I have been in the field of computers now for over 15 years yet unknown to a lot of people I am not formally trained in the field of computers. I hold a Bachelor's Degree in CIVIL ENGINEERING with a specialization in Computer Aided Design as well as a Diploma in Computer Aided Engineering from AutoDESK.
Anyway for some reason people do believe I should know a lot of about the industry and come with thier children seeking advice (at thier own peril :-)) of whether their sons/daughters should do Computer Engineering. Everyone is doing Computer Engineering , there are huge opportunities for Computer Engineers and these engineers are getting great salaries. Much to thier suprise and dismay I am totally against anyone just becoming a computer engineer or doing computer engineering as one's primary graduation degree. I know I am in the business of software which largely depends on computer engineers etc. etc. but reality is slightly different.
The boom we are currently having in India with IT is very very favourable for Computer Engineers bypassing all other fields by huge margins. But how long this is going to last is something that needs to be considered. Also what needs to be considered is the kind of work we are doing. In most cases we just implementors for work that has already been spec'd and designed by others. We must realize just coding is the easiest part of everything and can be done by anybody as all you need to do is to follow instructions. Tommorrow if your company found someone else to do the implementation at a cheaper rate they would not hesitate to use that person instead of you as you are not really important or critical to them, you are just an implementor and now there is a cheaper implementor so there goes your job. You are not offering any further value to your employer. It is the person who wrote the instructions that implementors follow that the company will try to keep and retain as they are not easy to come by.
Now picture the scenario where you were implementing a software in the mechanical field and you were also a mechanical engineer. Dont you think you would be adding more value to yourself as not only did you know computer programming but you also knew everything about mechanical design and processes hence being involved not only in its implementation but also in requirement definations, design & analysis and hence becomes one of the people who writes the master instructions that implementors follow.
Another example could be you are a part of a team that does banking software, your value would truly be increased if you had some formal education in the field of banking too.You need additional qualifications over and above just being a computer engineer otherwise you are running out of time if you are happy just being a coder.
Chose a domain, get formal education in that domain as well as be a computer engineer, that is the way to go...
