Thursday, April 23, 2009

The View from Computer Engineering

I’m a student in Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, starting 4th year this summer. There are only 4 girls in my class (out of about 100) so I want to share my rather unique experiences with the women in engineering blog. I want to give an inside view of computer engineering for students who are considering this or electrical engineering.

So what is computer engineering (CE)? At Waterloo, it is part of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department, which means there’s quite a bit of overlap with electrical engineering. Courses in the 1st year cover a wide range of topics, including introduction to calculus, discrete math, physics, computer programming, circuits, and even chemistry. Once thing that surprised me was that the stuff you learn in these foundation courses are actually used in upper year courses. The core CE courses start in 2nd and 3rd year and include digital circuit design, operating systems, and compilers. Because of this, it would be difficult to switch between electrical and computer engineering after 2nd year. In 4th year, there is a design project course and 9 electives.

I know some of these subjects might seem daunting to high school students, but if you have a good background in math, science, and preferably computer programming, you can learn the rest of it.

23 comments:

  1. is it hard to find coop jobs without much programming experience? and also whats the work load like and how are the job prospects after graduation?

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  2. hye i'm student of computer engineering in malaysia.. The same for me, my class had only 5 girl and the rest about 15 are male..

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  3. hmn right way...even I saw there only 12 pretty ladies with us..I passed out at 2007 on CSE..."electrical courses" from http://www.ableskills.co.uk/electrical-course.htm

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  4. do you like computer engineering

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  5. Wao. In my class there are more females than males. Lucky?

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  6. what do you like the most from computer engineering and did u ever considering computer science. right now im in the first year of college and im not sure whether to go to computer science or not.

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  7. in my university the females in computer engineering, chemical, industrial, civil, architecture are much more than males... only electrical and mechanical engineering have more males

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  8. It seems now a days girls are more into tecnology.
    I'm in 1st year of comp enginering. friends said to change subject it's too difficult n lots of against things but now i will prove them to be the BEST.
    THANK YOU

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  9. hy i am from pakistan man we just have 2 girls in our class .on top off it one off them is married,how does that sound for all u studs hahahahhahaha

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  10. Breaking news from the UKRC blog!
    In a rare and candid interview, Barbie explains her latest and exciting career choice: computer engineer.
    http://www.theukrc.org/blogs/getset-women
    She arrives in the UK next January, but your can have advance contact: Computer Engineer Barbie is the guest blogger on the new UKRC website from 26 May 2010.
    Find out how and why she chose her latest occupation and outfit.
    Send in your comments and questions.
    Only 14.4 per cent of computing professionals in the UK are women. In a press release to highlight the Barbie blog, the UKRC and BCS, the chartered institute for IT, are calling for more women in computer science and engineering.
    http://www.theukrc.org/media-centre
    Download the UKRC factsheet about women in computing in the UK, and link to useful organisations.
    http://www.theukrc.org/about-us/our-projects/women-in-computing
    choice: computer engineer.

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  11. hey guys...im a computer eng'g graduate.. come check my site : www.sac-ces.webs.com

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  12. Cool. I like your project. I saw it and really enjoyed watching it

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  13. i was like puzzled and im a girl, i was quite confused whether i'll get Computer Science or Computer Engineering for in our school we had a good foundation in programming and now im confused which is which for me. . .any suggestions?

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  16. hi i'm from india
    for me itz totally opposite
    there r more girls than boys in my class almost 3:1 ratio whoooooooo
    but itz awesome

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  17. hi,i am girl and i am studying computer engineering in a university in usa,this is my second year,the first day of my first CE class i was
    kinda worried that i was going to be the only girl in class ,i was
    worried because i thought i was going to feel weird;there were only 3
    girls in total. at first i was worried about being the only girl now i am worried about the competition level,i sometimes feel intimidated because i feel like men tend to understand faster.idk why.but all in all i love this subject,there should be more girls in CE,it is a very cool major.

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