College Education for being a processor engineer

[MnMWizard]

I am currently a 15 year old living in Texas and am starting to think about college. I want to be a hardware engineer (design CPU/GPU/etc. architecture), but I don't know exactly what to study in college. I assume I would take computer science and some mathematics, but what other classes would allow me to meet the requirements of being an engineer for Nvidia or ARM or Intel?

 

[smorizio]

you first want to start with electrical theriese and ac/dc circuits and basic componites. you should be able to read a repair guild for anything a tv/radio and follow power and data in the plans. having parts in serial or parrell in electronics changes it value. there a few yellow book dummies on how to bulild basic ciruts and how to breadboard. ti and other vendors can get test chips...look into eproms progamers and programing langue. if you can find older o-scope and work bench power supply and load tester to play with. with the right test tools you can fool with dead pcb and phones can read/see what they died from..same as learing from pc mb using post cards and other debugging.

 

[ss202sl]

Computer engineering
https://www.eng.fsu.edu/ece/undergrad/

 

[TJ Hooker]

Computer engineering, or maybe electrical engineering if you can find a program that has the potential for a strong focus in digital circuits.

 

[Pinhedd]

I am currently a 15 year old living in Texas and am starting to think about college. I want to be a hardware engineer (design CPU/GPU/etc. architecture), but I don't know exactly what to study in college. I assume I would take computer science and some mathematics, but what other classes would allow me to meet the requirements of being an engineer for Nvidia or ARM or Intel?

Hi,

The field of study that you're looking for is called Computer Engineering. Computer Engineering is a specialization of Electrical Engineering that focuses on digital circuits. There is a tremendous amount of overlap between the two fields, and in many post-secondary institutions the difference may be only a few courses.

Since Computer Engineering is an Engineering discipline, and Engineering is a regulated profession, your course curriculum will be mostly set in stone. The requisite courses that you take at college/university will get you the degree and the degree will get you the job.

What you do need to focus on is making sure that you have the right highschool courses in order to ensure that you obtain admission. Your school guidance councillor will be able to give you a ton of information, much better than I can. However, the following are generally highly recommended if not mandatory:

1. Calculus and advanced functions
2. Vectors, matricies, and trigonometry
3. Logic, sets, causality, and relationships
4. Physics (kinematics and electromagnetics)
5. Chemistry and material science
6. English literacy and writing

Many highschools offer introductory Computer Engineering or Electronics courses. These are usually elective and are not mandatory for admission to an engineering program at college. However, they are extremely useful. The same goes for Computer Science.

EDIT: I should have mentioned that I have a degree in Computer Engineering, so I'd like to think that I'm adequately qualified to answer this 😛 I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

 

[MnMWizard]

I am kind of trying to decide between hardware engineer and software engineer. Software engineer seems a little more reliable and easier, since (correct me if I'm wrong) you mostly only have to know a lot about the software aspect, whereas being a hardware engineer you have to know extensive amounts of both. What do you do as a computer engineer? Who do you work for? Was your education relatively difficult, or was it easy to understand with some studying and work?