I just got accepted into University!!!!

[Rhydant]

$#^$%^@#$%!#$^&$@%#!$%#@#!!@#!

oh well, ive got 2 years to make up my mind...

[Omni]

Originally posted by diffusionx
Thats okay but in all honesty Electrical Engineering is better; CompE is a lot of EE with some specialized computer stuff, but the EE degree is more generalized and can open up more doors; it could be argued that you could learn all that extra comp stuff on the job.

Yah, they do seem to be very similiar. I guess I'll just play it by ear.

[Chemist]

shit....compSci sounds awful...its not just that. its Software Engineering hhahahahah....not to differrent eh?
but yeh.. I think mechanical engineering might be to much of a challenge though...i'm not to mathematically inclined
so....i may end up with Chemistry...fitting with my name. But i kinda don't wanna.. what do you guys think i could do with a degree in Chemistry?

[soundwave]

Speaking as a computer professional let me tell you that I know plenty of people who got burned by the dot com insanity. A lot of people got down-sized with only devalued stock to show for it. Everybody was getting in to it--not just CS majors. The business schools had MIS majors and the English/Psych majors got into web design. Iknow plenty of non-graduates and slackers who can program circles around supposed CS degree holders. If computers is something you want to do then do it--there ARE jobs out there but you have to look much harder and expect much less.

EDIT: degree in chemistry? You can go into pharmacy or teach or take Bio and go into med school.

[Omni]

Originally posted by Chemist
what do you guys think i could do with a degree in Chemistry?

You could make acid...and sell it...to me.

[Captain Vegetable]

Congradurations!

[seen]

Originally posted by diffusionx
Computer Science is awful, and the job market for computer scientists is pretty stagnant and near stillborn. The days of CS majors coming out of college and making $60k+ are loooong gone. Im speaking of personal experience... I started college as a CompSci major but switched to math after a year. AVOID!

I don't want to challenge you here, but I will. After only one year of Computer Science how can you just dismiss a whole profession like that? Most programmers I know are making over 6 figures and have a lot of stock options and are very happy. It is a tough business, you might get around 40K when you get in, but it grows fast if you're very productive. All this of course goes to a person with theoretical knowledge of the craft as well as various applications of it, not some Visual Basic monkey.

Just because you didn't find it interesting doesn't mean that others should avoid it.
Just out of curiosity what kind of Math major do you have diff?

[Diff-chan]

Originally posted by seen
I don't want to challenge you here, but I will. After only one year of Computer Science how can you just dismiss a whole profession like that? Most programmers I know are making over 6 figures and have a lot of stock options and are very happy. It is a tough business, you might get around 40K when you get in, but it grows fast if you're very productive. All this of course goes to a person with theoretical knowledge of the craft as well as various applications of it, not some Visual Basic monkey.

Just because you didn't find it interesting doesn't mean that others should avoid it.
Just out of curiosity what kind of Math major do you have diff?

Im not dismissing a whole profession. However... the industry is not what it used to be. When I entered college there were people leaving college and making 70,000+. Thats not so much the reality nowadays. Yes, this was during the inflated boom years, but still... nowadays, like you said, youre gonna get 40K. In fact, youre LUCKY to be getting 40K. A lot of my friends who graduated with a CS degree are finding it kinda rough getting good jobs, and let me tell you, they are not slouches. We're talking 3.5+ GPA in a rigorous field of study (CompSci, hehe). I shit you not.

Sure, you CAN make 6 figures and have stock options and shit, but how long does that take? I realize there's no easy money out there, but you can eventually make 6 figures + stock options in virtually ANY field with ANY degree. Hell a few of my uncles do it and they dont even have college degrees... it took them 20 years but they did it. If you can do it faster with another major, then, well...

As for my comments about the market being stillborn and stagnant... well, it is... at the very least for people coming out of college, which, if you think about it, is what I would care about. The boom years produced all these CS/IT/Graphic Design/whatever students and while the boom years absorbed all of them... there's not much use for them nowadays. Especially now when you have firms starting to relocate their programming duties to places like India because of that dreaded word for middle-classers like me, a cheaper labor force.

I didnt mean to offend you if you studied CompSci or anything, but hey, if you did and you graduated, then you're not really in the same boat as me or anyone else *thinking about Computer Science*... you already did your work, got a job, set up a solid resume and work experience, etc. We still have to do that, so we have to carefully pick majors that (A) we enjoy, and (B) open doors... and I seriously believe that the CS degree has been devalued quite a bit thanks to the boom years.

Plus... I mean if you're already working, or if your programmer friends have been for 10 years or what not... then well they're not really who Im talking about, no offense. Im strictly talking about people coming out of college.

Hey, if you like doing it, do it. But my advice for those going in is to look for something else *if* they are on the bubble. The market is not so good anymore that its like OMFGSTUDYCOMPSCI!!!111 I can say with reasonable confidence that other majors can probably open up a lot more doors for other people. Im speaking from personal experience here, and I think that thats a pretty fucking fair way of looking at it.

sorry about the long post!

[Rumpy]

Some people go into CompSci not knowing what it really is and get blown away in their first semester of classes. A lot of people drop it pretty quick. If you like what it is and all of the work and all that, then go for it. Just make sure what you're studying is something you want to do and ENJOY. When you start college/uni, you have a lot of work ahead of you.

Funny...I have a good friend that is a comp sci major and he's a Senior in college now. He's struggling to finish his last 5 classes and isn't sure if he wants to actually finish his degree. He's really doubting the choices he's made in the past few years and whatever he chooses next will likly shape the rest of his life. I didn't realize how fucking heavy that was until I just typed it. Wow that sucks.

[ChaoofNee]

Actually, I'm in CompSci right now and I struggle to actually DO my work. Very uninteresting. Bleh. I'm probably not going to stick with it. My big problem is that I'm actually in a tech school right now (Polytechnic in Brooklyn) and if I stop CompSci, I have nothing else to go to. Science, math, engineering... no. The fact that lack of interest and difficulty are keeping my grades down, as well as an hour and a half commute...

Er... anyway, yeah, Chemist. Stay the fucking hell away from CompSci unless you have a lot of previous background.
...which I don't. At all.