Alternative careers for Computer Science degree holders

Is there anything else in the IT industry that you enjoy? Systems or Network administration? Or are you looking outside of IT?

Outside IT, although something which requires frequent use of a PC isn't an issue

Well, outside of IT, you may have some trouble leveraging that specific degree.

If you were thinking of becoming a doctor, lawyer, or accountant i'd say that degree is useless to you. However, in a much more generic industry say education, or business, it could demonstrate to a potential employer that you have a certain level of commitment to complete a challenging program.

Or, if you stay within IT, but on the MIS (management information systems) side of IT, an analyst may be something that you could easily move into. Some of the roles of an analyst may be...

• working with the business managers on developing IT solutions
• work on IT related projects
• be a liason between IT, business, and end users
• designing systems
• developing reports
• working with raw data, developing information/knowledge for the business

If you can manage to take another 2 years of schooling, you can master in Mathematics and become a professor. That is if you enjoy teaching.

I don't know what else to say, because I myself don't even know what to do with my Bachelor in Mathematics and Bachelor in Physics. So, I decided to go for the graduate school hoping I can work for my government doing some odd jobs only me would know :). I love programming,but never major on it.

Do you want fries with that ?
sorry, couldnt help it.

speak to employers around the periphery of development, Not being a gaming anime type may be a big plus.
administrators who can talk to geeks and suits are valuable
Naivety passes

Well, outside of IT, you may have some trouble leveraging that specific degree.

If you were thinking of becoming a doctor, lawyer, or accountant i'd say that degree is useless to you. However, in a much more generic industry say education, or business, it could demonstrate to a potential employer that you have a certain level of commitment to complete a challenging program.

Or, if you stay within IT, but on the MIS (management information systems) side of IT, an analyst may be something that you could easily move into. Some of the roles of an analyst may be...

working with the business managers on developing IT solutions
work on IT related projects
be a liason between IT, business, and end users
designing systems
developing reports
working with raw data, developing information/knowledge for the business

@JorgeM that sounds really interesting. What's the professional name of this role/ and will it require extra training?

Usually, I have found that this role is that of an IT Analyst. Roles vary from organization to organization but the overall concept of an IT Analyst is that this person ties the Business to IT, bean counters to geeks.

Firstly, I have a computer science degree, I enjoy programming, and I am not into gaming or anime. I'm also female and not into fashion or makeup. I don't pick my interests based on stereotypes :)

That being said, you can be one of the people who serves as the intermediary between a development team and the client. That's one possibility. There are lots of jobs in the computer science field that don't involve staring at a screen 18 hours a day.

Have you ever done help desk? I know it's bottom of the rung IT, but you can move up quickly with a great work ethic and good attitude. Perhaps a combo job of systems administration and desktop support. That's very social.

Dani also made a good point that you can be an intermediary. Having been an IT recruiter, I've seen many successful technical project managers. Take a look at the job descriptions of technical PM's on monster, craigslist, and dice. Your technical experience would play very well in to that career, but you'd have to start off doing smaller contracts for smaller companies and work your way up to the bigger companies where you handle multi-million dollar projects and company-wide integrations and rollouts. You'd definitely also have to work towards getting a PMP (project management professional) certification from the PMO (project management office).

Thanks everyone. Really great help!

There are lots of jobs in the computer science field that don't involve staring at a screen 18 hours a day.

@Dani, please expand on this if possible.

Have you considered a career in technical writing? Your thoughts are clear and well organized and you seem to have a good grasp of proper grammar. There is a demand for people with those skills.

Have you considered a career in technical writing? Your thoughts are clear and well organized and you seem to have a good grasp of proper grammar. There is a demand for people with those skills.

@Reverend Jim
I hadn't until now but I will look into it. If there's any further information you are able to provide then I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

No real information but I do have an anecdote. Back in the '80s I was part of a team of five programmers who maintained an AGC/SCADA system (rrealtime). My boss was one of the programmers who worked on the development of the system. We had to rely on him to give us an overview of the sytem once it was delivered and commissioned. What I can tell you is that the man would explain the concept of a beach by describing each grain of sand on it. He spoke volumes but imiparted absolutely nothing of vale.

Above all, a technical writer must at all times be aware of the target audience. A technical writer should avoid jargon wherever possible. Sometimes technical terms are unavoidable but they should be kept to a minimum. Your job is to be clear and concise; to inform, not to impress. Avoid the trendy new buzzwords. For example, in a phrase like "the system was architected to perform...", the word "architected" should be replaced with the word "designed". Don't use a fancy word or phrase (utilize a methodology) when a simple word or phrase (use a method) will do as well. Don't use a foreign word when a non-foreign word will do as well. You get my drift.

I agree with Dani and carl.potak in that a really good fit might be the middle group between client / management and the professionals (programmers / engineers). This could be anywhere from project manager to sales representative. You might not see yourself doing programming (software engineering, etc.) work, but with a CS degree you do have a good knowledge (I hope) of the terminology and of the issues that programmers use or have to deal with. This, by itself, can be a valuable skill.

Very often, companies have a difficult time finding good people to act as project managers, for example, because it requires good understanding of the technical issues, but it also does not involve much hands-on technical work, and most people that have the former don't like that latter, and vice versa. I just know that in engineering disciplines, being the "project manager" is always a matter of drawing the short straw, i.e., those who do love the hands-on technical work hate being stuck doing the hands-off project management work, but it's the lesser of two evils, the second evil being having a project manager who lacks the understanding of technical issues.

Being a sales representative (or similar, "deal with clients" work) is also another good option. Many technical companies have technical clients (not your average joe, but other technical companies), and so, the clients are professionals (programmers, engineers, etc.). And as a engineer, for example, I hate dealing with representatives that don't understand anything about the technical issues that are important to their products. The point is, a company making technical products cannot have just vanilla "marketing degree" people, they need people with some technical background. And typically, they find people with a technical degree who are no longer interested in doing technical work, just like you.

In this gold rush we call the internet, there are also lots of people that are more involved in the "strategy" / "marketing" / "user experience (UX)" side of things, which doesn't really involve much technical work at all, but they often consider a computer science degree as an asset / requirement for those positions (mostly due to self-delusion, but it works in your favor).

I guess you really should be asking yourself what you want to do in something like 10 years from now, and find an IT-related position that could serve as an entry point for that. For example, if you see yourself doing business management work, you might want to look at being a project manager in the IT field as a good entry-point for that.

I wouldn't be too disheartened either. In fact, surveys show most graduates go on to work in fields very different from their chosen subject, or just slightly different.

Figure out what you want to do then create those opportunities. Further study might be necessary or a lucky job offer might come to your rescue.