A degree in Computer Science or CIS(Computer Information Systems)?

dtb00201 said:
Any advice as far as a resume with no work experience?
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Good question. I have this same dilemma. I've submitted my resume anyhow and actually I've gotten a couple calls back. I've included the fact that I'm in school and that I'm studying for my A+ on my cover letter so they won't think I'm just looking for a job. I actually went to an interview for one position and ended speaking with the IT manager. Her advice to me was to give her a call at the top of the year for a position if I didn't get the position that I was interviewing for. Needless to say, I didn't get the gig so I will be contacting her at the top of the year. All it takes is one employer to give you a shot and you're off and running.
 
dtb00201 said:
Any advice as far as a resume with no work experience?
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If you have no professional experience, use projects, and sell your skillset, its similar to what a friend of mines has been doing, and try and think outside of the box as far as selling yourself...if you have the free time, do a free lance project, or try and modify an existing one using different technologies, companies will like your initiative...and its just one extra factor you can use to sell yourself
 
I majored in Computer Science went to Southern Poly Tech University in Ga. A computer science degree was super hard because of the math and physics as many of you already stated. The best advice is to get an internship before graduating. I didnt intern but i have a good job that I've been at gor 8 years. Im a Product Specialist for a company called Sage Software.

If you really want to advance learn new languages and try to get certs. One cert I def say get is CCNA once u pass that its guaranteed money.

Also, for my fellow African Americans join NSBE.
 
yup yup self study does justice brah if the bucks are tight self study is the way!!
roll.gif
 
JustScoreda100 said:
I lucked out and was able to do CS IS which only required basic sciences and calc 2 as the highest level of math.
My university changed the programm while I still attended for new incoming students though. They added physics and discrete math as a requirement for all CS students.
But dont shy away from a CS degree just because of the math. There are alternate routes you can take that lead to the same goal. For instance, you can take all your math classes at near by community colleges and transfer your credits over. Most CC's have easier teachers, and only credits transfer not grades. It may be difficult to find CC's that offer those higher level classes though. You can also take summer classes. Sometimes the professors who teach summer classes are more lax due to the condensed nature of the course.
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preciate it famb. i'm actually at a cc right now but actually in the process of transferring soon. got up 30 credit hours but i was gonna take all my math courses once i transfer because the university is actually closer to home. although i will be taking a computing science class at the cc this upcoming spring semester. do you think that may help any? the university offers a baccalaureate degree in CS.
 
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also do you have to be very skilled and knowledgeable when it comes to CS? because i'm not computer illiterate, but i'm quite ignorant when it comes to programming, modding, and stuff like that or that is completely irrelevant stuff? i can follow tasks very well though when it comes to learning things on the computer.
 
currently pursuing a cs degree. just wanted to give out some advice to others in a similar position:

1) apply for internships immediately (even for your first summer between freshman and sophomore years). You may feel like you don't have the necessary experience to get the position, but you will at the very least get invaluable experience in interviews and communicating with people in industry. Who knows, maybe you'll actually get the position and you get great experience and make money your very first summer. apply for startups as well as big name companies. startups are often a bit more lenient when it comes to hiring students with less experience.

2) don't stress too much over your classes. It's not the end of the world if you get below an A. you can get a decent job with 3.0+, try to aim for a 3.3+ though. 

3) find a group of people you can work with all the time and take project-based courses together. it's very helpful having a group of people you can regulary ask questions and work with.

4) do side projects. anytime you think of a cool idea, try to build it. You'll familiarize yourself with new technologies and you can possibly make a cool product as well. Include it in your resume, and recruiters will definitely take note of your interest outside of just academics

5) Try and develop relationships with at least 2 professors. Whenever it comes time for a letter of rec, go to these people. You never know, if you decide to go to grad school instead of industry, your relationships will help you get a better letter of rec.

If I think of some more, i'll be sure to throw them out here.
 
GreyFoxx said:
also do you have to be very skilled and knowledgeable when it comes to CS? because i'm not computer illiterate, but i'm quite ignorant when it comes to programming, modding, and stuff like that or that is completely irrelevant stuff? i can follow tasks very well though when it comes to learning things on the computer.
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That's kind of the situation I was in. I had a little knowledge, but nothing major prior to getting into my degree program. I think it really depends on the school. I did really well in all of my classes, but it wasn't a lot of hands on work. The only class I took that actually tested your actual knowledge was a python programming class. We actually had to complete timed projects for tests. The rest of my courses only tested on basically fill in the blanks and true false questions. I really wish I had done an internship while in school. Before the start of my junior year I asked an advisor about doing one, and he basically shrugged me off and said the school didn't have anything to offer and that it wasn't required. Now I'm kind of kicking myself, but at this point I don't really have anything to lose and I need to just get out there and get SOMETHING since I finished school this summer.
 
To dudes with zero experience still in school, shoot who ever runs the help desk department at your school an email and see if you can volunteer or do student employment. That's how I got my first IT job
 
JustScoreda100 said:
You’re lucky I’m bored at work. Since I have some free time for the next hour so, I might be able to provide some prospective for you since I graduated with a degree in CSIS and have been working in the industry for over a year now. This will be long, so bare with me.
First, you have to figure out exactly what it is you want to do. Do you want to work the helpdesk? Work with routers and switches? Do Systems Administration work? Work with Databases?
Depending on what you want to do, the route to getting a job in that field is different.
Helpdesk:
This is where almost everyone who didn’t go to a prestigious school / have internship experience starts out. All helpdesk positions are not created equal. You have your bottom tier helpdesk jobs which are call centers jobs. Your day to day will be extremely fast paced where you are required to complete as many tickets as possible. You'll be working mostly with remote users and most of them will have bad attitudes. Your boss will constantly be on your *** about your productivity, and being more productive then average actually hurts you, because you get lumped with more work / escalated calls because you stand out. Some may say that’s a good thing because your boss sees you as a person they can come to whenever there are problems, but **** that. If you’re working at a call center you don't want to be promoted. You want to work just hard enough to blend in and accumulate good references while you study for more advanced certs.
All helpdesk positions are not this bad. If you're lucky, you may get a job at a company where you work the helpdesk, but you also get to play around with hardware and directly interact with users. This is what you want for a first job because there will be tons of opportunities for you to learn on the job.
As far as education goes, if your goal is to work on the helpdesk, then certs are the way to go. Study for your A+, Net+, and ITIL if possible. The A+ and Net+ are your base certs. You'll need them for any position in IT as they will provide you with the basic knowledge of computers that you will need to survive in the industry.
Network Engineering / Working with routers and switches:
Your chances of getting into this field without experience are pretty much nil. Experience is the name of the game when it comes to these types of positions. Whether you have a degree will not really help you during the hiring process if you do not have prior hands on experience. Realistically, you start at the helpdesk then move up to these types of positions. People who jump into these types of positions with only a degree are people who built labs at home and have played around with the hardware until they mastered it. You’re probably not at that level yet. So your best bet is to complete your A+ and Net+, get a job on a helpdesk, then begin studying for your CCNA. I don't really link vendor specific certs, but one of the great things about the CCNA is how in depth they go over the TCP/IP protocol stack. That knowledge will be good to know in any positions especially where you're trouble shooting internet related issues. Besides the CCNA, you'll need to seriously think about creating your own lab to test out what you learn in your Net+ and CCNA studies. Buy some used hardware off ebay for cheap and learn how to create your own server. Create your own personal domain for all the computers in your house with services like DHCP and DNS included. This will teach you tons of new things as you will need to actively troubleshoot as you go. Once you’re comfortable with that start adding some cisco switches and routers to your lab and start playing around with creating vlans and setting up route tables for your home network. If you want to end up in a networking position, you have to know this stuff like the back of your hand. It will be incredibly easy to pick you apart in an interview if you do not know your stuff.
Systems Administration:
A lot of the information from networking engineering also carries of here. I won’t duplicate what I’ve already said, so heres what you need to know. The certs you need: The basics (A+ and Net+) and a MCITP and/or linux+. You can throw in the CCNA too. The MCITP will teach you the ins and outs of administrating windows based servers and the linux+ will give you some familiarity with linux which is HUGE. I emphasize huge because if you know linux well, it is very easy to get a job that pays 6 figures. Once you get familiar with linux, you want to focus on learning bash scripting and the sed and awk commands. You’ll want to get into the habit of implementing all the things you learn from these certs on the machines in your lab. This will help you remember the things you learn.
Database Admin:
This is the only position where I would recommend that you get a degree in order to enter the industry. This does not mean that you can’t learn this on your own, but the concepts that relate to database like SQL, indexes, and unions are very difficult to master on your own without the right tools at hand. Databases and programming are probably the only things I learned in college that I probably would have had trouble learning on my own.
let me know if you have questions.
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Hey man thanks a lot for this info and I do appreciate it a lot! This is very good info! Can you provide more info, I will PM you some more questions
 
im looking for a change. i graduated with a business degree and want to go into the IT field. is it best to enroll in college again (university? cc?) or is this something i can learn on my own. how important are certificates?
what should be my first step be?
 
LuckyLuchiano said:
If I were you I would go straight into an MBA, having 2 bachelors is dumb.
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Had to quote this.  I don't understand your logic on getting a bachelors versus a masters.  If money is that tight, then can't you get a loan being a full-time grad student as opposed to a part-time undergrad?  Either way, you're wasting your time getting a degree in CS or CIS if that's not what you want to do regardless if it's a Masters or Bachelors...
GreyFoxx said:
also do you have to be very skilled and knowledgeable when it comes to CS? because i'm not computer illiterate, but i'm quite ignorant when it comes to programming, modding, and stuff like that or that is completely irrelevant stuff? i can follow tasks very well though when it comes to learning things on the computer.
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No, I'm almost done with my CS undergrad (1 year left) and I went in with no programming skills whatsoever.  Honestly, anyone can get a CS degree, but you have to make sure it's what you want to do because you'll hate life when you're coding and your friends are out partying.  I'd definitely recommend doing a CS minor if you choose a different major because I've had a lot of friends tell me their interviewers asked if they had any coding backgrounds, and I'm talking about jobs in business and in the medical field...
 
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DMan14 said:
im looking for a change. i graduated with a business degree and want to go into the IT field. is it best to enroll in college again (university? cc?) or is this something i can learn on my own. how important are certificates?
what should be my first step be?
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If you already have a bachelors in anything, just go for certs. You can self study, but if you aren't the type for that, CCs have good focused IT programs that lead to certs.
 
dtb00201 said:
I recently graduated with a computer science degree and I have no clue what I'm going to do. I really don't feel like I learned the necessary tools for a career in this field. It really has me stressed out. I'm not even sure how to get my foot in the door with no real experience and a lack of knowledge.
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go for an internship.. that's the best way to gain experience at this point.
 
LuckyLuchiano said:
To dudes with zero experience still in school, shoot who ever runs the help desk department at your school an email and see if you can volunteer or do student employment. That's how I got my first IT job
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Great advice, for someone who doesn't currently work a full time gig like myself. I'm going to chill until I get my certification in January and then go on a nice job hunt.
 
Mark Antony said:
DMan14 said:
im looking for a change. i graduated with a business degree and want to go into the IT field. is it best to enroll in college again (university? cc?) or is this something i can learn on my own. how important are certificates?
what should be my first step be?
Click to expand...


If you already have a bachelors in anything, just go for certs. You can self study, but if you aren't the type for that, CCs have good focused IT programs that lead to certs.
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yeah, i just stopped by my library and got a book on getting a+
is this the best to start out with?
my only experience is working in the school computer lab in college, if that even helps. other than that, i have no experience
 
Sup Dakiingi,

I myself have graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Information Systems.  Really the key difference between Information Systems and Computer

Science is the route you wish to take.  You say you want to become more involved in the business aspect then I think Information Systems would

be a better route for you.  Why? Well if you graduate with a Computer Sci Degree i'm not saying its harder but the transition from Technical to the

Business would be a little tedious.  You would really have to show you have knowledge in business in order to switch over later in your career. 

Where as I.S is pretty much an integration of both which is why you take a few more classes that you might not like, for example calculus,

statistics, international business, which i found interesting if you just concentrate.  I.S people are trusted by the business field and the tech field,

you're almost like a middle man.  I work for take2games on broadway which is the company that owns Rockstar Games and 2ksports.  Sometimes

the business guys and tech guys clash when they need **** done but the business men dont know how difficult it is for the tech guys to just create

something that they ask for.  Thats when i come in and kinda translate the task they're asking for and give a better realistic timeframe and solution

to the problem.  But as far as  your future you can apply for anything from business to technical jobs which gives you a lot of breathing room in a

tough economy like today.  As far as becoming certified I believe thats a waste of time.  What you take on that exam is pretty much what should

already be on your resume because you would have learned it during your college years.  I would recommend getting certified only if you're having a

hard time finding a job because it might give you that extra leg up, but work experience is more valuable than passing an exam better believe that. 

So remember if you wna get into mainly technical jobs go with comp sci cause you can start working quicker, but if you think you're gna wanna do

some business/technical job like myself then go for I.S.  I hope this helped you.  If you have anymore questions msg me.
 
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