"I studied computer science, not English. I still can’t find a job."

[IndyColtsFan]

Bull fucking shit. My CS degree gave me the absolutely necessary foundations of anything that deals with computers. I can already tell this guy is fucking moron - knowing concepts like multithreading, memory management, design patterns in the critical part, who gives a shit if your assignments were in C or C++.

EDIT: Yup, he's a fucking moron. From the first comment:

This article is completely misleading and should be taken down.


The article title was originally: "I studied engineering, not English. I still can’t find a job."
And now it is: "I studied computer science, not English. I still can’t find a job. "

However looking up his profile, he actually studied: Management Information Systems.

This is completely different than Comp Sci.

LOL! Speaking of worthless majors, I'd rank journalism towards the top.

 

[Hacp]

If you look at his linkedin profile, he studied Management Information Systems. That is NOT computer science. It looks like a business degree. So he studied business and doesn't have a job. Who's surprised?

 

[Red Storm]

If you look at his linkedin profile, he studied Management Information Systems. That is NOT computer science. It looks like a business degree. So he studied business and doesn't have a job. Who's surprised?

Apparently he is.

 

[Mai72]

I saw a video on how to always score an interview. The person said to start a blog. Once that's established you will start a blog on the industry you are pursuing. Say u want to find a programming job. Next, you will call up the places where you'd like to work and set up an interview with the head person. You meet him/her and ask questions that pertain to the industry.

You have effectively stood out from everyone else. You are making a valuable connection, and now the boss knows you. Also, it looks like you're a proactive worker who will contribute significantly to the company. It's a win win

 

[OverVolt]

I saw a video on high to always score an interview. The person said to start a blog. Once that's established you will start a blog on what ever industry you are pursuing. Say u want to find a programming job. Next, you will call up the places where you'd like to work and set up an interview with the head person. You meet him/her and ask questions that pertain to the industry.

You have effectively stood out from everyone else. You are making a valuable connection, and now the boss knows you. Also, it looks like you're a proactive worker who will contribute significantly to the company. It's a win win

That really worked for anand after 15 years.

 

[Mai72]

That really worked for anand after 15 years.

He setup interviews with head people when he first started out?

 

[Brainonska511]

There are plenty of requirements for the average professorship, but job experience generally isn’t high up on the list – in fact, a 2006 study of college professors in STEM fields showed that a whopping 59.8 percent hadn’t had any job experience in their industry. That means that a large portion of the professors tasked with teaching college grads how to become marketers, managers and salespeople have never marketed anything, managed anyone or sold anything at all. Our professors teach what they know, and after years spent steeping in theory, it’s no wonder that they put such an emphasis on conceptual learning.

This set of lines sounded like BS. Of course a majority of your chemistry, biology, physics, and math professors are never going to have worked jobs like marketing and sales. They wouldn't have been able to become professors if they did. Besides teaching, professors in those subjects are responsible for teaching grad students through research and conducting their own research. As for managing - running a lab isn't trivial; it does take management skills.

 

[Fingolfin269]

The most important lesson I learned in college was the power of networking. I've done plenty to get myself where I am today but readily admit that the opportunities I made the most of were set up in some way through connections made in college.

 

[OverVolt]

He setup interviews with head people when he first started out?

It was very tongue in cheek. I'm not really a fan of advice like that. It might work, it might not. Nothing says long-term unemployed like having the time to run a blog while looking for a job.

 

[Insomniator]

If my only computer skills came from my ITI major (a joke IT degree at rutgers), I'd be homeless right now.

Not sure how well MIS and CS degrees prepare you for a real job, but you are not learning ANY basic windows/linux and general computer skills with my degree. Everything I learned came from learning from my Dad working on computers and at my internship/first job. The degree was literally $60k a piece of paper to make the resume look good. A single 5 day Microsoft SQL training course is more than what I learned in school.

Being able to speak English and not being a total IT gremlin helps too. Some of the people that apply for jobs... you wonder how they dress themselves in the morning.

 

[Broheim]

Slightly off-topic question: Does anyone here HONESTLY consider CS a STEM degree? Really?

CS contains elements from all those fields, so yes, yes it's a STEM degree. It's based on math, it works like engineering, it IS tech, and it's an integral part of scientific research these days.

 

[dn7309]

Misleading article (because his degree is NOT in Computer Science). But then again, I heard people with a MIS/CIS degree got a well paying job out of college, but they were prior military service. Maybe that secret clearance help.

 

[brianmanahan]

I'm not going to be somebody's code b***h. If you want to be a code b***h, then instead of spending money on college, spend some time working on an open source project, right out of school. Cheaper, more productive, and way more likely to get you employment as a coder/developer.

that's a risky idea. i've seen people try it and although it works out for some, others have been underemployed or pigeonholed as a result.

also, actually writing code is way funner than just doodling charts, writing whitepapers, or pondering algorithms

 

[unokitty]

 

[sze5003]

I went to Penn state too. I left main campus and finished at a local campus. The professor of IT at the local campus made sure all the programming classes he was teaching were part of the curriculum to graduate. I took all of them with him and at the time it was C# and .net. He also worked part time at a small company and I was able to get an internship with him during the summer.

Connections are important. I was an IST major with a minor in business but I learned programming in those classes and at my internship. I also did tutorials at home and worked on small things to learn new stuff at home. Websites like udemy have a ton of free courses with step by step instructions.

I've been programming in the industry now for over 3 years. I even had a part time gig during my last few months as a junior and senior year in college.

You want to program learn java, keep up with free courses on the net for other languages.

Even if you have been working for years and you apply to a new company they won't require you to know a new language right away..as long as you have experience you will learn it there.

I still have recruiters calling me recently, this is with a 2-3 year old resume. Most of what's on there is .net stuff and now all I've been doing at my company is java. Then I get emails from linked in people asking if I'm looking since I kept that profile a bit more up to date.

You have to take steps to learn and get an internship too. For the IT degree Penn state requires an internship to graduate. Not sure about CS majors.

 

[purbeast0]

i have a degree in cs. it's not a career or degree for everyone. just because you pass it and can get good grades in it does not mean that you will succeed in it. i did not realize this at the time of graduation, but what the degree gave me was it taught me a new way of thinking. it taught me how to apply my concepts and thought process to solve the issues at hand.

my first 6 months at my first "real" job that included programming was basically NOTHING like what i had learned in school. in school i was making programs that would display output in a terminal. that was like 95% of my coding exercises outside of my open gl course. my first job was at a company making commercial CAD software, which obviously, is far from just having terminal output.

it took me a good year or more to actually start feeling comfortable in my position and being a developer. i had learned mostly c++ in school with some java, and the job was for c++. then after 5 years of doing just c++, i realized that i needed to get out because i wasn't learning anything new. my next job after that was all java with a sql backend, which i had never done any db stuff.

now i'm doing stuff (web apps) with languages i didn't learn in school. i make my own mobile apps on the side. i can pick up any language whenever i need to. now i understand that it's way more of a conceptual thought process and about how to learn to use the tools, rather than learning the tools themselves. this guy in the article just sounds like he wants everything handed to him on a platter without having to put in any work.

Businesses aren’t looking for college grads, they’re looking for employees who can actually do things – like build iPhone apps, manage ad campaigns and write convincing marketing copy. I wish I’d been taught how to do those things in school, but my college had something different in mind.

this quote kind of reminds me of when you watch a movie like karate kid. and from the beginning, he just wants to learn how to "kick ass". but then he has to do the "wax on/wax off" stuff thinking it is stupid. he just wants to learn how to whoop ass. but then slowly he learns WHY he has to "wax on/ wax off" and what it means.

sounds like this guy wants to know how to write iphone apps without having a foundation.

 

[Imp]

If you look at his linkedin profile, he studied Management Information Systems. That is NOT computer science. It looks like a business degree. So he studied business and doesn't have a job. Who's surprised?

Oh...

I was going to sort of defend him a bit because young'uns are sold the "you have to go to college to get a job" line and "lots of jobs in STEM", but...

 

[purbeast0]

MIS is obviously a Business Degree (which I am). I get the fact that CS is "under" the school of Math a lot of times, but I find it god damn laughable to be considered a math degree in all honesty. There wasn't any other elements of math outside of some advanced calc (which I had to take for my CIS degree anyway).

I heavily debated between my CIS degree and going CS. Originally I was going to stick my nerd and go CS, but realized the opportunity was clear and cut within CIS.

the "weed out class" in my computer science degree was discrete math, which was an actual CS class (was CS250 i believe). then i had to take up to calc 2 (ap'd out of calc1) and STAT400. there is a lot of math involved in CS whether you want to believe it or not. the fundamentals are basically algebra, where you have to plug in "x". obviously that is extremely simplified, but there is a lot of math concepts. CS is also about getting your brain thinking in a certain way that is very math oriented.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

CS is one of the best STEM degrees IMO. What the hell is someone supposed to do with Physics/Chemistry/Biology except get a masters/phd.

The T is for technology!

Well lets see, who do you think works in Pharmacutical companies? Who develops new drugs? Whom overall works in the health industry? Think it's CS majors?

c'mon now. Also, my wife is a dual physics major and works for the ISS. There is plenty you can do with science. If anything the limitations are on CS.... In addition to the fact that you better be learning the next language or the time will steamroll you during your 30+ year career process.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

the "weed out class" in my computer science degree was discrete math, which was an actual CS class (was CS250 i believe). then i had to take up to calc 2 (ap'd out of calc1) and STAT400. there is a lot of math involved in CS whether you want to believe it or not. the fundamentals are basically algebra, where you have to plug in "x". obviously that is extremely simplified, but there is a lot of math concepts. CS is also about getting your brain thinking in a certain way that is very math oriented.

All of those I had to take for CIS...? Stats, calc, algebra, advanced algebra - hell all of those are STILL fucking classes that can be had in high school.

 

[Hacp]

Oh...

I was going to sort of defend him a bit because young'uns are sold the "you have to go to college to get a job" line and "lots of jobs in STEM", but...

Yes basically I saw that he was a recent "Computer Science" graduate from Penn State so I went to look at his linkedin profile in an attempt to get in contact with him and refer him for a job. Turns out he had an MIS from Penn State, not CS.:thumbsdown:

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

the "weed out class" in my computer science degree was discrete math, which was an actual CS class (was CS250 i believe). then i had to take up to calc 2 (ap'd out of calc1) and STAT400. there is a lot of math involved in CS whether you want to believe it or not. the fundamentals are basically algebra, where you have to plug in "x". obviously that is extremely simplified, but there is a lot of math concepts. CS is also about getting your brain thinking in a certain way that is very math oriented.

All of those I had to take for CIS...? Stats, calc, algebra, advanced algebra - hell all of those are STILL fucking classes that can be had in high school. If anything I liked Aikouka's explanation of it having to do with the logical aspects.

 

[sze5003]

What was funny is I was a pre med major before switching to IST and I had already taken all the harder math courses I needed. I also took stat, calc, trig, etc. All that was left was just the regular programming and IT courses. The stuff we did in school made me want to do extra programming at home.

The thing is, you will never use what you learn in school at the company. But you have to be familiar with the stuff. This guy should have done some internships his junior and senior year.

 

[xeemzor]

I'm all for bashing poor decision making and lack of personal responsibility but that isn't productive in this case. As noted earlier in the thread job prospects for Americans is declining. The path to the middle class is being closed forever for a large segment of the population and this will radically alter our society in a negative way. Are we going to become a stratified class society like India? Will we develop our own sort of aristocracy? What is the the end game? All in all I'm not feeling very optimistic about the future.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I saw a video on how to always score an interview. The person said to start a blog. Once that's established you will start a blog on the industry you are pursuing. Say u want to find a programming job. Next, you will call up the places where you'd like to work and set up an interview with the head person. You meet him/her and ask questions that pertain to the industry.

You have effectively stood out from everyone else. You are making a valuable connection, and now the boss knows you. Also, it looks like you're a proactive worker who will contribute significantly to the company. It's a win win

:biggrin: And I'd hang-up on you.