computer engineering or electronic engineering?

[evil_villain__]

Hi I completed my matric in 2015 and I am now looking for a course to pursue which grabs my interests. can somebody please advise me on which to study. The things I want to do involve software and hardware development and aside from that one of the biggest things I want to work on is artificial intelligence. I also want to be hands in working with hardware as well not just the programming side of it, for example programming a new type of device and also being able to create the physical prototype. another thing is that my marks weren't good with maths and physics being 40%, is anyone able to advise me on where to study with those marks around Durban , if you're not sure of any around there please suggest whichever you know thats closest to it or international for reference sake but Durban is the first preference.

Through my research in Durban so far there's only one place I have seen where I might be accepted and thats the Commerce and Computer College of South Africa http://www.ccsadurban.co.za. However one thing confuses me , when I read their documentation on computer engineering (its under pc network engineering on their qualifications page) it does not seem like a computer engineering course its more like what its under , pc network engineering. when I phoned to inquire they insist it is computer engineering, I dont want to risk it though, can someone please have a look at the modules list and tell me what you think it actually is? here is the link: http://www.ccsadurban.co.za/images/Network Engineering.pdf

all help will be appreciated, thank you

 

[WaxLyrical]

With those grades and delayed time frame you need to start looking at needs not wants.
College maths will destroy you.

I would recommend pursuing those things as a hobby and rather do a course where you can excel in and get a job. Maybe programming or something.

 

[cguy]

Yeah, those links aren't even remotely related to engineering. That's very basic technician type work.

What type of HW are you interested in? Actually building electronic devices, or developing logic circuits (ASIC/FPGA design and synthesis?).

The maths thing will be a problem for you. Any serious engineering course is going to be very heavy on maths (and physics). Also any specialization involving AI/ML is going to be very heavy in maths and stats. I suggest doing a bridging course and trying to get in at a university for a BEng if you want to go the HW route (plenty of SW opportunities here too), or BSc with CS, Maths and Stats for a career in AI/ML/Datascience.

 

[stricken]

College maths will destroy you.

an understatement this is

 

[saor]

Have you done the electrical engineering course on Khan Academy? You're wasting your time if you haven't bothered with it. Not because it's a replacement for a formal education, but because it'll give you a basic idea for how interested you are in the subject matter. If you're interested you should have looked at it already rather than twiddling thumbs.

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/electrical-engineering

 

[chrisc]

If you were not good at maths, you must either consider something different, or get private tuition to improve your maths.

I tutored at least 50 people over a period to get their maths literacy up to scratch and introduce them to Calculus. I would say that only 7 or 8 had the aptitude. Some could just about make it but the majority could not grasp the concepts

Several of those who I thought were no good still went and signed up for first year pure maths and all dropped out within a few months. The lecturer at UCT would agree with this

You can find many maths tests on the net and you should work through these to try and ascertain where your weakness is

Example 1 - https://www.oswego.edu/mathematics/education-major-proficiency-tests
Example 2 - http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/academic-planning/choosing-courses/placement-testing/

 

[zafroggy]

I did the Computer engineering course at UP.

It parallels the electronic engineering course for parts of the 3 years.

Maths is done up to 3rd year and physics in the first year.

Try a few courses on khan academy or coursera.org to see if it is really what you want to do and maybe upgrade the maths numbers a bit.

 

[evil_villain__]

Yeah, those links aren't even remotely related to engineering. That's very basic technician type work.

What type of HW are you interested in? Actually building electronic devices, or developing logic circuits (ASIC/FPGA design and synthesis?).

The maths thing will be a problem for you. Any serious engineering course is going to be very heavy on maths (and physics). Also any specialization involving AI/ML is going to be very heavy in maths and stats. I suggest doing a bridging course and trying to get in at a university for a BEng if you want to go the HW route (plenty of SW opportunities here too), or BSc with CS, Maths and Stats for a career in AI/ML/Datascience.

Thanks for checking out that site and your response, I'm actually interested in both building electronic devices and developing logic circuits as well as working with both hardware and software. I agree with what many say about math, I do have a lot to catch up on. I had a look at Berea Tech and they seem to accept my marks, I will be visiting the college to discuss more with them regarding electronic engineering.

 

[evil_villain__]

Have you done the electrical engineering course on Khan Academy? You're wasting your time if you haven't bothered with it. Not because it's a replacement for a formal education, but because it'll give you a basic idea for how interested you are in the subject matter. If you're interested you should have looked at it already rather than twiddling thumbs.

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/electrical-engineering

Thank you for suggesting me with this, I'm going to try it out

 

[evil_villain__]

If you were not good at maths, you must either consider something different, or get private tuition to improve your maths.

I tutored at least 50 people over a period to get their maths literacy up to scratch and introduce them to Calculus. I would say that only 7 or 8 had the aptitude. Some could just about make it but the majority could not grasp the concepts

Several of those who I thought were no good still went and signed up for first year pure maths and all dropped out within a few months. The lecturer at UCT would agree with this

You can find many maths tests on the net and you should work through these to try and ascertain where your weakness is

Example 1 - https://www.oswego.edu/mathematics/education-major-proficiency-tests
Example 2 - http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/academic-planning/choosing-courses/placement-testing/

Thank you for supplying me with this information and links, it helps alot to get things into perspective

 

[DMNknight]

Building hardware related to computing is Micro-electrical engineering if I recall correctly.

Therefore it will be really heavy on maths, especially logic circuits. However, that won't be a problem if you are as motivated by AI/Hardware/etc as you say you are.

School maths often does not bring out the best in students because its a generic paint by numbers approach.
I had a friend who went from a 13% student to a 95% student simply because they found the right teacher for her. So don't give up because of your low scores, find the teacher that can find your learning groove.

If you are truly motivated by the subjects you listed, you will find a way to learn the maths you need in order to attain your goal

 

[saor]

School maths often does not bring out the best in students because its a generic paint by numbers approach.
I had a friend who went from a 13% student to a 95% student simply because they found the right teacher for her. So don't give up because of your low scores, find the teacher that can find your learning groove.

Agreed.

Again I've found KA useful for math: https://www.khanacademy.org/math
Start as early as you need to and work your way up. I'm amazed at how many fundamentals I didn't have a proper understanding of. If stuck on a concept then get a different perspective on youtube - there's so many different math channels out there covering the same topics. This dude has a good list of vids: http://patrickjmt.com/

Additional books:

The Magic of Math: Solving for x and Figuring Out Why
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012271OPI/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3156GP9RQS81G&coliid=I1451I8O586J3W

The Joy of x: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006R8PL7G/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3156GP9RQS81G&coliid=I3B7TSP1SFM9FC

Mathematics for the Nonmathematician
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BX1DN9K/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3156GP9RQS81G&coliid=I10YCID7E2PN9A

Measurement
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFS6LSC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3156GP9RQS81G&coliid=INUS87G9Y4LPQ

 

[evil_villain__]

Building hardware related to computing is Micro-electrical engineering if I recall correctly.

Therefore it will be really heavy on maths, especially logic circuits. However, that won't be a problem if you are as motivated by AI/Hardware/etc as you say you are.

School maths often does not bring out the best in students because its a generic paint by numbers approach.
I had a friend who went from a 13% student to a 95% student simply because they found the right teacher for her. So don't give up because of your low scores, find the teacher that can find your learning groove.

If you are truly motivated by the subjects you listed, you will find a way to learn the maths you need in order to attain your goal

Thank you for your response, I'd like to mention that I admire it as well because it contains true concepts which I've proven myself ,sadly that was after matric. Never the less nobody should be discouraged from taking on a course because of how they performed in the past with the subjects involving it, I am certain that many to be geniuses were put down by the advice that X subject will destroy you, do something else and then several years down the line they're doing something considerably smaller than what they were capable of. However it is equally important to emphasize that they should be sure that it is the course they really want to study and will put all effort into studying it as well as grasping the concepts they were previously weak in, else the whole concept will collapse upon itself. Aside from that it is easy for anyone to say that if your'e motivated to do something then you can do it, it's like telling a constant smoker as long as you are motivated to stop smoking then you can, seriously who is that information really going to help, no one. what helps is offering tips and methods along with that on how to do it, it is important to realise not all people have access to the resources that anyone else may have in order to do something and therefore mentioning the extra detail can prove to be effective to the person reading it, which is what you did in your post. Hopefully people in the same spot as me come across these , thank you once again.

 

[evil_villain__]

Agreed.

Again I've found KA useful for math: https://www.khanacademy.org/math
Start as early as you need to and work your way up. I'm amazed at how many fundamentals I didn't have a proper understanding of. If stuck on a concept then get a different perspective on youtube - there's so many different math channels out there covering the same topics. This dude has a good list of vids: http://patrickjmt.com/

Additional books:

The Magic of Math: Solving for x and Figuring Out Why
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012271OPI/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3156GP9RQS81G&coliid=I1451I8O586J3W

The Joy of x: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006R8PL7G/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3156GP9RQS81G&coliid=I3B7TSP1SFM9FC

Mathematics for the Nonmathematician
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BX1DN9K/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3156GP9RQS81G&coliid=I10YCID7E2PN9A

Measurement
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFS6LSC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3156GP9RQS81G&coliid=INUS87G9Y4LPQ

Thank you once again for your help, I've went there to check on the electrical engineering course as you advised, so far I've viewed the basic concepts of it and thats going okay besides the higher level math stuff which I will get the grasp of in time. The math course also seems interesting I'll have a look at it as well as the channel and other links you have provided. Good news is my cousin is now doing his second year of electrical engineering heavy current and he gave me his first year books so I'm having a look at those, in fact I'll learn what I can since its literally the complete first year course excluding projects and exams. I have also registered at Berea Tech for electrical engineering light current and should be starting in August.