Should I go to college for Web Programming or Computer Science?

[Leros]

http://www.stcc.edu/academics/webprogramming.asp

vs

http://www.stcc.edu/academics/compsci.asp

From the looks of it, the two year web programming will teach you very basic programming skills. I'm not sure how competitive you would be in the job market with that.

The computer science transfer would let you transfer into a 4 year university where you can get a full blooded bachelor of science degree in CS.

My personal opinion: The two year web programming degree will put you on par with a sophomore at a university getting a CS degree. Most the CS people I know have self-taught themselves basic web programming, databases, XML, javascript, PHP, etc. I can't imagine that being a very good route to go.

 

[SunnyD]

I dunno. I've only worked as a programmer for less than a year and I've done 3 or 4 very different things. I used different tools and different thought processes. If I didn't have variety like that, I would go crazy.

But pharmacists get to use tons of different shape and color pills all the time! There's lots of variety! (I'm messing with you now... there's a lot of different pharma fields, some are extensively more challenging than making sure dosage and interaction issues aren't going to kill the person standing on the other side of the counter. This has been covered extensively in other threads. FYI: I'm a software engy) ^_^

 

[Leros]

But pharmacists get to use tons of different shape and color pills all the time! There's lots of variety! (I'm messing with you now... there's a lot of different pharma fields, some are extensively more challenging than making sure dosage and interaction issues aren't going to kill the person standing on the other side of the counter. This has been covered extensively in other threads. FYI: I'm a software engy) ^_^

I'm still not convinced that being a pharmacist isn't boring as hell. I guess I don't know much about advanced pharmacology though.

 

[TheVrolok]

I dunno. I've only worked as a programmer for less than a year and I've done 3 or 4 very different things. I used different tools and different thought processes. If I didn't have variety like that, I would go crazy.

Being a pharmacists changes as well; different patients with different conditions, different/new medications, updates on protocol, etc.

 

[evident]

CS or computer E. anything less will be viewed as crap by employers.

 

[Reasonable Doubt]

CS or computer E. anything less will be viewed as crap by employers.

I'm not doing web programming for a job. I'm doing it for the knowledge to create profitable websites.

 

[sdifox]

Computer Science is mostly math. I just needed 1.5 more credits in math and I would have gotten a major in math.

 

[sdifox]

I'm not doing web programming for a job. I'm doing it for the knowledge to create profitable websites.

No degree is going to help you for that. What you need is the Internet Millions info-mercial.

 

[rh71]

we have a DeVry graduate amongst us :biggrin:

I wish I went to DeVry so that I wouldn't have to do all those classes for so long. But hey, I love what I do... and the top IT company in the world pays me for it.

 

[Crusty]

I'm still not convinced that being a pharmacist isn't boring as hell. I guess I don't know much about advanced pharmacology though.

Not all pharmacists work behind the counter at your local 24-hr Walgreens. I used to think the same thing until one of my friends went into Pharmacy here.

He's been doing quite a bit of in hospital work lately as part of the program and when he's done he has the option of doing an internship and hopefully getting on the hospital staff.

The way he was explaining is that that the doctors come in and diagnose the patient and request the prescriptions, then the pharmacist comes in and checks for interactions, allergens and any other alternative medicines that might be better for the patient. It's the doctor's job of finding out what to treat and the pharmacist's job of getting the right drugs in the patient to fix those problems.

 

[vshah]

I'm not doing web programming for a job. I'm doing it for the knowledge to create profitable websites.

you can learn that easily enough on your own time. no sense paying someone thousands to teach you...

 

[Leros]

Not all pharmacists work behind the counter at your local 24-hr Walgreens. I used to think the same thing until one of my friends went into Pharmacy here.

He's been doing quite a bit of in hospital work lately as part of the program and when he's done he has the option of doing an internship and hopefully getting on the hospital staff.

The way he was explaining is that that the doctors come in and diagnose the patient and request the prescriptions, then the pharmacist comes in and checks for interactions, allergens and any other alternative medicines that might be better for the patient. It's the doctor's job of finding out what to treat and the pharmacist's job of getting the right drugs in the patient to fix those problems.

That sounds better.

 

[Leros]

you can learn that easily enough on your own time. no sense paying someone thousands to teach you...

I agree. You can get a CS degree and not know anything about programming. Most of your real world skills will be self taught even if you go to college.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

I'm not doing web programming for a job. I'm doing it for the knowledge to create profitable websites.

A web programming major is going to teach you as much about making money on the internet as a finance major will teach you to win money in the stock market.

If you want real honest career advice, get the Comp Sci associates, then transfer whatever you can to a 4 year university and get the BS.

If you just want to make a ton of money without any work, don't even bother going to college because you are already doomed to failure with that attitude.

 

[Red Dawn]

Should I go to college for Web Programming or Computer Science? I'm torn between the two because I really want to learn to make my own web sites but I also want to learn software engineering. What option is best or should I possibly do both. First one then the other?

Someone please help.

While you are at it take a class in Hindi or what ever the language they speak in India, it'll probably come in handy in case you need to move there for work.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Computer Science is mostly math. I just needed 1.5 more credits in math and I would have gotten a major in math.

I didn't do anywhere near that much math. I did a decent amount I guess, but I can't imagine calc 1,2 discreet math and like 12 more credits of math electives would be enough for a degree...

 

[Crusty]

I didn't do anywhere near that much math. I did a decent amount I guess, but I can't imagine calc 1,2 discreet math and like 12 more credits of math electives would be enough for a degree...

It varies hugely from school to school. Here they expect you to be able to write code in whatever language the class is using while learning the theory for the class. We have 2 pure discrete math/logic classes, but those ideas are used in nearly every other class you have to take.

There are no 'programming in X language' class requirements for CS majors here, even though they are offered as 1hr classes for anyone in the school to take.

 

[Leros]

It varies hugely from school to school. Here they expect you to be able to write code in whatever language the class is using while learning the theory for the class. We have 2 pure discrete math/logic classes, but those ideas are used in nearly every other class you have to take.

There are no 'programming in X language' class requirements for CS majors here, even though they are offered as 1hr classes for anyone in the school to take.

The CS classes I took at UT used Java, C++, and Python. But I only took about half the CS course material.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

How is Web Programming even a degree? You can teach someone everything they would ever need to know about Web Programming in 1 semester.

lulz. No.

 

[Crusty]

The CS classes I took at UT used Java, C++, and Python. But I only took about half the CS course material.

Well I can tell you for certain that you can't graduate from UT without at least being exposed to Lisp/Scheme, Haskell, Prolog, and various ASM (MIPS, LC3).

Aside from that you pretty much learn Java in pre-CS(if you have to take all of the classes) and are expected to use that in most classes, but it's been my experience that they teach most ideas through both Java and some other language, usually a functional one, during the same semester.

I learned C++ in HS and when I took 315 it was my first exposure to Java. After that I've done a lot of Haskell, especially in 337 and 345 and they didn't teach me jack shit about it before we had to use it... they just expected us to be able to do it from a few examples in class.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

wrong. CS = math. Programming is a minor part of CS.

No.
Programming ⊂ CS
Math ⊂ CS
Boring shit about context free grammars, finite state machine etc ⊂ CS
Databases ⊂ CS
Networking theory ⊂ CS
etc.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Web programming reminds me of a "new media" major that they have at RIT. It's a lot to do with design and layout, etc than the actual programming part.

Not that there's anything wrong with this. At least it has real-world applications, unlike something like a fine arts or aesthetics degree.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

I didn't do anywhere near that much math. I did a decent amount I guess, but I can't imagine calc 1,2 discreet math and like 12 more credits of math electives would be enough for a degree...

This has been my experience too. In fact I recently finished the last maths class I ever need to take (assuming I passed the exam).

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

It varies hugely from school to school. Here they expect you to be able to write code in whatever language the class is using while learning the theory for the class. We have 2 pure discrete math/logic classes, but those ideas are used in nearly every other class you have to take.

There are no 'programming in X language' class requirements for CS majors here, even though they are offered as 1hr classes for anyone in the school to take.

Same I guess except I had to take a c++ specific course and a general languages course that was like a crash course in 4 langueges (Fortran haskell ada and python if I remember right) while going into the theory of language in general; I took a class on assembly too though that was an ellective I think. Otherwise it was going more into the theory of programming than the actual how to code in said languages, but most of my classes didn't count as math credits despite whatever math we used in them. All classes in my university used java unless the class had a need to use a different one though it wasn't based on the whim of the professor or anything.

 

[Leros]

Well I can tell you for certain that you can't graduate from UT without at least being exposed to Lisp/Scheme, Haskell, Prolog, and various ASM (MIPS, LC3).

Aside from that you pretty much learn Java in pre-CS(if you have to take all of the classes) and are expected to use that in most classes, but it's been my experience that they teach most ideas through both Java and some other language, usually a functional one, during the same semester.

I learned C++ in HS and when I took 315 it was my first exposure to Java. After that I've done a lot of Haskell, especially in 337 and 345 and they didn't teach me jack shit about it before we had to use it... they just expected us to be able to do it from a few examples in class.

Thats right. We did Haskell in 337.

I'm actually a CE major, I just took CS classes for fun. I got plenty of assembly experience. We did the LC3 assembly in Intro to CE and we did real assembly for the introduction to embedded programming class.

How did you get out of taking CS 307? I thought they only let you skip 305 or whatever it is.