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hinkley 9 days ago

I still have nightmares about the entry level EE class I was required to take for a CS degree.

RC circuits man.

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seattle_spring 9 days ago | parent | next [-]

I dropped EE entirely and switched from Computer Engineering to Computer Science because of my entry level EE course professor. I know I'm not the only person pushed away from EE due to Neil Cotter. Boggles my mind why he's still allowed to be the gateway to that discipline for so many people.

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epolanski 8 days ago | parent | next [-]

Most entry level engineering classes (first 3/4 semesters) in most of Europe (all kinds) are designed to gate keep.

I graduated in chemistry, and Chemistry 1 in engineering had tests much more difficult than any other Chemistry 1 in any other faculty. After noticing that the same pattern applied to Physics 1 or Calculus I started realizing it was an engineering thing, which was later confirmed to me by an associate professor that was the design.

I asked him why, and he told me that it's a long established thing that you don't want people that struggle with science fundamentals to build bridges, ships or electrical circuits so the first semesters are very focused on this weeding.

	▲	hinkley 8 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I came into CS during a year they were trying to rework the intro class. Several of the homework assignments simply did not work. Which taught me that procrastination doesn’t just feel good, it also pays off. If I waited until three days before it was due before I even looked at it, there would be a whole thread about corrections and clarifications. Though in a couple cases they were still sorting things out and people were calling for extensions (one of which I believe we got). And this at a top ten school for CS. There are healthy ways to exploit an urge to procrastinate but this is just feeding the monster, and I hope the prof was ashamed of himself.
	▲	lttlrck 8 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Ahh perhaps that explains why I had Stress Analysis and Material Science in the first semester of CE... they were far harder than anything in following four years. I thought they were filler LOL. This was back in 92.

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mafuyu 8 days ago | parent | prev [-]

While I didn’t switch majors, I had a similar experience with my intro EE class. My theory was that it was intentionally a weeder class to push students towards the other engineering concentrations.

Intro EE is kinda brutal in that there’s a lot of theory to cover, and you need to build the intuition on how it applies to real world circuit design on the fly.

I had a bit of an epiphany when I was in a set theory/number theory class and some classmates were breezing through proofs that I struggled with. I was having to do algebraic manipulations in a way that was novel to me, but was intuitive to math nerds. I felt like that guy who didn’t “get” the intuition in an intro programming or circuits class.

But yeah, students often get some context for math or programming in high school, but rarely for circuit design. E&M in physics at best. EE programs have solved this by weeding out anyone who can’t bash their way through the foundational theory… which isn’t great.

If you’re still interested, I would recommend the Student Manual to the Art of Electronics. It’s a very practical, lab-based book that throws out a lot of the math in favor of rules of thumb and gaining intuition for circuit design.

	▲	hinkley 8 days ago \| parent [-]
		The thing I hated most about EE 101 though was that the diagrams predated the discovery of the electron so all the arrows point the wrong way. AND NOBODY BOTHERED TO FIX IT. It felt like taking a racketball class with my foot stuck in a bucket.

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crabmusket 9 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I studied mechatronics and did reasonably well... but in any electrical class I would just scrape by. I loved it but was apparently not suited to it. I remember a whole unit basically about transistors. On the software/mtrx side we were so happy treating MOSFETs as digital. Having to analyse them in more depth did my head in.

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mportela 9 days ago | parent [-]

I had a similar experience, except Mechanical Engineering being my weakest area. Computer Science felt like a children's game compared to fluid dynamics...

	▲	bitwize 8 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Maybe this is why Sussman decided to approach understanding physics by way of programming.
	▲	bsder 8 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		They call it Thermogoddamics for a reason ...

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cruffle_duffle 9 days ago | parent | prev [-]

“Oh shit I better remember all that matrix algebra I forgot already!”

…Then takes a class on anything with 3d graphics… “oh shit matrix algebra again!”

…then takes a class on machine learning “urg more matrix math!”

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seanmcdirmid 9 days ago | parent | next [-]

EEs actually had a head start on ML, especially those who took signal processing.

	▲	liontwist 17 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I think anyone with an academic bone in their body had a head start on ML. Linear algebra, optimization, gradients, etc are 1st and 2nd year topics for STEM. The software industry is dominated by self taught hackers and EE/math/physics drop outs. CS prestige is less than 10 years old.

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hinkley 8 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I remember vectors in 3D graphics but I don’t recall them in EE 101. maybe I blotted it out.

	▲	17 hours ago \| parent [-]
		[deleted]

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zahlman 8 days ago | parent | prev [-]

From my experience, complex exponentials were a much more important fundamental than matrices.