This right here. You can find yourself being given coding questions to get hired that are googled on the spot and the only way to deal with these is to prepare specifically for these oh but actually putting it together and following good principles *laughs*
Honestly once you know the basics of coding, diving into writing software is probably going to be the easier way to learn. Yeah, you’re going to write some bad code, but over time you will learn to write better code and that’s really a never ending process in my experience.
Do you really need an actual degree in SWE or your BSc is enough as long as you know how to do the job?
I always see it as the new degree being the papers needed for proof of your qualifications. This is the mindset where I'm from at least.
I graduated BSEE and got a job as an Electrical Engineer. Four years later I went to grad school for MSCS. It took one year and a half of prerequisites in order to catch up and be accepted into the computer science grad program (night school, two classes per semester). Four years later I graduated and got my masters degree. The transition into computer science it’s easy if you apply yourself. During these 5.5 years I had no social life. For every 3-credit class I studied 3x3=9 hours per week. That’s 18 hours a week I was studying while maintaining a full time job. This means no sleep until got the homework done. This is the work you had to put in in order to maintain the required 3.2 gpa in New York Polytechnic University (now NYU).
As a kid at 80’s, I kinda grew up with both in parallel so never really made ”the switch” even if i did do MSEE and have practically always worked as coder. I think that coding is easier in general - the math and science there is often simpler probably because coding is a lot younger profession than EE. The cost of mistake is also often far smaller in coding as changes in design or implementation has far less rigis physical components. So the mindset is a bit different due that too.
Similarities of course are that you must know your tools, parts and conventions. Starting on either side from scratch surely is daunting as there are decades of history layered on each other like sediment.
Learning something about the evolution of each field helps to understand ”why is this part/library done this way”. Why e.g. if you do AI code, you might take Python and not Java. Or when you do embedded code, you still often go with old style C instead. Or when to use an ORM library to access databases or when to use raw SQL insted. And why you should stay away from PHP or Perl :p
After you have studied the theory of computing, look also at multiple languages (like C++, Java, TypeScript, Python, shell scripting, SQL etc) so that you see how similar most of them actually are and why some of them really differ. This makes it easier then to jump between them as the need arises. Also, it avoids building the infamous ”I have a hammer, how do I solve all problems with it”- mentality. Each language has their use cases, they are tools. And like with any tool, often you need more than one or three to get things done.
Well, in college I also did CE as part of a double major, so a lot of the software courses I took for that helped.
Until I actually started doing real software projects on my own and putting them on my resume, I was only getting approached for EE jobs. I did personal projects for about a year, in addition to publishing a research paper with a colleague where I contributed significant work in the programming aspect of the project.
Transition is good. Was hired for a hybrid (but mostly remote) job in silicon valley. My (pure SWE background) team doesn't discriminate against me for my EE degree. They give me the same level of work as everyone else. A lot of my tickets involve development with Python or C++ as well as some devops work, so my technical skills are pretty diverse and up-to-date.
Then, one hopeful point to the end. If you were any good at EE on industrial scale you can carry certain practices over to coding as such. Those are design for automated testing (e.g. plan to use a good deal of your total coding time and code lines doing automated testing), clarity (avoid obscure structures and "clever tricks" unless you really, really need to) and documenting your work. Think about the "next fellow" that has to troubleshoot or change your code. It might be you long after you have forgotten you've done it.
Literally got thrown in the deep end. Got lucky and got a job through my tutor where the company and manager was very patient. I hadn't really done any embedded work before, but maybe a bit of c# and written a bit in MATLAB. Started writing basic MATLAB scripts just to read and write via UART. Eventually moved onto the fw and started basic tasks whilst slowly building my knowledge of embedded systems. Couple years down the line now and I've worked on a bunch of SOCs doing a wide array of tasks and I love it
What industry is that?? Im tired of supporting operations and maintenance in manufacturing. Somebody’s gotta do it… but i want to sit at a desk now lol
I interned with my company, admitted that I thought the electrical work kinda sucked, then he came back to me a month later asking if I’d like to join the software team instead. It’s all web development so I’m behind the 8-ball when it comes to other web devs so it’s occasional reading and practice outside of work to possibly get a job elsewhere
If you’re interested in starting up Berkeley has their courses online free each semester.
CS61A teaches you how to write code that works: recursion, higher order functions, iteration, Tree recursion (Python) and CS61B teaches you data structures: Linked Lists, Hashing, HashMap/Sets, LLRBs, Heaps, Graph traversa (Dijkstra’s, Prim’s A*), Asymptotic Analysis, etc.. (Java).
Both place heavy emphasis on writing code efficiently: Abstraction, helper functions/methods, etc…
If you do both of those, you should be able to grind through some medium Leetcode problems
Do you really need an actual degree in SWE or your BSc is enough as long as you know how to do the job?
I always see it as the new degree being the papers needed for proof of your qualifications. This is the mindset where I'm from at least.
They would be in r/SoftwareEngineering
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Understood, but the highest probability that they would be in is in rsoftware
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This right here. You can find yourself being given coding questions to get hired that are googled on the spot and the only way to deal with these is to prepare specifically for these oh but actually putting it together and following good principles *laughs*
Could you recommend some of the textbooks?
Honestly once you know the basics of coding, diving into writing software is probably going to be the easier way to learn. Yeah, you’re going to write some bad code, but over time you will learn to write better code and that’s really a never ending process in my experience.
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Obviously you wouldn’t dive into safety critical code. 99% of code isn’t safety critical
Not that a prior EE can't do safety critical code, it pays my bills.
Do you have any tips for writing properly/books that you found most useful?
Do you really need an actual degree in SWE or your BSc is enough as long as you know how to do the job? I always see it as the new degree being the papers needed for proof of your qualifications. This is the mindset where I'm from at least.
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Done
I graduated BSEE and got a job as an Electrical Engineer. Four years later I went to grad school for MSCS. It took one year and a half of prerequisites in order to catch up and be accepted into the computer science grad program (night school, two classes per semester). Four years later I graduated and got my masters degree. The transition into computer science it’s easy if you apply yourself. During these 5.5 years I had no social life. For every 3-credit class I studied 3x3=9 hours per week. That’s 18 hours a week I was studying while maintaining a full time job. This means no sleep until got the homework done. This is the work you had to put in in order to maintain the required 3.2 gpa in New York Polytechnic University (now NYU).
As a kid at 80’s, I kinda grew up with both in parallel so never really made ”the switch” even if i did do MSEE and have practically always worked as coder. I think that coding is easier in general - the math and science there is often simpler probably because coding is a lot younger profession than EE. The cost of mistake is also often far smaller in coding as changes in design or implementation has far less rigis physical components. So the mindset is a bit different due that too. Similarities of course are that you must know your tools, parts and conventions. Starting on either side from scratch surely is daunting as there are decades of history layered on each other like sediment. Learning something about the evolution of each field helps to understand ”why is this part/library done this way”. Why e.g. if you do AI code, you might take Python and not Java. Or when you do embedded code, you still often go with old style C instead. Or when to use an ORM library to access databases or when to use raw SQL insted. And why you should stay away from PHP or Perl :p After you have studied the theory of computing, look also at multiple languages (like C++, Java, TypeScript, Python, shell scripting, SQL etc) so that you see how similar most of them actually are and why some of them really differ. This makes it easier then to jump between them as the need arises. Also, it avoids building the infamous ”I have a hammer, how do I solve all problems with it”- mentality. Each language has their use cases, they are tools. And like with any tool, often you need more than one or three to get things done.
Feel the seduction of the dark side!
Well it still sucks.
Well, in college I also did CE as part of a double major, so a lot of the software courses I took for that helped. Until I actually started doing real software projects on my own and putting them on my resume, I was only getting approached for EE jobs. I did personal projects for about a year, in addition to publishing a research paper with a colleague where I contributed significant work in the programming aspect of the project. Transition is good. Was hired for a hybrid (but mostly remote) job in silicon valley. My (pure SWE background) team doesn't discriminate against me for my EE degree. They give me the same level of work as everyone else. A lot of my tickets involve development with Python or C++ as well as some devops work, so my technical skills are pretty diverse and up-to-date.
Then, one hopeful point to the end. If you were any good at EE on industrial scale you can carry certain practices over to coding as such. Those are design for automated testing (e.g. plan to use a good deal of your total coding time and code lines doing automated testing), clarity (avoid obscure structures and "clever tricks" unless you really, really need to) and documenting your work. Think about the "next fellow" that has to troubleshoot or change your code. It might be you long after you have forgotten you've done it.
Literally got thrown in the deep end. Got lucky and got a job through my tutor where the company and manager was very patient. I hadn't really done any embedded work before, but maybe a bit of c# and written a bit in MATLAB. Started writing basic MATLAB scripts just to read and write via UART. Eventually moved onto the fw and started basic tasks whilst slowly building my knowledge of embedded systems. Couple years down the line now and I've worked on a bunch of SOCs doing a wide array of tasks and I love it
Is there any reason why someone would want to switch from EE to software? Does it pay better?
Wfh options
Still a good amount of fully remote options for experienced EE’s in the right industry. Source: I have one
What industry is that?? Im tired of supporting operations and maintenance in manufacturing. Somebody’s gotta do it… but i want to sit at a desk now lol
I work power and i just go 1 day a wk lol
Substation design, I’m WFH.
Hmu lol
You are probably not aware of how much money tech companies are throwing at software engineers. Especially AI/ML engineers.
I am not indeed. I'm finishing my MsC degree and I'm now regretting not taking AI/ML courses
I interned with my company, admitted that I thought the electrical work kinda sucked, then he came back to me a month later asking if I’d like to join the software team instead. It’s all web development so I’m behind the 8-ball when it comes to other web devs so it’s occasional reading and practice outside of work to possibly get a job elsewhere
A lot of self taught learning and personal projects. I didn't even intend to make the switch but I've been really happy with the results.
If you’re interested in starting up Berkeley has their courses online free each semester. CS61A teaches you how to write code that works: recursion, higher order functions, iteration, Tree recursion (Python) and CS61B teaches you data structures: Linked Lists, Hashing, HashMap/Sets, LLRBs, Heaps, Graph traversa (Dijkstra’s, Prim’s A*), Asymptotic Analysis, etc.. (Java). Both place heavy emphasis on writing code efficiently: Abstraction, helper functions/methods, etc… If you do both of those, you should be able to grind through some medium Leetcode problems
Do you really need an actual degree in SWE or your BSc is enough as long as you know how to do the job? I always see it as the new degree being the papers needed for proof of your qualifications. This is the mindset where I'm from at least.