A not so serious post on why Computer Engineering > Computer Science

Recently, there has been much discussion over the starting salary of fresh graduates. Many were surprised at how a Computer Science graduate can earn more than a Medicine graduate. After all, in an Asian context, you are a failure unless you are a lawyer, doctor or engineer. Just kidding.

What this post is about is to sell Computer Engineering as compared to the talk of the town: Computer Science. Yes, I am biased since I am a Computer Engineering graduate. During my time, I have only seen students switch from Computer Engineering to Computer Science because they cannot handle the workload, not the other way round. Today, I am here to convince you why Computer Engineering > Computer Science.

We understand both hardware and software

What is hardware without software? What is a computer without electricity and the chips that power them? Computer Engineering is almost like a EEE course combined with Computer Science. You get to understand how algorithm makes things work faster, and you also produce/select the best chip that makes it happen.

We connect with other industries

For some reason, I found myself in the aerospace sector, something which I would never imagine myself getting into in my earlier days. There was one project that we had to find out what is wrong with an aircraft and we talked about a transducer. I cannot help but wonder if a Computer Science graduate even understands what we are talking about.

We were the big brother

Ok, this is past tense. But just like how we always pay tribute to our forefathers, we need to know that there was a time when Computer Engineering was the big brother. In fact, NTU SCSE used to be SCE – School of Computer Engineering. So bow before us kiddos.

Computer Engineering	3.6	3.96
Computer Science	3.54	3.96

Engineering > Science

Science is finding out what could work. Engineering is making things work. Nuff said.

By the way, if you are thinking about which university to join, it is NTU. Because NTU is the best university.