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I am an aspiring computer hardware engineer. I am currently attending a community college working towards my AA degree. I'll be done officially with my AA this spring, but I'll need to go to summer classes to finish 2 electives for my major before i transfer to a university. I love computers, networking, building, troubleshooting, etc. Stuff with computers is just fascinating to me. I have looked through pages of majors and computer engineering is the only one that honestly appeals to me. Now for the question. I took chemistry 1 and 2 as electives for my major here at my community college. I got a B in chem 1 and a C in chem 2 mainly because I was stuck with an utterly disgraceful teacher. Anyway, I am currently enrolled in Calculus 1 and Physics for scientists and engineers(with calculus)1. After 2 tests, I have managed to maintain an A average in calc 1 so far( this could be subject to change as the stuff gets harder). I am taking these as prerequisites for my major. Math has never been my strong point or natural gift in school. It has never come naturally to me like it does most people. I can do decent in it but I really really have to work at it. I am concerned that if I make it through my math courses, I get my degree and get a job but won't be able to do any complex math that my job requires. Or, I'm afraid that I may forget how to do this math since i'll be earning my degree 2 years after I've taken these classes. My question is, are there jobs available out there for computer engineers that aren't heavily dependent on complex math skills? Those with engineering degrees, how often do you use all the difficult math that you were required to take as prerequisites? I apologize that this it so long. I'm just fearful that even if I pass the math classes, get my degree and get a job, i'll be unable to remember much less utilize the complex math that I took because I'm not naturally gifted in it. Thanks for your time.

If you can get through it in school, you'll be fine in the workplace. Not every engineer does heavy math in his/her job.

Study hard.

So even if I don't manage to get through the math with all A's, but I do manage to pass them, I should be ok?

Yep. As long as you get your degree, you'll find a job that suits you.

I would concur that as long as you can do the basics, you should be ok getting a job. However, you might want to re-look at the Engineering job market and focus on what you want to do.

For example, making CPU's. A lot of the companies want PhD's for the design, etc. If you have problems with math, you probably won't be able to go into graduate school and get a PHD, so that's out.

Designing and maintaining networks doesn't take calculus though, so you are fine there.

You would concur, or you do?

Pet peeve of mine .. sorry.

I use "would concur" if I have a caveat. In this case, I concur with the basic idea (get a degree in engineering with passing math grades), but have concerns about the overall goal (getting a good engineering job without getting a graduate degree). But that's just me.

Thanks for the replies guys. As far as my degree, atm i don't plan on going for a phd. I do plan on getting my bachelor's degree and later on hopefully get my masters. A masters is my goal. I'm pretty interested in networking and I have always been decent at troubleshooting network problems so I have been thinking about trying to tailor my degree towards something involving networks, maybe network security. Cisco has also crossed my mind as a supplement to my degree. I earned my CCNA about 2 years ago by dual enrolling the classes in high school. However, I didn't get near the hands on experience I would have liked due to budgets. If I remember correctly the CCNA expires after 3 years anyway so I'll need to get re-certified. Thanks again for the input guys. I really do appreciate it.