Context for this article: Here I'll be talking about average to good private colleges. All this info is more relative to India.
There's no doubt that Computer Engineering demand is growing exponentially all over the world in the last few decades. The trend is the same in India as well.
Some key info:
- Both CSE and IT degree requires you to complete 10+2.
- Also, you need to have science stream in your 12th standard.
- Duration of both courses is
4 years.
What are the things you learn in CSE and IT?
The First 1 to 1.5 years is quite similar for all the streams of B.Tech. There will be some Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Electronics, Electrical, etc. After that, you will start to learn your stream-specific subjects.
Here are the list of common subjects in CSE and IT:
- Engineering Mathematics
- Basics Electronics
Computer Programming Languages.
In most colleges, you will learn C and Java programming languages. In some colleges you may get Python as your first programming language.
Data Structures and Algorithms
- Operating Systems
- Networking
- DBMS (Database management System. Database, in short)
- Little bit of Microprocessor and Microcontroller
- Software Testing and Quality Assurance (Basic Software Engineering )
- Introduction to Web Technology like HTML, CSS, JavaScript
More or less these are the subjects you will encounter in CSE and IT. This is not an exhaustive list though. In the last few semesters, sometimes colleges will say you can choose between two subjects. But in most average private colleges you will be told that faculty (teacher) is not available lol.
What are the differences then?
In most colleges, there's no noticeable difference between CSE and IT. There will be sometimes difference of only one or two subjects. Like in some colleges they offer Artificial intelligence in CSE but not in IT. But it won't be taught to the extent to create any significant difference.
You must be wondering, what happens in the job search? Do students of these two streams get any different treatment?
The short answer is not at all. Speaking from my personal experience. I'm an IT student. There will be almost no job that allows CSE freshers and not allow IT students.
Conclusion: These two streams exist only because too many students want to get into CSE, so they made a new branch instead of having many seats in CSE itself. I can talk confidently about average to good colleges, but I believe even in top tier colleges the difference between CSE and IT is close to none. More importantly, both of the students are treated equally in the job industry.
If you can get CSE that's good. If you get into IT still you are not missing anything
If you are a student and you have any questions regarding this, you may contact me on Twitter or Instagram