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Hi TL,
First a little back-story: I've always been interested in hardware, electronics, digital things and all that stuff. Somewhere before high school, that made my choice of college very easy for me since I'm currently studying electrical engineering and has done so for a year. I've always imagined myself as an engineer, and admittedly, it is a pretty juicy title to have as I have this imagination that I won't have any problems with economy or jobs in the future.
However, almost since day 1 I have been doubting the choice I made. The education I'm taking is a 3.5year trip where the first 1.5 years is like a tsunami of different subjects; math, programming, circuitry all mixed together in a giant bowl of stress. Now, I still love electronics. I still love all things digital, but to be honest, I don't really give a damn about a lot of the stuff I learn in school these days, especially not on the electrical part.
Now, it doesn't make it any better that I have failed at least one course every semester. First semester, I prioritized all my time on math and electronics because the software part seemed easy. I failed software that year. Second semester, I failed both math and decided to re-take this semester's electronics on the next semester so I could get more time to get into it and get good grades in it. And because I failed math that semester, I also decided to re-take it. Yesterday, I failed that electronics course (which I have not been using a year on) and I'm still waiting for my math results, which I have a bad feeling about because the test didn't go nearly as good as I had hoped.
Ever since I've joined engineering school I've got a bigger and bigger passion for software and all things related to it. I've really been thinking about dropping engineering school and jumping over to the other street to Computer Science (it's literally on the other side of the street from engineering school hah). It's a bachelor's degree in IT and as of now it looks like something I will enjoy more.
It's a bit of an identity crisis to be honest. As mentioned earlier, I've always seen myself in the future as an engineer, but to be honest, I've never really had a clue about what that actually included, and the good pay engineers get has also been a big factor in my decision (and is still a big factor in my doubts). I know it's probably the wrong way to choose your path in life but I just can't stop thinking about it.
Here is my question for those of you who were kind enough to read through all that:
What would your thoughts on something like this be? What have made you choose your path in life? Would you go for something you seem more interesting above the other, even though you know the other will earn you a better salary* in the future? Why would you make this decision?
*I'm not even sure about the salary, I just keep hearing engineers earn big bucks and it annoys me to h** that something like even makes me consider it remotely.
 
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One thing that shouldn't decide your choice of what you're going to do for the next 40 years of your life is the salary.
It may play a part in it, but first and foremost you must enjoy what you do, don't forget that you are likely to do that for the next 40 years of your life.
If you know you will enjoy working as an engineer, then where do these doubts come from? Failing classes? Maybe you should put more time into studying, however, that's oftentimes hard to do if you don't enjoy a certain subject.
How deep is your knowledge about the Computer Science requirements and subjects? What if you will feel the same there after a year as you do right now about engineering due to several subjects that are not in your field of interests?
I know exactly, for several years already, that I want to work in programming, I may have changed my mind on what exactly I want to do a several times, but for me it was clear that it was to be in programming (just as you said you always saw yourself as an engineer). I am currently studying applied informatics and am close to the end of the third semester (1.5years) and there have been subjects I've had little to no interests in, yes, and it was hard to get myself to do anything for those subjects (which ended up as studying only the night before an exam about operating systems).
The things you learn are always a little broader as there are alot of people with different views in these courses of studies and they have to cover it all.
You just need to know wether or not you will really enjoy the part you want to work with for the rest of your life, or if you get more enjoyment out of computer science than you get out of the engineering you want to end up doing.
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my path in life? 'embrace opportunity'
and of course: do what you enjoy doing. That makes up half of your job satisfaction, the 2nd half is the people you work with and the corporate climate.
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+1 LML's post.
Let's touch on the topic of salary for a second; if you actually want to make the "big bucks" that engineers definitely have the potential to make, you need to actually be a good engineer. So if your absolutely despising the work then sticking may not be the ideal option. However on the flip side, the first few years don't really reflect what the job will actually entail. The same thing can be said about computer science, I mean you may enjoy the CS papers more, but the actual job might differ. I suggest maybe talking to people already in the field or actually doing more research pertaining to what each job entails specifically. In any degree there's a truckload of "misc" information that actually is never used in the job, so sometimes judging a job by the papers you take in college can be a bit misleading.
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Happiness is a far more important factor than salary, especially if the job market is good in general (engineering jobs- or any STEM job in general really- are in pretty decent demand in comparison to other occupations and professions). If you're going to be working in this field for a long time, you don't want to be bored or unhappy with your work. You want to love your career. You don't want to be regretting your decision, and looking for a change five or ten years from now.
Also: If you're failing one class every semester, why don't you just take one fewer class every semester? It just seems like you're overloading yourself and can't quite handle the workload at the moment. (Or figure out better study/ preparatory/ time management habits.) As a math major, I made friends with plenty of engineering students, and so I understand how rigorous their programs and course schedules were... but maybe you just need to take it a bit slower if you recognize that's the path you truly want to take. Maybe a little "slow and steady wins the race" philosophy is what you need? If you're failing and retaking courses, you're going to be wasting twice as much money and time anyway getting through them (not to mention compromising the amount of time and effort you can put in to your other courses every semester).
Good luck 
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A lot of my friends at uni changed courses and they haven't really used it or been successful. Think about what you have learned so far, will you miss out on much leaving this course?
My personal story was that I did a degree in Construction Project Management, I hadnt even set foot on a site before I did it and all the course material was new to me. Truth be told, I wasnt all that interested in it but like you, I had varied topics.
After two years of not doing great (never failed anything though) it all sort of clicked in the third year, I did work a lot harder and looking back it was the best thing I ever did. I still don't care much for it, in the sense that I dont enjoy it but if you read 100 books on birds you will be interested in birds and thats sort of where I am now. I have a BSc (hons) in CPM and I work as a manager in construction and I just seem to know a lot.
I think the only people who talk about salary being the only important thing havent actually started proper work yet or they are bankers
Without being you it's hard to say how you feel about it but consider this a +1 for maybe stick at it and devote more time to all your courses?
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I'd be wary of anyone who tells you that you should pursue happiness over money.
Happiness is important but what about your quality of life. I'd argue that money provides a certain quality of life that can make you happy. Furthermore, it is often the pursuit of challenges that make you happy -- money is just a by-product. For many careers, it is normal to feel burnt out and even question your choices.
I'm not saying go do the thing that makes the most money. But you have understand that money is a symbol of time and effort. To get money you have to make sacrifices. On the other hand, if you want to do your "own" things that make you "happy" you are also probably sacrificing money.
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And similarly, I'd be wary of anyone who tells you that you should pursue money over happiness.
EDIT: The OP is looking at majors like engineering and computer science. His idea of true happiness is not to throw away all of his worldly possessions and go backpacking naked through Europe until he finds a hut to live in. His standard of living, quality of life, and monetary situation are going to turn out just fine, regardless of which of those he chooses (or anything even remotely close), as long as he gets his education done, works hard, and becomes successful.
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Money does buy happiness, but the amount is lower than you think. When you have everything covered (rent, food, basic entertainment, the usual necessities) it comes to around 75k per year to be happy. The guy making 200k and 75k are going to be just as happy as eachother.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/18/how-much-money-makes-you-happy_n_1101622.html
Also, for the OP, I would suggest reading Linchpin by Seth Godin.
http://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-Godin/dp/1591844096/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357917202&sr=8-1&keywords=linchpin
Basically, the part I'm reading right now is saying that passion comes before your work. Would Shakespeare have written a blog? What if Jeff Bezos didn't live in the computer era? Would he just be a slacker getting by?
The point is, the medium doesn't matter because your genes have no idea what medium there's going to be when you enter in the world. Passionate people use the medium as a vehicle to express their passionate selves.
In your case, maybe it would be useful to try to express the artist within through what you're currently studying.
But if that doesn't bring you any benefits, maybe that medium isn't the one you were meant to express your art through.
Just food for thought.
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I didn't say pursue money over happiness. In fact, I believe 100% it is possible to pursue them in tandem.
Even in respect to education. I believe it is good to analyze your current situation. There are too many "trendy" degrees out there that don't have a high chance of success. Like printing in the 90s. Yeah, where are most of those people now? All of their education and thousands of dollars of equipment got replaced by a kid in his mom's basement with photoshop. But they enjoyed it right?
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On January 11 2013 21:20 Left4Cookies wrote:
Here is my question for those of you who were kind enough to read through all that:
What would your thoughts on something like this be? What have made you choose your path in life? Would you go for something you seem more interesting above the other, even though you know the other will earn you a better salary* in the future? Why would you make this decision?
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i was in your place but in a more weird situation, i was studying computer science and when i founfd myself in the 3/4 of my studies i realize that i didnt like it but i was so close to end it that i just did it, later i started working and i felt like shit, now im studying again what i really like, is like i lost 5 years of my life.
so my advice here is to take a break, think about what you want and choose, dont think about money or another things, because what you choose its whats you are going to do the rest of your life 90% of the time. so take your time.
if you do what you like you will never have to work again
![[image loading]](http://www.robotmutant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111006-140231.jpg)
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If you are not satisfied with what you are doing, then you should find something else. In your case i see several reasons why you should go for Computer Science rather than Electrical Engineering. First of all it is a very bad idea to study something to get a certain title. Especially if it is not even a master's degree (which i assume it is not since it is only a 3.5 year study). Also it is not very good to study something because you want to get a high income. Obviously this would be something to consider if you wanted to study ancient litterature or anything like that, but that is not the case with Computer Science. Especially because difference in average income between those two studies is fairly small anyway.
Also just out of curiosity; where do you study right now?
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Try to get into Software Engineering instead of Electical Engineering. It's mostly programming but incorporates a lot of engineering practices. You still get a Bachelor of Engineering Science but it's not offered everywhere afaik. And maybe in deeper in your current program you are able to choose to specialize in software? I'm not sure how your university/program is.
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You can still work in software with an EE degree, but I think it would be smarter to switch to CE or SE if your school has that. I think that an Engineering degree will probably open more doors than the CS one(unless it's SE then I can't imagine it opening more doors than CS), but the pay will be similar across both(probably lower on average with CS and higher peaks).
I think you should do CE since you like hardware and software a lot, so it makes sense.
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You all have some very interesting and valid points. Thanks for spending your time on sharing your thoughts! Appreciate it.
On January 12 2013 05:52 Prog455 wrote:
If you are not satisfied with what you are doing, then you should find something else. In your case i see several reasons why you should go for Computer Science rather than Electrical Engineering. First of all it is a very bad idea to study something to get a certain title. Especially if it is not even a master's degree (which i assume it is not since it is only a 3.5 year study). Also it is not very good to study something because you want to get a high income. Obviously this would be something to consider if you wanted to study ancient litterature or anything like that, but that is not the case with Computer Science. Especially because difference in average income between those two studies is fairly small anyway.
Also just out of curiosity; where do you study right now?
IHA in Aarhus . You?
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Law at KU, which is also why i think that one should not study to get a good salary. Even though Law school is supposed to lead to a high income. I have been surprised time and time again by how many people with a Master in Law who end up with a boring job and a very standard salary.
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On January 12 2013 06:24 Prog455 wrote:
Law at KU, which is also why i think that one should not study to get a good salary. Even though Law school is supposed to lead to a high income. I have been surprised time and time again by how many people with a Master in Law who end up with a boring job and a very standard salary.
which can be easily explained if they didn't do it for the love to the job:
The passion gives you alot more joy in what you do and will make you learn and remember more from what you study, hence being better at your profession.
If you do it for the money and not your drive of passion that is leading you that way you will find so much less enjoyment that you will probably also do worse and not end up in the higher paid jobs which are taken by those where it's more obvious that they are really passionate about it.
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EPT
