Computer science major

[chrisms]

I am going back to university this Spring and am motivated to jump into a Computer Science major. I searched the archives here and found many negative things to say about the field in 2003 or so, but the current search turned up nothing.

After looking on Google I saw that the BLS says that Software Engineer jobs will be growing ?much faster than expected,? and CNN shows it is the 4th highest earning major behind a few engineering ones.

Has it made a rebound? Or are the jobs continuing to go to India at a faster pace? I am interested in computers, math-oriented classes, and have a bit of experience with programming although it was a few years ago and I couldn't write much code today. I have a lot of catching up to do to get into this major so I'd like to know if I'm wasting my time to get into it.

 

[esun]

If you're good, there will be plenty of jobs. If not, then not so much. You have to make yourself a competitive hire. I know lots of CS people getting jobs in the bay area right now, but they are all good coders with solid skills. If you're interested in it, you stand a good shot of doing well (while going into something you don't like will probably result in poorer performance), so I'd say go for it.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: chrisms
I am going back to university this Spring and am motivated to jump into a Computer Science major. I searched the archives here and found many negative things to say about the field in 2003 or so, but the current search turned up nothing.

That's exactly when I graduated with my BS in Computer Science.

I think the job situation has improved a lot, but I'll say this - don't do it unless you really enjoy it. A ton of people majored in CS because there was good money in it, and that's a recipe for failure. If you're good at it and you enjoy doing it, do it.

 

[Atheus]

Don't do a degree just to get a job, do it because you enjoy it.

 

[shuttleboi]

Originally posted by: Atheus
Don't do a degree just to get a job, do it because you enjoy it.

Don't get a degree to just get a job, do it to start a career.

 

[gopunk]

what the others said... if you are just doing it for the money, it's going to be hard to compete, since a lot of people really love the stuff and spend their free time honing their skills.

 

[tfinch2]

Good CS people are hard to find. Live, eat, breathe CS and you will be good to go.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

awesome career if you are good at it

 

[LongCoolMother]

im thinking of double majoring. CS & Economics. Should be fun.

 

[Deeko]

I'm graduating in 6 months with a degree in CS, and I've got quite a few (very good) job offers lined up.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother
im thinking of double majoring. CS & Economics. Should be fun.

Why don't you ditch the double major and just do BS and grad school in basically the same amount of time?

 

[gamepad]

i'm in the same boat as you. i enjoy math/programming type of thing but i'm not sure how safe the water is.

 

[chrisms]

It's not so much I enjot math that I've been burned by the vague/subjective nature of liberal arts classes and feel I can do much better in more logical, math-based courses. I want my answers on tests to be a clear yes or no rather than whatever the hell the professor interperets them to be. I do enjoy working with computers so it seems a god place to jump into, but I have such a liberal arts background that there is a lot of work ahead to get caught up with others in this major.

Thanks for the advice, from the nature of the responses it seems as though the job market may have picked up a little.

 

[fatty4ksu]

There is no science in computers. Just chips. Potato.

 

[bobdelt]

Originally posted by: Atheus
Don't do a degree, unless you'll get a job

Fixed.

I'm tired of people reccomending kids to major in whatever they like. They go sped 5 years in college, tons of loans, and then wonder why their film degree wont land them a good job.

 

[Deeko]

I disagree with you, why spend your life doing something you hate? Money isn't everything.

 

[notfred]

All the people I know that actually *LIKE* CS are getting jobs no problem, because they're good because they put a lot of effort into it. These are the types of people that write game mods, build google maps mash-up websites, and automate every little task on thier home computers because they're fun and interesting.

If that's the kind of thing you like to do, you'll enjoy CS and you won't have a problem getting a good job. If you don't like that sort of thing, you'll get a degree having learned only the bare minimum required (because you're really not interested), and you won't be able to compete with the people I talked about before.

I like CS, I do it for fun, I'm graduting next week, and I've already got a job that pays pretty well. I was hired a few weeks ago after spending all of 3 weeks looking for a job. I start right after New Year's.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: bobdelt

Originally posted by: Atheus
Don't do a degree, unless you'll get a job

Fixed.

I'm tired of people reccomending kids to major in whatever they like. They go sped 5 years in college, tons of loans, and then wonder why their film degree wont land them a good job.

I don't think you understood what he was saying. He said don't get the degree just to get a job. Of course it's a given that you should pick something that is in demand, that's the whole point of the thread. Atheus's comment was very similar to mine - there are many people who majoried in computer science just because the money was good. That is a bad idea.

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: bobdelt

Originally posted by: Atheus
Don't do a degree, unless you'll get a job

Fixed.

I'm tired of people reccomending kids to major in whatever they like. They go sped 5 years in college, tons of loans, and then wonder why their film degree wont land them a good job.

I don't think you understood what he was saying. He said don't get the degree just to get a job. Of course it's a given that you should pick something that is in demand, that's the whole point of the thread. Atheus's comment was very similar to mine - there are many people who majoried in computer science just because the money was good. That is a bad idea.

Exactly. Although I'll always repeat what my step-father told me: do what you love, and the money will follow. It has its limits, but for the most part that piece of advice holds true. There are far too few people in any field who actually enjoy what they do; if you're one of them, you'll stand out.

 

[Leros]

I've been to a computer science career fair. All I can say is that there are tons of companies recruiting for tons of positions.