree in it. Having been through both programs, I believe anyone with enough time can learn any of this stuff on their own. Therefore, this entire CS vs EE topic is null and void.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:12:16 +0000

Your technical posts are useful and insightful and I thank you for that. This post however, is not of the same stock.A piece of paper is not a substitute for a brain. Learning is not simply an event hosted in a classroom. A monkey who cannot learn, or who doesn't want to learn what he needs to know to solve the problem at hand, is of no use, regardless of the problem or where you found him.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:41:00 +0000

I’m a CS major who’s done a lot of embedded programming, and I feel very insulted. The key to any sort of programming is being a smart person. Forget degrees. Degrees are meaningless. I’ve learned 10 times as much with real hands-on work than I ever learned while studying for that fancy piece of paper.It’s up to each person. A person has to be able to adapt to new environments, organize properly, and most importantly have an appreciation for subtle details. I never needed an understanding of current or voltage or how to design a CPU in order to understand how to avoid and fix race conditions, solve CPU cache coherency problems, and avoid stepping on memory I didn’t allocate, and I did it all while writing modular and maintainable code.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:54:00 +0000

I guess none of you should ever fly.Because the majority of code in the embedded systems that are part of the flight controls and engine controls in the majority of aircraft today are written by people with CS degrees (first hand knowledge).

By: Nigel Jones

Nigel Jones — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:05:00 +0000

Hi Anonymous: I’m not sure what your point is regarding my posting on Espresso etc. If you’d expand upon it a bit I’d be happy to reply. Thanks.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 23:56:00 +0000

It’s an interesting perspective, especially in light of your other blog post about using truth tables, a database, Perl, and Espresso create C code that most CS folks would consider an ugly abomination and would immediately want to refactor for the next poor sap who comes along and has to try to parse a 9-line test with something above 40 or 50 separate (and repeated) logic operators.

By: Maintenance Man

Maintenance Man — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 18:23:00 +0000

I guess there are some things a CS major just can’t do. Deep embedded programming is one of them.Myself I have an EE degree. However I stay away from embedded systems because I love the software side.I’m going to school right now to learn some CS. Maybe I will encourage my peers to go get an MSEE.

By: Rachel Blum

Rachel Blum — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:28:00 +0000

And by “work in a time”, I mean you “work in a team”. Sheesh.

By: Rachel Blum

Rachel Blum — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:12:00 +0000

Of course, if you’re a double major (or CS with an EE minor), this doesn’t apply Or you work in a time that has a good CS and a good EE working together…But ultimately, it boils down to hiring people who are good at doing what needs to be done. It’s not a function of the degree, it’s a function of the selection process.