Career Question: Hybrid CS/MSIT + IO Psych?

[Ruger22C]

I'm a triple major. I'm studying CS, psychology, and philosophy.

My intention after I graduate is to get a career as a software developer, and then begin earning an MSIT so that I'm a better candidate for moving into a team lead role (higher income, and might be interesting).

But I very much enjoy psychology, and organizational psychology in particular grabs my interest. So, if I added a master's or higher in I/O psychology, what opportunities would that likely open for me?

I have two thoughts, and I wonder if either are true (and what others I might be missing).

My CS education and programming experience would make me an excellent I/O candidate at a software development company; I suspect they'd very highly value this duality, because I know the challenges that software teams face (etc.)
My I/O education would make me a better software team lead, because I could help keep morale high and also work on UX design.

And in either case, I assume that I'd earn a markedly higher salary than had I gone just I/O or just CS/IT.

Thoughts?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

To be honest, it is very likely no one will care about the psychology degree. An MBA would be more useful, but only if your company pays for it.

 

[Ruger22C]

To be honest, it is very likely no one will care about the psychology degree. An MBA would be more useful, but only if your company pays for it.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Sorry, I’m not watching an 18 minute video. I’m informed by a 25-year career in Fortune 500 and consulting organizations. If it’s management you want, an MBA would be more useful but even then, I wouldn’t pay for it myself.

I mean, more power to you if that’s what you want to pursue, but I wouldn’t go in with the expectation that it will help much. It MIGHT help you get a position in an HR department, but who on earth would want to work in HR?

 

[Ruger22C]

Sorry, I’m not watching an 18 minute video. I’m informed by a 25-year career in Fortune 500 and consulting organizations. If it’s management you want, an MBA would be more useful but even then, I wouldn’t pay for it myself.

I mean, more power to you if that’s what you want to pursue, but I wouldn’t go in with the expectation that it will help much. It MIGHT help you get a position in an HR department, but who on earth would want to work in HR?

Now I understand your initial response.

Team lead (management) is one of the positions I'm considering, but another option is work as an I/O psychologist but for a software dev. company. In this latter case, is it likely that experience in software development would grant much of an increased salary over having only I/O training? It might be a stupid question, but if I knew the field I wouldn't be asking.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Now I understand your initial response.

Team lead (management) is one of the positions I'm considering, but another option is work as an I/O psychologist but for a software dev. company. In this latter case, is it likely that experience in software development would grant much of an increased salary over having only I/O training? It might be a stupid question, but if I knew the field I wouldn't be asking.

Ah, yeah, that wasn't clear to me. Most companies that I'm aware of don't employee psychologists. They offer access to them through EAP programs or bring them in as consultants if there are problem areas. So I am not sure I can really answer your question.

However, if your interests lie more in psychology, I say do as much research as you can and go for it. I think the role you describe is more of a consulting role personally, but consultants can make big bucks.

 

[deadlyapp]

The way I read your expectation is that you feel you'd be able to understand the underlying human reasons for working in order to elicit a better response from employees. This is generally done by all managers in any corporate setting I've been in, but no more than a weeklong course is all that is necessary and there are tons of existing resources to the point that a double major in psychology would probably be viewed more as a barrier than a benefit.

IO psych again sounds more like HR side or organizational consulting (eg lean practices, cost cutting, workforce reduction, operational optimization) but I only know this on an industrial manufacturing side, not an IT/software side and have no idea if software companies even do the same thing.

Personal opinion? Stop wasting your time on the psych and phil degrees. Focus your extra time at being extraordinary at software dev. Get a job in software dev part time or freelance to get experience. Wait on any higher education degrees because nearly every single company that might hire you will pay for that degree if they find it valuable - and if you do endeavor to get into management, an MBA is much better served than an MS in a technical field.

If someone came to me for an entry level role out of school with your credentials but no real world experience, I'd never hire them.

 

[Ruger22C]

If someone came to me for an entry level role out of school with your credentials but no real world experience, I'd never hire them.

Definitely. School is mostly a joke, I wouldn't be surprised if I will have learned more in 3 months of programming prior to school than I will across all my CS school work.

 

[Ajay]

Definitely. School is mostly a joke, I wouldn't be surprised if I will have learned more in 3 months of programming prior to school than I will across all my CS school work.

Well, you are doing something wrong then. You can certainly get a lot out of school wrt high level problem solving, developing a solid work ethic and good communication skills. Who knew that those writing course I took would set me apart from other engineers who didn’t take such classes. I never would have guessed, but my physics department required it.

That said, I didn’t recommend any hire who didn’t have at least a software portfolio of some kind that demonstrated competency beyond classroom projects.

Following what @IndyColtsFan said, nobody with a non science dual major even made it past HR in my time.

 

[Ruger22C]

Following what @IndyColtsFan said, nobody with a non science dual major even made it past HR in my time.

Because of the non-science dual major, or because they lacked other things (e.g. coding projects, internships) that should have also been present?

 

[Ajay]

Because of the non-science dual major, or because they lacked other things (e.g. coding projects, internships) that should have also been present?

I would get resumes for people with only a CS degree, but no experience (or EE with programming experience, etc.). So, I'm not absolutely sure that HR screened them out, but I never got any. If I had, they would have gone to the circular file. For a junior position, I would only want someone 100% committed to coding. If we were hiring, it was because we needed more work done - we weren't there to babysit someone with other ambitions. I'm being a bit harsh here, but it's a harsh world. Pick something, anything you'd like - and commit to it 100% for the beginning of your career. If you want to do graduate work later on, that's usually not a problem (so long as you can make the time). Anyway, maybe I've said too much already, so I'll stop. Good luck to you in whatever you pursue.

 

[snoopy7548]

You should work in AI. Once Skynet becomes self-aware, we're gonna need people who can reason with it.

 

[Ruger22C]

I would get resumes for people with only a CS degree, but no experience (or EE with programming experience, etc.). So, I'm not absolutely sure that HR screened them out, but I never got any. If I had, they would have gone to the circular file. For a junior position, I would only want someone 100% committed to coding. If we were hiring, it was because we needed more work done - we weren't there to babysit someone with other ambitions. I'm being a bit harsh here, but it's a harsh world. Pick something, anything you'd like - and commit to it 100% for the beginning of your career. If you want to do graduate work later on, that's usually not a problem (so long as you can make the time). Anyway, maybe I've said too much already, so I'll stop. Good luck to you in whatever you pursue.

I don't need many more credits for my other two majors, so I won't drop them; but based on what you're saying, I shouldn't list them on my resume.
Thanks for your input.