Computer Science

[toy collector123]

I'm graduating with a BBA MIS degree.

Can code in all major languages as well as analyze a case study and business problem...errr...

Won't speak anymore because apparently, a few NTers think I'm boastful. Send me a PM if you want to know more.

 

[mondaynightraw]

no degree here and i make decent money

::knocks on wood::

I do have a couple certs though

 

[kicksnbeats]

Originally Posted by SuprDuperFly

and kicksnbeats, you really get hired based on your tool set (number of programming languages you know) and how well you can use them.
If you passed every class just to finish and didn't embrace the curriculum it'll show at an interview.

The problem is most people nowadays can't even land that interview.  No doubt that you have to know various amounts of computer languages from the inside out.  However, ANYONE can learn C, C++, Java, COBOL, php -Mysql, etc without ever having to step into a classroom.  I know a ton of dudes in my classes who knew how to do this stuff back in high school.  I can guarantee you almost every unemployed/laid off programmer out there has an array of languages under their belts and can apply it well in the workplace.

Originally Posted by nkwu11

I'm not sure what school you're in, accrediation, and all that, but I'm a former CS major at the best school for Computer Science in Canada. 
Basically, one of the best in the world for Math or Computer Science. The curriculum at my school is one of the more "well rounded"/"dificult" curriculums, and there is a co-op/internship option; our top grads are recruited by MS, Google, Amazon etc.
The reason why there are CS grads waiting tables is because they expect their degree to do the talking for them (IMO, obviously). These are the graduates who come out of university not doing any programming for fun (read: passion) and only having experience with programming for assignment -- this leads to them bombing interviews with the most basic of programming questions. To be succesful you have to learn a language (it really doesn't matter which one) and learn things skills on your own time. There's only so much school will give you and there are too many passionate geeks out there programming instead of going out to enjoy the weekend.  If you're a CS major who knows their stuff, you'll get a job no problem in the future.

I'm guessing you went to Waterloo?  One of my business school classmates here at UCLA went there for undergrad and worked for Cisco Systems for 8 years before coming here for his MBA.  He told me about how Bill Gates visited the school to give a presentation telling the students there to go work for Microsoft and started handing out internships and job offers.

Also, I agree with you that a majority of the CS grads who are working at Walmart or waiting tables didn't know their stuff well but there are MANY who do and still can't find jobs.  Besides the firsthand knowledge and skill set, you really need to network and do as many internships/co-ops to land a decent job after graduation.  This is why going to a top university is helpful because a ton of recruiters come to those schools and the students there already have a networking advantage.  Hate to say it, but prestige does somewhat matter if you're trying to work for a top company. 

Originally Posted by Mastamind89

Consider I was Pre-Med, I'm very aware that I won't be making as much. But I don't like my current major and CS was on my list of majors to consider.
Would I be able to get into Homeland Security with a CS degree and specialize in something? My school also  has multimedia web design and development but I'm not as interested in it.
How about working for a phone company, well I guess that would be the OS maker and not the actual phone manufacture. That area is mostly for engineers?

Working for the government as a computer analyst/specialist would definitely be a possibility if you have the knowledge, experience (military is a BIG plus), and know the right people.  Landing those jobs are getting competitive nowadays because of the job security and government benefits.  The good thing though is that you don't have to compete with all the immigrants for those positions because you have to be a U.S. citizen and pass a Top Secret security clearance to even qualify for the job. 

Don't do web design/development, you can easily teach yourself how to do that stuff.  That's almost as useless as getting an MIS major

  I don't know too much about phone companies but having an electrical or computer engineering degree can be very helpful and can open many more opportunities for you.  Don't mix up computer SCIENCE with computer ENGINEERING.  Any CompE major will put you on blast for that

Comp science tends to focus on the software/programming side whereas comp engineering focuses more on the hardware side.  The thing is, a Computer engineer can almost do all the stuff a CS can do (programming, database, etc) but a CS can't do a lot of the stuff a CompE does (hardware development, circuits, etc).  Don't even think that knowing how to build your own computer is even close to CompE, the stuff they do is no joke.

 

[bgl2687]

OP do it if you know you will enjoy it not because it looks or seems interesting. If you don't really enjoy CS its hell. I know because I was in the program for 3 years had 1 year left for grad and just switched majors. Now if you have skills and potential there are still plenty of jobs out there regardless if you're all around or just a strict programmer. I got a buddy who just got picked up by google and another that got picked up by chevron. Both have respectable starting salaries for newly grads.

 

[frenchhustler19091]

For real...
It's rough...
But I still enjoy it.
If you're the logical type, I'd go for it.

 

[supraturbo619]

I am a software engineer for one the largest defense contractors (starts with a B) and have worked with them for 4.5 years.
Graduated with a BS-CS from San Diego State in 2004.

If you are a straight from school C/C++/JAVA dev you are looking at low $50Ks and working your #+@ off and competing for entry level jobs, most likely starting as a tester in QA.

I am doing pretty well for myself now, but the first couple years were tough.  

Find a niche and excel at it is my advice.

 

[hybridsoldier23]

I have a CS degree and work for a major video game studio doing gameplay programming.

As many people have said here it's about dedication. Dedicate yourself to the field you want to do and do not be afraid to cross train or interact with other groups in your company. Make sure you you don't pigeon hole yourself as just a "code monkey" or you will go nowhere. If you find that coding is not the right path for you there's plenty of other things you can move into. Also, if you're really dedicated and have some great ideas you can make your own software applications and possibly strike it big as a start up.

You need to be passionate about whatever you do or you will burn out. Which is why (most) everyone with a 2 year tech school degree are waiting tables or looking for new careers.

 

[eff ecks]

Originally Posted by And I Love It

Did you post that girl because she is a Computer Scientist? If so her

went up!

And CS

. I am in Software Engineering.

how is that going? im on the same path.

 

[mycoldyourdone]

This thread is depressing...I am one of those guys who just passed to pass and bombed interviews...I got Lucky and landed a content job (mostly html and a little web design) by my classmate. I have a good chance at growing into coding since these guys can teach me...but I when I see that they work so hard and their frustration...its a turn off...plus I already know that I won't be in love with it, I don't have the drive of a good programmer, I'm more of a short term solution guy, which is terrible for this field, and do definitely see the business side of it, since my coworkers talk to clients everyday aswell...which
I'm not good at. If I move on, I don't even know what I would wanna get into...cause engeneering would kill me aswell.

The only thing I found fun was learning web design, but there's so many of them out there already. Everyone even my coworkers are telling me to continue school. Cause here in quebec you have college then university. I only did university. But they're expecting me to back to comp sci. But I secretly don't want to. So for now I'm just stacking the mula.

 

[omgitswes]

Originally Posted by HybridSoldier23

I have a CS degree and work for a major video game studio doing gameplay programming.

As many people have said here it's about dedication. Dedicate yourself to the field you want to do and do not be afraid to cross train or interact with other groups in your company. Make sure you you don't pigeon hole yourself as just a "code monkey" or you will go nowhere. If you find that coding is not the right path for you there's plenty of other things you can move into. Also, if you're really dedicated and have some great ideas you can make your own software applications and possibly strike it big as a start up.

You need to be passionate about whatever you do or you will burn out. Which is why (most) everyone with a 2 year tech school degree are waiting tables or looking for new careers.

see that's what I want to do. but I"m majoring in EE and just taking as many programming classes as I can

 

[nkwu11]

SMH @ my replies getting mssed up and me posting 2

Anyways....

Originally Posted by Mastamind89


Whatdid you switch too? Yea it does suck knowing I'll be making much lessthan what I would be if I became a doctor. I mean I can still becomeone with w/e BS I get but I'm not happy being in Bio right now. I'venoticed that I've been more into computers,  phones(HTC Thread), andother tech stuff. I attempted to teach myself how to make apps forphones(WindowsPhone7) and I do have Linux(it's on my desktop at homebut for w/e reason the internet doesn't connect to it). I figured itwould be a good option to consider.

I didn't really mean to mention money, because I don'tthink it's what you should base a choice that could define your career path by. I actually switched to Psychology, hoping to pursue a CS minor and do something related to Cognitive Science in the future (academically). Professionally, I want to still work with computers, applying my skill set with User Interfaces, Human Computer Interaction, but much more on the theoretical side -- research is a big area for me. I'm definitely taking a big pay cut with my choice (at least initially and if I don't pursue a Masters), but I'm more motivated because I like what I can do.

If you're not happy with Bio, I think it's good you're lookng around to see what you're interested in.

If you want to work with phones an engineering degree might be a bit more appropriate, but programming is just as important. Research in Motion (Blackberry) headquarters are right beside our campus and they routinely hire LOTS of interns from our school. Computer Science at RIM gives you potential to work with LOTS of differnt areas like BIS servers, firmware, appstore realted things, onboard programs etc.,

I think ultimately, like any other degree, just remember that the degree isn't the pass to ________(whatever job it is you want) you'll have to grind it out/take an extra step

kicksNbeats

I'm guessing you went to Waterloo?  One of my business schoolclassmates here at UCLA went there for undergrad and worked for CiscoSystems for 8 years before coming here for his MBA.  He told me abouthow Bill Gates visited the school to give a presentation telling thestudents there to go work for Microsoft and started handing outinternships and job offers.

Also, I agree with you that amajority of the CS grads who are working at Walmart or waiting tablesdidn't know their stuff well but there are MANY who do and still can'tfind jobs.  Besides the firsthand knowledge and skill set, you reallyneed to network and do as many internships/co-ops to land a decent jobafter graduation.  This is why going to a top university is helpfulbecause a ton of recruiters come to those schools and the studentsthere already have a networking advantage.  Hate to say it, butprestige does somewhat matter if you're trying to work for a topcompany
Yes, I still go to Waterloo.  I've had 3 (not so glamorous) co-ops whichhas really helped me network and gain some perspective. From what I know, we're the only Canadian school that Bill Gates gives talks at(and so actively recruits at). Seeing the amount of $$$ some of my peers are making on their co-ops/internships is sickening at times.

When I talked about those who don't know their stuff, I did forget about networking and the help my school has given me -- kicksNbeats hit it on the head

Don't do web design/development, you can easily teach yourself how todo that stuff.  That's almost as useless as getting an MIS major

 I don't know too much about phone companies but having an electrical orcomputer engineering degree can be very helpful and can open many moreopportunities for you.  Don't mix up computer SCIENCE with computerENGINEERING.  Any CompE major will put you on blast for that

Comp science tends to focus on the software/programming side whereascomp engineering focuses more on the hardware side.  The thing is, aComputer engineer can almost do all the stuff a CS can do (programming,database, etc) but a CS can't do a lot of the stuff a CompE does(hardware development, circuits, etc).  Don't even think that knowinghow to build your own computer is even close to CompE, the stuff theydo is no joke.
Webdesign/Development is definitely something you don't need University for-- teach that yourself. Specialized programs do help, but self taughtwith a more rigorous technical background is much more powerful in yourfuture IMO.

The difference between CS and ECE (electrical and/or computerengineering) is an important distinction to make, but I'd have todisagree with kicknbeats. Practically (work wise), yes I would sayComputer Engineers can do just as much as any PROGRAMMER can do (soyea... most CS grads

) but going past strict programming and work with tools, the math, theory, algorithms etc., that are behind CS is much differnt than what Engineers do.

mycoldyourdone

The only thing I found fun was learning web design, but there's so manyof them out there already. Everyone even my coworkers are telling me tocontinue school. Cause here in quebec you have college then university.I only did university. But they're expecting me to back to comp sci.But I secretly don't want to. So for now I'm just stacking the mula.

I thought CEGEP was required in Quebec? Keep stacking the money and learn whatever web design you can in your spare time. You'll find what you wanna do eventualy, but irght now it doesn't hurt to learn another skillset - maybe what you really wanna do is related to web design?

 

[suprduperfly]

I'm glad Hyrid made it into the industry that interests me, that makes it seem more do-able for me.
Just gotta keep chugging along...

 

[reigndrop]

Depending on what school you're at, Wall Street hires a fair amount of CS students. 65k/year plus bonus, and it's only 60 hours/week.

 

[hangtight]

You can find a job anywhere in the field.
I just graduated from the University of MD in Information Systems. I just landed a job with Google for there Internal technology residency program. You don't have to go to these big schools to land with a great company, you just have to know your stuff. 

 

[grizzla1024]

i probably cant help, but my i will tell you a little bit about my brother.

He did CS at Cambridge university (UK) then a Ph.D afterwards. He is now co-founder of a company called Tideway systems who have recently been bought out by BMC Software bmc.com so he is doing rather well for himself. From what i understand (which isnt very much!) CS can lead to very good things if you are good at it as there are many options once you graduate.

If anyone is interested, here are a couple of links to things my bro does/did for his Ph.D and things he has worked on. Might give you an idea of what you can do and maybe give you a feel for CS.

http://grisby.org/research/ for my bros Ph.D research

http://omniorb.sourceforge.net/ he is lead developer of this, might be interesting to some.

and this is the company he co-founded http://www.tideway.com/

 

[bananaboy2601]

Originally Posted by JFDOOM

Expect to make less than 11 dollars an hr when u graduate

IT is a TERRIBLE field to get into right now

WHAT?!

 

[justscoreda100]

4th year CS major

It hasn't been fun and its been a lot of hard work, all nighters, and nights coding while your boys are out partying.

But IMO its worth it. I wouldn't recommend going into CS unless you have a love for computers and love reading/learning/practicing outside of class on your own time.

I will say that you shouldn't pidgeon hole your self into a specific field and should gain expertise in a broad field. For instance if your thinking about getting into IT you should take a look at job in network security. Its a little more demanding, but the money and the jobs are there.

I guess I'm lucky because I live in the DMV area which has a lot of job openings in the CS field.

 

[stylez23]

CS is not IT, believe me... CS is more theoretical and mathematical, while IT gives you the gist of enterprise systems and integrations. It also depends on what you want to do with you degree with a BSCS. CS is very versatile, depending on how you look at it, your either programming or supporting (compared to IT which is mostly supporting) hardware/software. I was an average programmer during my college career but did well in my networking, db management, cs in businesss classes, so I knew I didn't want to program for the rest of my life (although the payoff for GOOD programmers can easily start at $60k+ for entry level).

I just graduated this past fall, and yes, I'm currently unemployed since most jobs for CS students are not suited for out of college BS holders, more of MSCS or CS with atleast 5+ experience... But I did score a paid internship at John Wiley & Sons which apparently is one of the best places to intern. I'll be working as a UNIX system administrator assistant. So I'm not in such a big rush to get out to the real working world yet.

I'm also going back to school to get my degree in Information Systems since I want to eventually become a Network Engineer/Architect or DBA, in which case I will also be getting my MBA as well.

 

[gboy1230]

Originally Posted by And I Love It

Originally Posted by JFDOOM

Expect to make less than 11 dollars an hr when u graduate



IT is a TERRIBLE field to get into right now

Hm.. I know people on their first Co-op term getting upwards of 20 an hour.

But yeah.. CS != IT.

im surprise i understood that

so i did learn something in my programming classes

 

[justscoreda100]

Originally Posted by stylez23

CS is not IT, believe me... CS is more theoretical and mathematical, while IT gives you the gist of enterprise systems and integrations. It also depends on what you want to do with you degree with a BSCS. CS is very versatile, depending on how you look at it, your either programming or supporting (compared to IT which is mostly supporting) hardware/software. I was an average programmer during my college career but did well in my networking, db management, cs in businesss classes, so I knew I didn't want to program for the rest of my life (although the payoff for GOOD programmers can easily start at $60k+ for entry level).

I just graduated this past fall, and yes, I'm currently unemployed since most jobs for CS students are not suited for out of college BS holders, more of MSCS or CS with atleast 5+ experience... But I did score a paid internship at John Wiley & Sons which apparently is one of the best places to intern. I'll be working as a UNIX system administrator assistant. So I'm not in such a big rush to get out to the real working world yet.

I'm also going back to school to get my degree in Information Systems since I want to eventually become a Network Engineer/Architect or DBA, in which case I will also be getting my MBA as well.

Pretty much exactly what I'm planning to do as well.

I'm really thinking about getting into Network Security though. My boy just graduated and once he passes his security clearance, he'll be making 60k+ starting working for a government contractor.

  

 

[fallengodofwar]

Originally Posted by trapmuzik617

I'm a computer science major... its not hard, but if you dont have the patience to sit around and type/figure out code for sometimes hours, then its not for you

This. Also if u hate math DON'T DO IT. They try to have you take almost ever math course in history (or so it seems) 

 

[stylez23]

Originally Posted by FallenGodofWar

Originally Posted by trapmuzik617

I'm a computer science major... its not hard, but if you dont have the patience to sit around and type/figure out code for sometimes hours, then its not for you

This. Also if u hate math DON'T DO IT. They try to have you take almost ever math course in history (or so it seems) 

this. i've taken Calc I, II and III, linera algebra, numerical analysis, and probablily and statistics ... math was not a strong point for me, my total math overall GPA was 2.8, but i still graduated with an overal gpa of 3.2

 

[fallengodofwar]

Originally Posted by stylez23

Originally Posted by FallenGodofWar

Originally Posted by trapmuzik617

I'm a computer science major... its not hard, but if you dont have the patience to sit around and type/figure out code for sometimes hours, then its not for you

This. Also if u hate math DON'T DO IT. They try to have you take almost ever math course in history (or so it seems) 

this. i've taken Calc I, II and III, linera algebra, numerical analysis, and probablily and statistics ... math was not a strong point for me, my total math overall GPA was 2.8, but i still graduated with an overal gpa of 3.2

And that's my mistake in CS. I suck at math...
But I'm about to change majors and schools and see whats up

 

[mondaynightraw]

Im terrible in math...but hey...you gotta do what you gotta do

 

[mastamind89]

Thanks for the replies, yea I'm not that great in math. I talked to head and another member of the CS department, I was told that I would have to take a total of 6 math classes. They said to only do it if I know that CS is something I truly want to do. I was also told take a basic programming class first to see how I like and if all was good to switch over to CS. I live with two engineers, one's mechanical and the other might be electrical but I found out that he's a CS minor last night but he stayed at his gf's so I haven't gotten a chance to speak with him. But I hear stories from them and the workload seems brutal, but a lot of engineers say that they couldn't be Pre-Med

. People that I spoke too have said Software/Computer Engineer, even when I said that I was switching my major but not sure to what, they suggested engineering but like I said, I'm not that great with math.
Reading about people getting to work at Google, RIM, Microsoft, when I read that I'm like wow that's cool and interesting, I wish I could do that and it's very possible that it's something I would like to do. In about 2 weeks, I'll be choosing my classes for next fall, I was also told to consider staying Bio for now and explore next by signing up for classes that would help me find something that I like. I'm still gonna research CS and related majors and also just consider exploring next year(which I rather not do though).