Information Engineering vs mainstream Electrical Engineering

[scotty777]

Hi all,
I'm studying Electrical Engineering at Wits, and I'm in 2nd year, which is coming to a close... Given I pass all me subjects, I'm faced with a decision... IE or EE...

I have to choose, and I don't really know which direction to go in .

So to help me I've decided to ask the good folks of mybb a few questions .

1) Since I'm on the fence, pay is going to be a factor... If I take the IE stream, will I be even acknowledged by the peeps on the employment side of things? I mean, if I was looking at a CV that says the person has a degree in Information engineering, I'd think they took some classes at zyx university and they basically know a little visual basic. So like will it be recognized, and could I expect a decent salary?

2) Will I have a decent job offering if I take IE? Electrical Engineering is in general a respected degree, and there's plenty job security for it, I'm not sure about IE...

3) I don't really enjoy magnets and high power, which is really why I'm on the fence. I understand that main steam electrical engineering has that stuff, but they also look at software an electronics too (stuff I'm interested in...). I don't want to do IE if EE is the better option in this respect.

4) I really don't want to work for a bank, and I set the feeling that if I do IE, I'm streaming myself into that position, would this be correct?


Thanks guys in advance .

I did a quick search to find another thread on this, but I couldn't find one? Sorry if there was...

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Makes no difference, go with whichever one you enjoy. They're both elec eng degrees in the end.

 

[scotty777]

Dam, posted in the wrong section!! , Moderator please move .

 

[ambo]

If you are worried about people judging your qualification based on the name then remember that its still a BSc Eng and there is nothing wrong with putting that on your CV.

You won't get a job based on your qualification. For some positions a degree can be entry requirement to the process but your suitability for the job is still far more important. Often the fact that you are able to learn and were able pass a degree is all that they care about. Your knowledge is irrelevant, you know nothing useful when you leave varsity.

There is a lot of tough stuff in both courses. There is also a huge amount of overlap though and most of the toughest courses are the ones that everyone does. Regardless of which stream you take you can build you 4th year project within any of the fields.

I don't know why they always mention the banks. Perhaps there is a perception that there is good money in working for a bank. What this means in real terms is that you will be better prepared to go into a job that involves IT. That can include telecommunications, financial, systems engineering, software dev, process control systems, etc. At the end of the day most of the EE's end up in something IT related too, that is where a lot of the work is.

Choose the stream that has the most stuff that excites you, that way you've got a pretty good chance of getting good marks. Don't think that because you don't do certain courses that you'd never be able to work in those fields later in your life. I did IE and yet I find myself designing power distribution systems at work. And I have friends who studied in the HV lab and then went on to do software dev for mobile devices.

 

[UnUnOctium]

Like Mike said, makes no difference. With IE, you'll probably learn about digital comms & signal processing, more advanced programming and cryptography. With EE you'll probably learn about electromagnetism & antenna design.

Look at them subject by subject. Go with whichever one has more interesting subjects in your opinion.

 

[CrazYmonkeY159]

Well UCT call it Computer + Electrical Engineering. And that is what I'm doing. It is still a proffessionally recognised BSc Eng degree, It basically entails light current EE, computer science (maybe some machine learning in the mix) I had the option of doing power engineering but i had to do electromagnetism. I also did controls and signals. Very interesting degree, I have no clue why people call it the "BA" of engineering though as it is not neccasarily the "easier" engineering degree at all.

Oh and a couple of people my senior have secured jobs with some of the big telecoms companies. I only know of 1 person who is working at a bank and that person actually did chem eng

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

...
You won't get a job based on your qualification. For some positions a degree can be entry requirement to the process but your suitability for the job is still far more important. Often the fact that you are able to learn and were able pass a degree is all that they care about. Your knowledge is irrelevant, you know nothing useful when you leave varsity. ...

+1 and oh so true

A degree just gives you the edge when your up against equally experienced people, it in no way guarantees you a job. Only attitude and more important networking (who you know) will get you the job. This applies for every career path out there.