Choosing a Career (And thus a major...)

contraband

I realize ahead of time that any idea I settle on now is liable to change within the next four years. Twenty years. So be it.

I'm heading to college, and I need to pick a major some time or another. For a while, I was settled on Computer Science. However, a while back I tried to teach myself BASIC, and I realized that coding wasn't for me. While I find the idea of it intriguing and interesting, actually programming software would, in my opinion, seem excruciatingly tedious. But, I also think that if I was able to, in one day, learn everything there is to know, I would be much more inclined to work in the field (this was all a couple years ago, though, so my opinion might have changed since then. It's my fault I haven't given it another shot yet). I've since realized that I really like working with hardware instead. The prospect of handling computer hardware, physical things that I can manipulate with my hands, is good to me. So I flopped around and settled on Computer Engineering instead. But, I'm still not sure which major to take, as it all depends what kind of career I want, which I'm still unsure of.

I know I want to work somewhere in the technology industry, it's something I've been interested in for as long as I can remember. Just off the top of my head, a network/system administrator position would be cool--planning, installing, and maintaining a network of computers actually seems fairly interesting. Computers interest me. Cell phones or consumer electronics interest me. Future concepts interest me. Free or open-source applications interest me, and I get angry whenever a company over-charges for a terrible solution to something. Way too often can I get side-tracked on school and spend the better part of the day reading up on tech journals or news. I also think working in a research/development team somewhere would be interesting (I was really interested in the YouTube videos of Apple's Core Image announcement...) It would be interesting to work for an advanced, forward-thinking company like Apple or Google. I realize that's a pretty lofty ideal, but it's appealing nonetheless.

I'm not even out of high school yet, but I'm beguiled as far as careers go (and thus, majors). Is anyone else in a similar situation? Could anyone suggest something I could do to 'find myself' somehow? What are certain kinds of careers that fit roughly into my interests, and would offer an interesting and intriguing job that I would actually enjoy? Pay doesn't even matter, really; I'd rather do what I love than work a bad job for good pay. Although I'd like the best of both worlds, ideally....

KalTorak

Something my dad (a college professor) told me: Your major isn't your career, and your career isn't your life.

Don't think you'll be locked into something for the rest of your life from this decision. Look at Alton Brown - his undergraduate degree is in Drama; now he's a celebrity tv chef.

Steel Angel

How good are you at physics, especially E&M? That will play a factor in terms of whether engineering is for you.

In any case, there are multiple tech related majors out there, some of which you might not have heard of. Had I known about Information Systems as a major when I was younger, I might have gone that way instead of struggling at times with Comp Sci.

contraband

Steel Angel wrote: »

How good are you at physics, especially E&M? That will play a factor in terms of whether engineering is for you.

In any case, there are multiple tech related majors out there, some of which you might not have heard of. Had I known about Information Systems as a major when I was younger, I might have gone that way instead of struggling at times with Comp Sci.

I have to admit that I've never taken a Physics class, and math isn't my strongest subject. That's why I occasionally think I'm more or less boned when it comes to CS/CE. I would be willing to work on it for a definite purpose, though.

Information systems/information technology both look very interesting, but I only know what is on the Wiki for either of them. Where could I find some examples of those theories in work, or more information?

Jasconius

Computer Engineering would be a good choice for some of what you are describing, but you aren't going to escape programming. I'm fairly certain that a decent Computer Engineering program will have you write some assembly language, etc.

One of my coworkers graduated from Computer Engineering, he had to create his own processor, program all of its logic onto the circruits, and then write a program that could run on the chip.

So yeah, I guess I'd get used to programming if you were set on CE

Hewn

A great way to find out the possibilities is to talk to some of the professors and instructors of the program you're thinking of going into. They'll likely know all the jobs and opportunities that are available to their students, and the jobs past students have gone to work in.

Sounds like you'd dig all kinds of engineering fields. A friend of mine went into biomedical engineering, and she wants to develop prosthetic limbs and other such devices for people in the health care industry. High tech stuff, working with people, changing lives, and something I had never even thought about as a job people went for until she mentioned it. Not saying you should do that, but it's an example of the sorts of awesome things people are out there doing that may not pop up in most conversation.

contraband

Jasconius wrote: »

Computer Engineering would be a good choice for some of what you are describing, but you aren't going to escape programming. I'm fairly certain that a decent Computer Engineering program will have you write some assembly language, etc.

One of my coworkers graduated from Computer Engineering, he had to create his own processor, program all of its logic onto the circruits, and then write a program that could run on the chip.

So yeah, I guess I'd get used to programming if you were set on CE

The thing is, that sounds really interesting to me. I just get scared off at the thought of being unable to retain all the knowledge to the point of being able to apply it.

Hewn

Don't get scared off, man. If you want to do it, you'll figure it out.

Horus

Yeah, I think the best experience is to get hands on experience. Go look for internships places in fields you are interested and tell them you are going to college and want to personal experience in major-career. Also you will never end up what you study. I am graphic design major, ended up in a job I do design but now I am going back to school to learn Web Design/Programming.

My advice is whatever you do as long as you have discipline and dedication is all that matters.

mindlar

I think you have a pretty good handle on what types of careers both a computer engineering (CE, EE, EECS, etc) or computer science degree will help you get into.

In both there are jobs that are going to be pretty awful and there are jobs that are pretty cool. I'm on the software side where as far as I can tell pay is a little bit better. Currently I work with a mix of disciplines working on interfaces for driving robots. The roboticists are a mix of EE and ME graduates.

Dalboz

If you haven't even started yet, don't choose a major. Most colleges don't require you to choose a major until your junior year. This would give you a chance to test the waters on a few things and at least take your general education classes to give you some background and determine what you want to do. Also, talk to a counselor and/or professor in different areas that do interest you and see what is involved/required with different fields.

I wish I had done that, otherwise I wouldn't be going back to college now for a second degree.

mindlar

For many engineering type majors at most colleges you do need to choose when you start. The introductory coursework often takes about a year to get through just to handle the pre-reqs for the upper division work, which will take a full two years to finish.

Not choosing a major until later is a viable option if you want to go the humanities route, but not viable for most engineering degrees.

Iroh

If computer engineering is the field you're interested in, go for it. Even if you struggle with mathematics, hard work will get you through it. It's also worth noting that you don't need to know anything when you arrive, since the goal of college is to teach you the material, not test you to see what you know coming in. Different engineering majors' courses diverge from each other very quickly, so you do indeed have to figure out which one you want right away if you want to graduate on time.

The bottom line is don't be afraid to go out on a limb and work for it if that's what you want to do. I went through the same thing 2-3 years ago when choosing my EE major.

Daedalus

Dalboz wrote: »

If you haven't even started yet, don't choose a major. Most colleges don't require you to choose a major until your junior year. This would give you a chance to test the waters on a few things and at least take your general education classes to give you some background and determine what you want to do. Also, talk to a counselor and/or professor in different areas that do interest you and see what is involved/required with different fields.

I wish I had done that, otherwise I wouldn't be going back to college now for a second degree.

This does not apply to engineering or CS majors. Every college I've seen requires you to choose this at the start. You can't dick around in the liberal arts for a year and then switch to an engineering major unless you're planning on staying there for an extra year. A transfer from, say, a physics major to an engineering major (or a math major to CS) is probably more possible, however.

Spackle

I just want to add if you go for an Engineering degree and mid way through find out you will fail your first Calculus course, to not get discouraged, try again next semester. I knew guys that struggled through math but are fantastic engineers. In fact, a couple guys failed all three Calculus courses at least once but did excellent in the rest of the curriculum

mrcheesypants

However, a while back I tried to teach myself BASIC, and I realized that coding wasn't for me.

As a hobbyist programmer about your age I would say teach yourself another language besides BASIC.

I would suggest learning some Java, Python, C, Scheme, or some other programming/scripting language before you discount coding. Which language however is for another thread and that thread will start a minor flamewar.

witch_ie

I would suggest that your freshman year, take the basics you need for the computer majors you might decide on, but also try out some other courses. Based on your post, I'd say take a look at economics or business. Yes, they are humanities, but unless you're really sure you want to go into computer engineering or programming, you may be able to be more flexible in your career.

By the way, just to show how little your major can impact your future career, my father majored in journalism and is now a city environmental engineer.

MasterDebater

I'm heading to college, and I need to pick a major some time or another. For a while, I was settled on Computer Science. However, a while back I tried to teach myself BASIC, and I realized that coding wasn't for me. While I find the idea of it intriguing and interesting, actually programming software would, in my opinion, seem excruciatingly tedious.

If BASIC is the only thing you've experienced, you haven't really done Computer Science.

It's like trying to learn carpentry with a plastic hammer.

Try Python.

Ant000

Man I swear I could have wrote the original post. I'm in the exact same situation except I just finished my first year of college, and so far I've only taken two semesters worth of liberal arts courses. I always have wanted to get into something computer or technology related, but I never really bothered getting into much math or physics in high school, so if I went into that I'd have to start from the bottom and work my butt off. The only problem with that is I'd be way behind if I decided it wasn't what I ultimately wanted to do. I'm glad I took history/english/econ/polisci/philosophy etc. etc. just for personal development and for the GPA I guess since I do well, but none of them speak to me on a career level. Lately I've been kicking around just getting into precalc to bone up and intro physics and all that jazz just to see how I do and where it takes me, but if I didn't do well I would be a out a couple grand and one or two semesters of time -- I don't really want to graduate in my mid/late twenties.

Raziel078

Dude CIS, Computer Information Systems. At my school its computer science light. you don't take nearly as many math and science course but you still take a fair amount CS classes and its more a bussiness thing I know a couple of people who got jobs as sys admins, system analysts and network admins

contraband

Raziel078 wrote: »

Dude CIS, Computer Information Systems. At my school its computer science light. you don't take nearly as many math and science course but you still take a fair amount CS classes and its more a bussiness thing I know a couple of people who got jobs as sys admins, system analysts and network admins

While I don't necessarily like agreeing to it as "computer science light," I'd like to read up more on CIS. IT, too. All I know about them right now is that they're descriptions, and to me they're just buzzwords. What does Information Tech/Systems mean? What do they envelop? What kinds of tasks would a CIS/IT major handle? How is IT different from regular CS/CE?