I am a Junior in NDSU's Computer Engineering program. Computer Engineering (CE) is very closely related to, and often times confused with Electrical Engineering (EE), but there are differences in the two majors. Where EE focuses on things such as high power application and control systems, CE focuses on things like computer organization, computer architecture, microchip/digital design, and the concepts of what makes an operating system. In general CE's are the engineers who deal with things most directly related to computers, where EE's spread out into a more general field.
CE positions though still have a large variety of different focuses in companies around the world. You could be a Software Engineer, who works on projects in conjunction with other engineers and writes the low level code that makes a microprocessor in a larger system work properly. Or you could be an Embedded Systems Engineer, who designs electronic circuits and also writes code to make them work. Another example would be a position as a Digital Designer who does work with Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) systems, working towards creating a new generation of processor for Intel or a new Digital Signal Processor for a company like Texas Instruments. It is a great understatement to say that the field of Computer Engineering is broad, but it is true that it is a much more compact field than Electrical Engineering. That is one of the things I really like about my major of Computer Engineering.
Computer Engineers can often be found on the cutting edge of computing technology. Like I mentioned above, an engineer working at Intel is constantly racing to produce the next line of faster, more efficient, and smarter CPUs that will be fabricated to become the brains of millions of computers around the world. Similarly there are Computer Engineers who work at companies like AMD or NVIDIA who work on computer graphics processors that power small laptops screens to high end enthusiast level graphics cards. There are Computer Engineers that work for a sorts of companies that fulfill all sorts of tasks that many people do not even know exist. For example, as agricultural equipment becomes more and more high-tech there has been a major increase in the need for companies like John Deere to hire CE's to do the low level coding needed to run all of the new electronics that are included in their products. CPU's, GPU's, GPS implementation, to Operating System Design are just some of the fields of interest in Computer Engineering.
As the world becomes a more technologically focused and dependent place, there is a huge need for Computer Engineers to design computing technology for today and for tomorrow. CE's work with all sorts of other engineers in their cause of making the world a better place. It is a general concept that most engineers share, that their goal is to make the world better in every way they can. Even if not directly, almost all engineering work is towards this goal. Computer Engineers fulfill a very specific part of this goal, and it is a part that I find to be extremely interesting.
Until next time,
Ian “E Money” Wichmann
I enjoyed reading your article on Computer Engineering. As a computer scientist, I have a great appreciation for what computer engineers do. If it weren't for computer engineers, than I would have to learn about how all that fancy circuitry works. Although, I have a general knowledge of how it all works I personally don't care for the hardware world, and it need not care for me.
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