CSIT vs. Computer Engineering, in Nepal

Are you a Nepali student and have just completed your +2 or A-levels? Are you stuck between CSIT and computer engineering? Are you banging your head against the wall trying to decide which one to go for? Fear not, dear reader, for in this article, I attempt to weigh both sides in order to help you make the correct decision. So, keep reading!

Firstly:

What you have to understand is that the debate between CSIT and computer engineering is not resolved overwhelmingly to either side. Each of them has its own pros and cons. I’ll try to list these out for you, and you can make an informed decision on your own.

Computer Engineering:

Pros:

1. You get to call yourself an engineer once you get your degree.
2. It’s a more reputed degree, which means better job opportunities.
3. The government puts a lot more money into computer engineering than into CSIT. So, there’s a clear path to a full or partial scholarship.
4. You get to study with extremely intelligent classmates if you get into Pulchowk. (Before students from private engineering colleges “meet me outside”, let me clarify that it is not my intention in any way to demean their intelligence. I’ve met plenty of super-intelligent students studying in private colleges. However, I’m just reporting my findings at my own college. That is all. Peace.)
5. The course has a solid theoretical base, which might give you an edge over job-oriented CSIT students in some situations. (To tell you a secret, I don’t believe it does.)

Cons:

1. More theoretical, less job-oriented
2. Very old course, at least for TU.
3. A huge number of seemingly unrelated subjects. (At one point, you’ll be filing away a moderately big iron piece for hours on end, while wiping away your endless perspiration (and tears) in the summer, in an attempt to create a small iron hammer. It’s called workshop technology and is only one, albeit extreme, example of the unrelated subjects I mentioned.)
4. It’s very possible to get great marks in every single subject and yet have absolutely zero job skills.
5. The course seems to be designed by electronics engineers and has far too many electronics-based subjects that will probably be as useful as the workshop thing as far as actual programming is concerned.

CSIT:

I’ll be honest here: I’m a student of computer engineering, not CSIT. So, all my knowledge about it is second hand. Yet, I’ll have a go at its pros and cons. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how accurate it is. Hopefully, some CSIT student will review these some day.

Pros:

1. More job-oriented skills in course.
2. Not many unrelated subjects.
3. More freedom with what you can study. (You have many elective subjects, and paths you can take. For example, you could take subjects specializing in programming, network, database, and so on.)

Cons:

1. More expensive. No clear path to a scholarship.
2. Less reputed degree. You won’t be able to call yourself an “engineer”. It may not matter, but it’s always a bonus.
3. You might need to study some electronics concepts from scratch later on if you need them, because they’re not included in the course. (I don’t think this will matter. You might need to study accounting concepts from scratch because accountancy is not in the course. This does not seem to bother anybody. So, why would this argument be valid for electronics?)

Disclaimer:

The points listed here represent my personal opinions that I’ve formed using info from seniors, teachers, senior teachers, the internet, personal experience, and so on. It is very likely that you’ll meet people who have different opinions. So, just take in all the information you can get and decide for yourself. Moreover, although I’m a student of computer engineering, I’m no topper or programming whiz or anything like that. So, just take this info, especially the computer engineering part, like some sage battlefield advice coming from your ordinary, average foot soldier.