I studied engineering, but looking back Computer Science seems like it would have been a lot better.
I’d be very interested in hearing more – you’re just the sort of person who I was hoping would comment (graduate from a top program several years out who switched fields and so has had exposure to both). In what respects would majoring in computer science have been better for you?
Computer science definitely seems better for making companies / entrepreneurship potential.
In my experience, engineering jobs are far more segmented. You can be awesome at making microprocessors, but then only a few companies may be able to hire you. In other fields in similar; there are lots of interesting areas within engineering, but within each, it seems like there are only a very few specific companies, especially within a given geographic area.
For whatever reason, a lot of engineering companies just don’t seem that great (I think it’s the lack of competition). Tesla and Space X (two of the top companies engineering friends would find jobs at) are much worse to work at than one may expect (see the Glassdoor ratings). Where you can find one, hope you keep the job (it often seems like you become specialized, and there just aren’t many other great companies in the space. An example is Intel).
I think that computer science jobs are more flexible than engineering jobs. I’m a bit more afraid of engineering jobs getting automated than computer science jobs (if you’re ok learning a lot of new languages).
More startups in computer science, if you’re into that.
The fact that engineering is way harder in college (at least my college) is an important factor. I really disliked much of my college experience because of the difficulty. Now a lot of the information doesn’t seem applicable to my life, at all (I’ll forget it quickly).
It seems like with CS you get the bonus of understanding AI risk more, if you’re into that.
I think that my (general engineering) degree definitely gives me a bit of a diverse background. I kind of have the option of going to a hardware/software startup, although I’m not sure I want to go in that direction with my career (it seems to narrow your career without improving your expected earnings). I like to think that it may be useful if I want to go into venture capital or some more diverse or meta-level positions, but now I’m really not sure about that.
One huge benefit to engineering is that I feel more comfortable making cool stuff, like arduino hobby circuits or burning man floats if I wanted to. It does feel really cool. Doesn’t help my career as much though.
(For reference, I graduated with a 3.0 at Harvey Mudd College in General Engineering, focussed a bit on electrical. I spent 1 year doing web entrepreneurship with a cofounder, then another year with 80,000 hours doing web development.)
I’d be very interested in hearing more – you’re just the sort of person who I was hoping would comment (graduate from a top program several years out who switched fields and so has had exposure to both). In what respects would majoring in computer science have been better for you?
Computer science definitely seems better for making companies / entrepreneurship potential.
In my experience, engineering jobs are far more segmented. You can be awesome at making microprocessors, but then only a few companies may be able to hire you. In other fields in similar; there are lots of interesting areas within engineering, but within each, it seems like there are only a very few specific companies, especially within a given geographic area.
For whatever reason, a lot of engineering companies just don’t seem that great (I think it’s the lack of competition). Tesla and Space X (two of the top companies engineering friends would find jobs at) are much worse to work at than one may expect (see the Glassdoor ratings). Where you can find one, hope you keep the job (it often seems like you become specialized, and there just aren’t many other great companies in the space. An example is Intel).
I think that computer science jobs are more flexible than engineering jobs. I’m a bit more afraid of engineering jobs getting automated than computer science jobs (if you’re ok learning a lot of new languages).
More startups in computer science, if you’re into that.
The fact that engineering is way harder in college (at least my college) is an important factor. I really disliked much of my college experience because of the difficulty. Now a lot of the information doesn’t seem applicable to my life, at all (I’ll forget it quickly).
It seems like with CS you get the bonus of understanding AI risk more, if you’re into that.
I think that my (general engineering) degree definitely gives me a bit of a diverse background. I kind of have the option of going to a hardware/software startup, although I’m not sure I want to go in that direction with my career (it seems to narrow your career without improving your expected earnings). I like to think that it may be useful if I want to go into venture capital or some more diverse or meta-level positions, but now I’m really not sure about that.
One huge benefit to engineering is that I feel more comfortable making cool stuff, like arduino hobby circuits or burning man floats if I wanted to. It does feel really cool. Doesn’t help my career as much though.
(For reference, I graduated with a 3.0 at Harvey Mudd College in General Engineering, focussed a bit on electrical. I spent 1 year doing web entrepreneurship with a cofounder, then another year with 80,000 hours doing web development.)