Computer Science!

[mdchesne]

Ok, if you are undecided, just take the first year required CS courses for your college or university and try to squeeze in Gen Chem or Gen Physics. Try to get all your math classes done as early as possible (Summer courses will help with this) cause you'll feel the load when you have an OS project due in a week and a math homework sheet with 80 integration probs on it.

The chem or physics will give some leeway later if you plan to do a double major (Like I am) or change majors (about 20% or the people at my university switched form CS, lol)

 

[cliftonite]

I hate my logic and automata class, worst class ever

 

[Saint Nick]

well actually that is what i'm doing. right now i'm taking some "normal" stuff like anthropology and history, but i'm also taking Intro to Physics and Intermediate Algebra (yes i know... i didn't place very high on the math placement exam ) but thats what i'm pretty much doing. next semester i want to take some intro courses to programming or web development or something. i did some cisco stuff in high school and it was really hard for me.

 

[Ausm]

My brother has a PHD in EE, CS and Mathematics he told me the competition in CS is unbelievable so to achieve you got to be good.

Ausm

 

[mdchesne]

try to stay away from history and geology. they don't go well with CS. You have to think about your combinations here. "what job is there that needs a programmer well-versed in American History?" Not as many as "What job is there that needs a programmer well-versed in Electrical engineering and the makeup of systems administration?" :beer:

Most works well with CS except humanities classes (english, foreign language (though it might help with overseas josb...might be an idea to look into), or politics)

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: mdchesne
try to stay away from history and geology. they don't go well with CS. You have to think about your combinations here. "what job is there that needs a programmer well-versed in American History?" Not as many as "What job is there that needs a programmer well-versed in Electrical engineering and the makeup of systems administration?" :beer:

Most works well with CS except humanities classes (english, foreign language (though it might help with overseas josb...might be an idea to look into), or politics)

it was part of the degree requirement and my academic advisor suggested i take it... d'oh, maybe i was had!

 

[mdchesne]

Originally posted by: Ausm
My brother has a PHD in EE, CS and Mathematics he told me the competition in CS is unbelievable so to achieve you got to be good.

Ausm

mos def. you need some major skills to be a comp scientist today. But by intertwining skills and majors like your brother there, it gives you more flexibility in a company than simply a programmer/designer

Originally posted by: jndietz

it was part of the degree requirement and my academic advisor suggested i take it... d'oh, maybe i was had!

required??? FOR CS?! Man, you probally got had. your advisor might have thought you were still undecided, like totally undecided. well, maybe you can use those for your electives

 

[Saint Nick]

this is awesome. now i'm super stressed out about what i should be doing here. i don't know anymore! and i'm taking classes for no reason!

 

[mdchesne]

see if you can use them for your electives. most colleges require an additional 13+ credits beyond what is required for your major, to graduate. Hopefully you can use them for that. Or else... you could be one of those programmers on the History Channel who use Age of Empire (or some other game w/ editor) to make those Roman battle scenes... you do have a history minor after all

 

[Saint Nick]

lmao yeah that's what i wanna do! i hope i get this straightened out soon. i don't wanna go through my first year of college doing nothing but taking pointless classes for no reason.

 

[clamum]

jndietz I would suggest talking to an advisor or advisors, they probably know more about what you should take and can point you in the right direction. Ask questions!

 

[serialkiller]

<-- Petroleum engineering drop out. Graduated Mathematics: Scientific Computation w/ Minor in CS. =)

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: FinalShot
Hey guys,
Its getting closer to me going to Uni, and I want to start considering options.

Anyway, Computer Science actually crossed my mind, I only have a brief idea on it.

Could anyone give their own personal experiences w/ it?
Also could someone provide info on:
What kind of jobs one can get after finishing.
Amount of $$ made.
How hard it is.
What is taken during it.

Cheers

i graduated in 2003 with a degree in computer science.

my experience: i was one who chose the path because i've loved computers (and programming, at one point) since i was a little kid. i played with basic in elementary school and c++ in high school. i thought my foundation would have been good for "introduction to computer science" which i took my very first semester in college.

i was wrong. as many said, the competition is fierce. not everyone who takes a class in college is there to simply learn; some are there to get an easy A since they already have the fundamentals -- and then some. with that, you're screwed gradewise, unless you can stay on top of it. (my experience is a little bit different, because the professor was so awful that he was forced to resign after so many complaints.) i haven't really seen that many people go into college with ZERO knowledge of programming and OOP (object oriented programming) who have succeeded in computer science. as such, computer science has many dropouts.

what kind of jobs? if you stick purely with computer science, you're going to be programming or working in a theoretical aspect of computer science for your career path. programming jobs do start in the mid 40s. a lot of people go onto grad school. others go into theoretical research. i'm a network engineer/sysadmin right now, but that's because i took student jobs on campus which exposed me to what i consider the more practical uses for computers.

what classes? expect to take anything in the object oriented field in terms of your programming language: java, c++ and c are still taught, and even microsoft c# or .NET. you'll take classes utilizing these languages throughout your college career. expect to take theoretical classes such as discrete mathematics, computational theory, combinatorial theory, possibly graph theory. expect to take a data structures and algorithms class early on, as well as a digital logic and computer architecture course. expect electives, such as artificial intelligence, database systems, programming languages and translators, operating systems (and we're not talking about how to navigate windows XP here; this is more of a "hack the BSD kernel and rewrite it" kind of class), computer networks (again, not learning CAT5 and coaxial cables but really high level work), cryptography, and robotics.

it's really not that easy. as a friend told me early on (advice i did not heed to), just because you are a computer junkie does not mean you are a computer person. if you like the internet and gaming and a little bit of programming, you still may not be fit for the computer science major.

 

[archcommus]

Sigh...

I'm an EE major and have been wondering lately if I should've done CS. I told myself I wouldn't enjoy programming my whole life and that I was more interested in the architecture of computers and electronics, so I decided on Electrical Engineering with a Computer Concentration. However sometimes I feel that my interest lies more in computers in particular than all electronics and circuits, and as such CS would be much more tuned to my interests. Any opinions?

 

[Zombie]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
Go into math or physics....CS would just be a waste of $$$...being a CS major is like taking the MCSE exam...sure its great once you have it but after a couple years its suddenly outdated and you just have to go back to school

--Dropped out of CS for this very reason to become a math major where now make more than most of the CS majors i knew

No you dropped out because you are stupid.

 

[mdchesne]

Originally posted by: archcommus
Sigh...

I'm an EE major and have been wondering lately if I should've done CS. I told myself I wouldn't enjoy programming my whole life was more interested in the architecture of computers and electronics, so I decided on Electrical Engineering with a Computer Concentration. However sometimes I feel that my interest lies more in computers in particular than all electronics and circuits, and as such CS would be much more tuned to my interests. Any opinions?

don't go CS from EE, go computer engineering. you get the basic programming classes, with less stupid discrete math. plus, you get to stick with your computer architechure

 

[MrCodeDude]

Don't do CS, quite a few people have taken four years of it and hated every minute of it.

I am doing EE, but I'm wondering if I should change to ME. ME just sounds more fun.

 

[Scarpozzi]

If you're Indian, you get to replace some whitey doing the job for less money. If you're a whitey, you'll get replaced as soon as your salary starts to rise.

So don't do it unless you're Indian.

 

[archcommus]

Originally posted by: mdchesne

Originally posted by: archcommus
Sigh...

I'm an EE major and have been wondering lately if I should've done CS. I told myself I wouldn't enjoy programming my whole life was more interested in the architecture of computers and electronics, so I decided on Electrical Engineering with a Computer Concentration. However sometimes I feel that my interest lies more in computers in particular than all electronics and circuits, and as such CS would be much more tuned to my interests. Any opinions?

don't go CS from EE, go computer engineering. you get the basic programming classes, with less stupid discrete math. plus, you get to stick with your computer architechure

Well the closest thing to that at my school is what I'm doing, which is EE with computer concentration your senior year.

 

[imported_nautique]

I graduated with a Computer Engineering degree and it was a ruff ride. Countless hours programming and doing projects. Only do it if you really enjoy programming. By that I mean sitting in front of the computer all day and thinking about solutions. I find it fun but not too exciting. Probably getting out sometime to go back for my MBA and try management.

 

[qaa541]

I have some friends (including me) who have never programmed a day in their life before starting the CS program. However, I learn very quickly and I also had a large pool of friends to work together with so that we could all succeed. CS is not that bad if you take the time to make some friends who can help you out, expecially in the early days. Some of my friends had more formal training or were more familiar with the software tools while I was much better at understanding computer architecture related things which I helped them out with.

The key to success is to make friends and coopertively help each other out. My friends and I did well because we would help each other learn from our mistakes and understand new topics. However, DO NOT write code for anyone or let anyone copy your code. The profs run code checkers that examine code line by line for similarities. So if you write complicated functions and your friend copies you and just changes the variable names thinking he's smart, you both will get caught and you both will get penalized!!! ALSO, most upper division classes are project classes, specifically group project classes. Make sure your group mates are not just fabricating data!!! My girlfriend's friend was CS and one person in his group made up some statistical data (the group didnt know) and then his entire group's degrees almost got revoked after an academic review because that one idiot fabricated data.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
If you're Indian, you get to replace some whitey doing the job for less money. If you're a whitey, you'll get replaced as soon as your salary starts to rise.

So don't do it unless you're Indian.

LOL :beer:

 

[mdchesne]

qaa541, yes, i totally agree. cooperative work between and among students and lab coaches is KEY

Want hear something asinine? Our CS department FORBIDS (absolutely forbids) anyone to help each other on HW or assignments. Considers it cheating. You can ask someone "Shoudl I use StreamTokenizer for this project and how does it work" but the best answer you could hope for without "cheating" is "Yea, I used tokenizer. Here's the link to the javadoc page<link> hope it helps, gl"

so we learn on our own for the most part. You don't pick it up quickly, you fail. Darwinism 101

lol

 

[Stuxnet]

I won't rehash what everyone else has already said regarding the gory details of CS, but all I can say is that if you're questioning whether or not CS is right for you, you should probably be looking at other options. The people truly born to succeed in CS have no doubts. It's just one of those things.

If I could go back and do it all over again (*sigh*), I'd go into Mechanical Engineering. I'd get to work with computers extremely closely and still excersise my brain.

 

[zebano]

CS Major, math minor '03

starting salary $46k. I'm an IT person right now, trying to work my way into a crypto job. One thing I have noticed is that CS is completely differnt than MIS/CIS. We have many MIS majors working as code monkies here, and their code sucks. They don't understand basic OOP principals and their solutions are a nightmare to maintain.

Knowing a language and the basics of procedural programming beforehand is a huge bonus. You can really tell the guys who have never coded before. However coding is not all, networking, architexture and proofs are a large part of it. With my math minor, I managed to do much better in Automata and proof based courses than my cohorts.

IME a B.S. is much more valuable than a B.A.


If you are just trying it out, feel free to take the intro course, but be prepared to spend quality time with a TA, your professor or the book. Coding is something you learn best by doing, not by regurgitating what the prof. says in class.