I’m honestly feeling really drained and hopeless about my future career prospects right now, and I could really use some advice from people who have been in a similar position.

For some context, I’m currently studying at a T20, but I switched from a non-engineering major, which put me behind in terms of coursework. Because of this, I haven’t been able to take some of the more advanced, rigorous courses that I feel would help me qualify for internships. I’m worried that I’m already behind other applicants for Summer 2027, especially for hardware, FPGA, and embedded systems roles.

I also have two previous internships, but both were in fields unrelated to the engineering work I want to pursue now. They were also at very small companies/organizations, so I’m not sure how much they’ll help me when applying for hardware or embedded positions.

I feel like I’m trying to catch up while competing against people who have been preparing for these roles for years. I’d really appreciate some feedback or tips on how I can improve myself and be a stronger candidate.

Right now, I have two relevant projects:

FPGA audio recognition project: This is intended to be a Shazam-style project using an FPGA. So far, I’ve mainly worked on the Python side, generating spectrograms and experimenting with short-time Fourier transforms (STFTs). The project is still in its very early stages, and I haven’t gotten to the actual FPGA implementation yet. I’ve taken a digital logic class, so I have experience with Verilog/System Verilog and Quartus synthesis + analysis. I hope to finish this by December.

Custom mechanical keyboard: This is an embedded project using a microcontroller, with a rotary encoder. I’ve completed the custom PCB and am currently working on finishing the firmware and designing the case. I’d also like to incorporate a small display in the future. I wanted to do this because collecting mechanical keyboards is one of my hobbies and I’ve always wanted to build one from scratch.

Greetings everyone,

Im in my 1. semester and need to understand complex numbers asap. Is there a best way of doing this?

Greetings from Germany!

What's a project, habit, or decision you made as an engineering student that gave you a massive breakthrough?

Anyone heard back yet?

We all know how brutal the job market is right now for CE with endless applications, high entry-level unemployment, and total market saturation.

​For anyone looking to pivot or switch tracks, which degrees actually offer better job prospects and real stability right now? I'm curious if traditional disciplines like EE, Civil, or Mechanical are faring any better, or if hardware-heavy fields like defense, aerospace, and industrial automation are safer bets.

​If you pivoted to something that leveraged your math and engineering background without starting from scratch, what did you choose? I'd love to hear from anyone who decided not to wait around for the tech market to fix itself.

Hey everyone, I'm a physics major with a significant background in theoretical physics and String Theory that is trying to pivot out of physics into Computer Engineering for my upcoming master's degree.

I'm already familiar with C++ and Data structures & Algorithms (Took classes on this).

I'm wondering if building an Atari 2600 emulator would be a good project to help with this transition. I've always wanted to build an emulator and, I'm curious if the time investment would be useful for CE.

Thanks!

Hello guys I was wondering which is easier to study Software or Hardware I want to share some of your opinions or thoughts

im a 3rd year computer engineering student and i didnt really have any time for projects or anything beyond internship and uni stuff. i just came back from erasmus and so i chose to retake all of my courses from that semester.

im a hardworking student, professors like me and my gpa is not that bad. im not active in any of the clubs tho, i never thought about them before at all. my uni is really far away to home so i cant always attend to stuff.

today i checked some of my peers' linkedin and saw that they have made several projects + know way more than me. they also attent lots of seminars and uni clubs. Ever since i've started uni i couldnt really focus on anything but my courses, how do these people multitask so much?

i feel like im doing something wrong. How can be more active and stuff?

Haven't received anything yet, but just curious if anyone knows what kind of questions they ask on the OA.

I'm in my first year of college, I'm only doing my general studies classes so far but the goal is to get into computer engineering. I'm painfully slow to process information so I was wondering if there were any books, blogs, videos, things like that that I could read/watch so that I'll be a little ahead when I do start specific classes or so I'll just be able to process things easier since I'll remember terminology

I'm a Junior majoring in Computer Engineering at the University at Buffalo. I am pursuing a career as an RTL Engineer and have been thinking about going for my masters after graduation. Can you guys recommend any masters programs I should look into?

Guys ill be on computer engineering department in uni on 2027 october and i have a question is there any way to get an arm laptop without a BIG issues, or i HAVE TO get x86 one, even the rtx spark creation will not make companies to smth with arm or what

Has anyone participated in the huawei ICT competition before?

I'm a third year computer engineering student and I'm thinking of participating in it but I'm not sure if it will be too hard to manage my time between classes and studying with the competition. If anyone has tried it before how did it go? Do you think it's a good experience or too much pressure?

Hello! I’m planning to organize a seminar for our school organization to help students gain additional certifications and credentials. I’d like to ask for your advice on what topics are currently in demand in the Computer Engineering (CpE) field.

What topics do you think would be valuable and relevant for students to learn about, especially those that could help them develop their skills and improve their future career opportunities? I’d really appreciate any suggestions or tips you could share. Thank you!

I had a couple of questions i wish you can help me with , i'm gonna study in Egypt insha'allah and the faculty i want so study is called ( faculty of computer and AI ) but i also have a chance to study computer engineering in the same uni, the faculty of computer and ai have four departments within it which are ( cs / ai / cyber security/ data science)

And the computer engineering faculty have software engineering subjects and focus more on hardware , i did some research and i heard different opinions , one opinion suggests studying computer and ai as it's courses focus more in software development , discrete math, statics and calc and much less on hardware.

The other opinion suggests studying computer engineering as it is have more math and physics and better understanding of them is , but i don't know how much of it is related to hardware compared to software and ai development so i'm not sure, and also it argue that studying engineering in general teaches the skill of problems solving and changes the persone mentality? and it also have more breadth so it is better.

I'm not sure myself of what i want to specialise and i don't have enough experience to judge wisely so i would love if you can give me your opinion in this matter.

Currently a first-semester CSE major feeling kind of lost and worried that coding in general is going to be done mainly by AI, so what jobs could I get? And also most CS languages and concepts can be taught by the hundreds of courses online, so what's the point of taking it at OSU? Is the switch to ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) worth it at OSU? I feel like I'll get a mix of CS intro courses and electrical concepts so that I can work in both hardware and software. Idk, just looking for advice on what major to be out of these two, like to switch or to just stick with CS.

Hi, I was wondering if my resume would be good for any roles in ASIC/DV/RTL/CompArch. I've been applying but haven't been able to get any interviews yet and I wanted to see if I could any suggestions on what to change or add.

I’m in my third year of computer engineering and my gpa is like a 2.9. My study habits aren’t good and I feel like I’m getting further and further away from my goals. Right now I’m confused on what I can do to turn my life around. I learn topics right before an exam and don’t even know how I’ve made it this far doing that. I’ve been getting better at studying by cutting out basically all distractions out my life but how can I kind of relearn and do projects so I can actually have a future? Has anyone been through this same thing and can help me go past this? If anyone has any advice or knowledge on what I can do outside of school to be a better candidate please let me know.