I did the same thing (ComputerEng, but more of a EE focus), mainly because there wasn't a job market that was interested in me when I graduated. I suspect this is more common with engineering grads than most others.  The barrier to entry for programming is much lower than that for engineering, which requires taking the FE, getting licensed, apprenticeships (in some locales), getting relicensed, and still no guarantee of a job. Knowing that, and needing a real job after years of no interest in "my field," I took the meager programming skills I'd been mostly ignoring since the 80s and made a go of it.