All these kids getting Computer Science degrees

[HeroOfPellinor]

I've been to a few graduations this past year and have noticed that one of the departments with the most students graduating in it is Computer Science. Not nerdy guys like four or five years ago; these graduates are all sexes and races.

I have two questions.

Do you think it's wise to get into computers just for the money? That has to be the primary reason for 90% of the new graduates taking CS. I imagine you'd be better off studying something which interests you and to which you're naturally inclined. That was the case with CS majors of years past.

Do you think there will be enough jobs for the increasing numbers of CS graduates? I know plenty of them who are having trouble finding jobs right now and I don't imagine it will get much better for them as more and more CS garduates continue to flood the streets.

I have to admit I felt a little sick to my stomach when the line of CS majors just kept coming and I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe it's because my world of unpretentious nerds is slowly being taken over by people who were popular kids. Maybe it's because I'm concerned about salaries in the field being driven down by competition. Maybe it's just a changing world in which IT professionals and programmers are going to soon make up 50% of a company's staff. I don't know. What do you think?

 

[CPA]

Your question is the exact reason I got an accounting degree and then persued my CPA - I knew I could make good money with both.

But as you can guess, I hate my work and what I do, it is sooooooooooooo boring. That's why I am working on getting my guess what......that's right CS degree. It will be either that or opening my own business (and no not as a CPA doing taxes).

 

[BigJohnKC]

Fine by me. I'm employed already, so no worries about new people coming in and taking my job. It sucks that anyone would get into a field just for the money, but that's one of the reasons people ave been doing things for centuries. I only hope that one of these new, popular, cool CS majors happens to be a super-hot single woman who comes to work in my department

 

[JkiD2k2]

Well, I am still in high school and I am thinking about going into Computer Science. Like programming or something. Hopefully, by the time I am out of college I will be able to find a good job and be making some pretty good money. That's just what I am hopeing....what do all of you guys think about CS job-field in the next 5-10 years?

 

[Killbat]

Yea, I see tons of people studying CS at my school that aren't into it at all. In fact, many seem frustrated with the whole programming concept.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN COMPSCI, THEN, MORON. Go learn something you enjoy and leave the CS to those who A) like programming and B) are good at it.

And I hear way too many people say they're into CS because of the nebulous "I want to make games."

 

[UberDave]

Yep, been dealing with computers most of my life. Got bored with it. Doesn't interest me THAT much anymore and it's so.... just .... you know?

I'm going into a different field now, WAY too many CS people. I couldn't even get a part-time job.

 

[shiner]

Do you think there will be enough jobs for the increasing numbers of CS graduates?

Nope. Not nearly enough. I know several who are working at Wal-Mart or somewhere like that. We just hired a new one here this week that has a Bachelor's and a Masters. What is he doing? Working the entry level helpdesk and bitching about it all the time. "I wanted to be a programmer and I'm stuck here." I keep telling him to shut up and be glad he has a job. Funny though he keeps coming to the area where I work, Network Admins, and crying to us about it like we care. He's heard several responses along the lines of "Well I wanted to be a multi millionaire porn star and I'm not bitching" this week.

 

[vi edit]

It ain't just IT. And there really isn't *that* much money in IT anyway, compared to many other fields.

My fiance is in pharmacy school. She's there because she loves chemistry and likes working in hospitals. 9/10 people in her class haven't even stepped foot in a pharmacy before. Why are they there? Because of the money. Easy $75,000-$100,000 once you get out. Easiest Dr. degree to get, best hours out of the field, and lowest burn out rate. There's A LOT of people going into that for money.

Same thing as many higher level doctor positions. They're in it for the prestige and the money, not because they *really* the work.

It isn't just IT that's in it for the $$.

 

[Kelvrick]

Yea, there are waaayyy too many new CS majors out there. I major in electrical engineering and my courses are almost the same as a CS or Computer engineering student. I know way too many that are in it for the money and don't like computers. I understand if I get weird looks and blank nods when I start spouting computer jargon with my friends and stuff but I think its sickening if CS and computer engineering majors don't konw wtf i'm talking about. It goes as far as not knowing how to defrag or do anything without theh elp of a mouse.

I figure there are 2 more kinds of people getting cs-type degrees besides the usual nerds. First of all are those who like computers but aren't the stereotypical nerds. They can function in reality but also enjoy hours at the computer. They are reasonably fit and might even be buff. Then, there are those who were the popular kids who have the ability to cram and learn enough crap to get a cs-type degree. These are the ones who dont enjoy their workdays unless its a payday. They also enjoyed hours in front of a computer before colelge, but only for games and didn't bother to learn anything else about the computer.

i learned most of my computer skills thanks to games. I spent my childhood on them and thanks to that I know more about computers then most people (maybe not anandtech, but most people in general). From the flood of CS majors, I doubt it'll ever get as good as it used to be for IT related jobs and stuff.

I enjoy computers but after the recent summers, I think I'm gonna change majors to Politcal Science or history. I most likely won't be able to make nearly as much if I stayed an EE major, but I think I'll enjoy my job a whole lot more.

<== thoughtful monkey dance

 

[Jzero]

First day of CS-1 there was a girl in my class and we went around and introduced ourselves and the prof asked each one why they chose CS she basically said "My mom told me I'd make a lot of money if I had a degree in CS."
What she didn't seem to realize was that you DO actually have to like work and stuff in CS in order to make lots of money. You should choose a career field you enjoy. All the money in the world won't buy you happiness. I've worked jobs where I dread getting up in the morning.

I chose CS because between that and acting, it's what I do. I don't mind that I can make $50k/year right out of college, but it would still be what I do if I could only make $15k.

There is becoming a glut, salaries are going down, and elegant programming is falling by the wayside in favor of brute force.

 

[Freejack2]

.

 

[LH]

"I want to make games."

Funny thing with that is most people that say that would probably burn out with in a year or two in the video game industry. They really have no idea how it works.

They think its all fun and games, which sometimes it is. However, you take a huge pay cut to work in the games industry(atleast starting out), and the hours arent exactly good(14 hours 18 hours, all nighters).

Lets not mention, the game industry isnt exactly and industry with alot of job security. You can be axed at anytime. Product ships, your might just be out of a job. March is a bad month to be in the game industry, its the most common time a company axes a bunch of people, to make the books look better for Q1.

 

[edmicman]

I'm a soon to be CS graduate...will have that hot little paper in my hand in December if all goes well....still not sure if its the greatest major, but for where I see myself going it seems the most appropriate. I've always been into computers and 4 years ago CS and the tech sectors seemed to be the place to go. I still think to some extent thats true. However, after 4 years of CS classes and such, I for one absolutely hate hard core programming, the majority of the people in my classes annoy me and drive me nuts, and frankly I've gotten more out of work than I ever did out of any class. I was one of those that coming in wanted to "make games" or "do 3d graphics like jurassic park". After awhile, I've come to the conclusion that those paths are entirely too much work than I'd like, with too little rewards, and I don't see myself able to compete with the hardcore guys that my univeristy is churning out, anyway. I've found a niche in the network admin / web programming stuff that seems to fit better anyhow. I do think though that a CS degree is gonna be better than some IS degree though. I have the technical background from the CS stuff and the hands-on knowhow from work experience that I feel pretty confident in the job outlook from here on out. At least for me anyway

Just my $.02

 

[Codewiz]

I just graduated in May with a CS degree. I was one of the few that LOVED programming in college. I did it for fun and for classes. All I ever heard from most people was bitching about trying to get their programs to work.

I still don't have a job. I am getting really frustrated. What really sucks is that my GPA blows because I hated all my classes except math and CS classes so I rarely got higher than a C unless it was a math or computer science class. My GPA is awful so it makes things even harder to get a job.

I know quite a few of my friends that are programmer right now that hate life because they don't want to program but did it for the money. I just wish I could have their job.

Right now I am willing to program for a company for $25K a year. I don't care how much I make. I just want to be working and doing what I like.

 

[MrCodeDude]

/me is a computer nerd.. So it must be okay for me to get a CS degree
-- mrcodedude

 

[DeafeningSilence]

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Do you think there will be enough jobs for the increasing numbers of CS graduates?

Nope. Not nearly enough.

Well, actually I read an article in Business Week recently that said that CS will be one of the fastest growing fields in the next decade. Yes, this was a current article, not one from 1990.

As far as the comments about CS majors who don't know crap about computers... you might need to take it easy on them. Not everyone who majors in CS is already a whiz. I had never written a program before I entered college 4 years ago as a CS major. I picked up knowledge along the way that most techies had when they entered school. Now I'm working in IT for a healthcare company, and I could reasonably say that I enjoy the work.

And finally, regarding those who do it for the money... more power to them. Unless you have to work alongside them. Some people will never like any work, no matter what they're doing. Keep in mind that throughout most of history, and in most of the world, people have had very little choice about their line of work, and struggle to provide for themselves and their families. So we can't knock those who are looking to give themselves the best opportunity for earning. We (those of us who have computers, Internet access, etc.) are an extremely privileged segment of society, and we take for granted opportunities that are unavailable to most of this planet.

 

[Jfur]

CS/biology (or other scientific, specialized minor) is a good bet, and will be in even greater demand. Too many CS graduates also do not have any real world applicability -- they can do some programming, but not necessarily well or in a way that would actually be useful to business. So internships with real companies or on real reseach projects is essential.

 

[Draknor]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
I enjoy computers but after the recent summers, I think I'm gonna change majors to Politcal Science or history. I most likely won't be able to make nearly as much if I stayed an EE major, but I think I'll enjoy my job a whole lot more.

Kelvrick - EE can be pretty far removed from CS. Anyone can jump into CS (as people here have pointed out), but most wouldn't survive an engineering program. As an EE, you almost need to know some form of programming, but there's a lot more you can do besides just computer stuff. Stuff like power systems, RF (radio frequency) systems, biomedical tech, sensors, embedded systems, etc.

I just wanted to point out that EEs have a far better career outlook right now than CS/IT does. (No, I don't have any links to back that up )

 

[Ns1]

that's why i left CS; realized that the job market was too polluted, and quite frankly i didn't like it; just cuz you like computers doesn't mean you'll like cs ^_^

 

[tcsenter]

Computers are a passing fancy, anyway.

 

[StattlichPassat]

This is why I'm a Business Management major- those punks are gonna work for ME.

 

[Ameesh]

if youre a good programmer you will have no problem finding a job. if you're stupid or suck then it wil be hard.

 

[BD2003]

The problem being you will suck if you cant get a job after college, and you cant get a job if you suck....

 

[DaveSimmons]

I'm far enough above average that I don't really worry about competing against CS grads. The 8.5 years of app dev experience since college helps too . Sure, there are entry-level jobs that would now go to a fresh grad instead of me, but I'd be looking for more interesting work anyway.

It also helps my feeling of security to have enough in an easy-to-access savings account to cover several months' expenses before I'd have to worry about cashing in a CD or selling mutual funds. It really lessens any power a company could have over me through fear of losing my job.

To the new/upcoming grads: do your own looking instead of relying on websites or campus recruitment. As well as reading the wanted ads, look for interesting local companies in the business section of the paper and in tech / developer / IT magazines. Good companies are still hiring, even if sometimes it's part-time / contract work with no job security. You're much more employable once you have real-world experience.

 

[diskop]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
if youre a good programmer you will have no problem finding a job. if you're stupid or suck then it wil be hard.

There are too many people who graduate with CS degrees but can't program worth a crap. You know who you are!