Computer science or computer engineering? What are the differences? Okay, another question: Computer science & engineering or Electrical & computer engineering? The difference could lead you into a different job.
The first difference, according to PayScale's College Salary Report of 2016, is the salary. Computer science & engineering students will make $69,100 in early career pay with a bachelor's. Electrical & computer engineering (ECE) will make $67,000 in early career pay with a bachelor's. So, pretty equal. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reported that the salary for a bachelor's degree in computer science degrees 
had reached $61,321 in their findings. However, that is for students who did only computer science and mathematics, without engineering involved. When engineering and computer science meet, salaries go up by $7,779.
So why the significant pay gap? It's how the work is divided between computer science degrees without engineering and degrees that include it all. Below, are the different kinds of tasks the curriculum's might have by themselves. When they are combined, the starting salary goes up.
| Computer Science | Computer Engineering |
| Creating software that makes hardware run | Designing the physical hardware - Hardware based |
| Programming and developing | Physical electrical components |
| Write code | Electrical engineering and computer engineering go hand in hand |
| Design operating systems | System design |
PayScale also admitted that STEM careers were the highest earning in their College Salary Report.
However, the Computer Science Education Coalition says that students should strongly consider doing computer science focused degrees due to the amount of jobs that are now available to them.
"Not only does computer science provide every student foundational knowledge, it also leads to the highest-paying, fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. economy. There are currently over 500,000 open computing jobs, in every sector, from manufacturing to banking, from agriculture to healthcare, but only 50,000 computer science graduates a year," said the Computer Science Education Coalition.
Techcrunch says that students who had studied computer engineering and embedded systems degrees are making the transition into web and mobile development due to the impending move to the Internet of Things the world is making. Therefore, any computer-based degree is becoming more and more attractive, but focus on software creation (that computer science is synonymous for) is something that even the engineers are having to become proficient in.
