Uh… no? Well, maybe for the guy in the picture because they’re clearly dumb, but “computer engineer” sounds more like chip design and circuit layout than even software engineering, let alone basic IT work…
Basic IT work is wholly and completely different than any kind of computer-related engineering.
As a computer engineer who works with FPGAs, thank you. I can’t tell you how many times someone comes to me with a CS question and I’m like, I dunno! Ask a CS person! I hardly know Python. [Admittedly, I really should learn.]
FPGAs are where it’s at, and the job market is surprisingly pretty open right now. Everybody’s sleeping on them, everyone wants study CUDA cores or architecture or… ML hardware accelerators or whatever. If you can transition to RTL design or even silicon engineering, it’s a good industry to be in.
Now, me personally, I’ve never made the funny magic smoke come out from one of my FPGAs, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fucked up an entire pipeline because I thought a series of logic would take 3 cycles but really it took 2 and now my entire data path is wrong and somehow I missed it in simulation and now I’ve gotta rearchitect everything and running synthesis/P&R takes a goddamn century to run and this is like my 5th time programming my board and…
It’s been so long since I’ve touched RTL and the last time I used VHDL/Verilog was college.
I probably could get back into it, but I’d only be qualified as an entry level, and I’m 10 years into software industry making a comfortable salary, I don’t know that I could take the pay cut due to other life shit.
It doesn’t really matter what I’m doing, just being able to play pokemon all day with my son while I’m on PTO today makes it all worth it.
Yeah circuit design was EE where I went to school. As a CS undergrad we had to take something called Computer Architecture where we learned about that stuff. But it was just one class, so pretty general coverage. Some CS grad stuff touches on it too (like networking.)
You’re arguing that words don’t mean what many people use them to mean. Most service desk techs that I know have “computer engineer” in their LinkedIn.
And that’s coming from me, a person with a B.E. in computer engineering. I hate that it is what it is, but it is.
That’s because they’re lying idiots, not computer engineers. I can call myself a beutiful woman, but that doesn’t make it true, nor would me calling myself a beutiful woman EVER change what “beutiful woman” means to others.
That’s my point. What it means to others is key. There are more “computer engineers” than actual computer engineers. The way language works, and by volume, the phrase is now accepted as overloaded. You can’t cling to the first definition in the dictionary and say the second definition is a lie.
No, that’s not the way language works. No, that’s not how education or degrees or engineering works, either.
You would have to fundamentally change the meaning of several well established words before “computer engineer” will EVER actually refer to tech support.
Uh… no? Well, maybe for the guy in the picture because they’re clearly dumb, but “computer engineer” sounds more like chip design and circuit layout than even software engineering, let alone basic IT work…
Basic IT work is wholly and completely different than any kind of computer-related engineering.
As a computer engineer who works with FPGAs, thank you. I can’t tell you how many times someone comes to me with a CS question and I’m like, I dunno! Ask a CS person! I hardly know Python. [Admittedly, I really should learn.]
I wanted to work with FPGAs.
Got set up on designing test systems.
Now I do .Net and Angular.
I miss hardware from the standpoint that it really makes sense. I don’t miss hardware when the magic smoke comes out because I fucked up
i could never work in hardware. i’d feel too bad for all the very small people i’d be shoving in the computers
FPGAs are where it’s at, and the job market is surprisingly pretty open right now. Everybody’s sleeping on them, everyone wants study CUDA cores or architecture or… ML hardware accelerators or whatever. If you can transition to RTL design or even silicon engineering, it’s a good industry to be in.
Now, me personally, I’ve never made the funny magic smoke come out from one of my FPGAs, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fucked up an entire pipeline because I thought a series of logic would take 3 cycles but really it took 2 and now my entire data path is wrong and somehow I missed it in simulation and now I’ve gotta rearchitect everything and running synthesis/P&R takes a goddamn century to run and this is like my 5th time programming my board and…
It’s been so long since I’ve touched RTL and the last time I used VHDL/Verilog was college.
I probably could get back into it, but I’d only be qualified as an entry level, and I’m 10 years into software industry making a comfortable salary, I don’t know that I could take the pay cut due to other life shit.
It doesn’t really matter what I’m doing, just being able to play pokemon all day with my son while I’m on PTO today makes it all worth it.
Computer engineering is precisely the crossover between EE and CS. In many places it is a program within the EE department.
Yeah circuit design was EE where I went to school. As a CS undergrad we had to take something called Computer Architecture where we learned about that stuff. But it was just one class, so pretty general coverage. Some CS grad stuff touches on it too (like networking.)
You’re arguing that words don’t mean what many people use them to mean. Most service desk techs that I know have “computer engineer” in their LinkedIn.
And that’s coming from me, a person with a B.E. in computer engineering. I hate that it is what it is, but it is.
That’s because they’re lying idiots, not computer engineers. I can call myself a beutiful woman, but that doesn’t make it true, nor would me calling myself a beutiful woman EVER change what “beutiful woman” means to others.
You should watch the movie “Bruce Almighty”
That’s my point. What it means to others is key. There are more “computer engineers” than actual computer engineers. The way language works, and by volume, the phrase is now accepted as overloaded. You can’t cling to the first definition in the dictionary and say the second definition is a lie.
this is definitely not true. Computer Engineering is a relatively common major even
No, that’s not the way language works. No, that’s not how education or degrees or engineering works, either.
You would have to fundamentally change the meaning of several well established words before “computer engineer” will EVER actually refer to tech support.
Language is however people communicate, fam.
And in the corporate IT space, we hire hundreds of “computer engineers” to do laptop builds.