First of please excuse my poor grammar I have a paper to turn in today which I'm behind on.

I'm currently a 20 yr old student attending Rutgers university. I'm 51 credits into my college experience and I'm without room for a major change. My major is Information Technology. I've had a change of heart and I would like to become a software engineer. I need advice on what direction I should take since I won't be receiving a bachelors in software engineering. Having done research, I'm aware that many companies hire those with at least a BA in computer science or software engineering and with a good amount of experience. Coming out of college I would have neither. So should I go for a masters in software engineering? I plan to take a year off before I do this because I would need to brush up on my math skills. I'm not to bright in math :cry: Is this realistic in your opinions or would I just be waisting time :-| Thanks for all the help

I am no expert but I do know a few software engineers and can relay what they've told me:

A bachelors is all that is needed but a master's will give you more opportunities. One of the people I know with an MS in Software Engineering found his degree to be extremely marketable, even back during the dotcom crash.

My suggestion is that if you are going to lose any time by switching to a software engineering bachelor's degree, you might as well finish the degree you're in and then do a Master's in Software Engineering afterwards. Plus, an Information Technology degree will help you out in the long run as you'll know about project management and meeting business objectives.

Im not sure that you really need maths for this field. I know that for some more specific things such as games programming you would need maths, but for general software engineering i dont think you do (especially with the amount of middleware and visual editors out there these days)

Can anyone else confirm this?

I have over 30 years in IT starting with a BS in Agricultural Engineering. Your success is more dependent upon what you do after you get your degree than anything else and liking it is the key to doing a good job.

If you get off on programming then the MS in S/W Engr is a good way to go and Math is a requirement eventhough you won't use that math 99% of the time unless your into high level control systems, Financial deriviatives, etc. In the real world Project Management/Project Administration would, I think, be a good match to the IT degree as an entry level position. There are as many PM/PA jobs as programming positions. However, the pay may not be as good starting. Over the length of your career it will not matter a lot.

Good luck

If your going to take a year off get a job in IT in PM or Operations then go back with a better understanding of what you liked and didn't after being exposed to the environment.