Computer science is probably your best bet for a major that a lot of employers are familiar with and will help with further education. If your school has an undergraduate software engineering major then that will probably focus more on the implementation side rather than the theory of CS, but software engineering usually results in an associate's degree rather than a bachelor's, which is a minimum for most companies to hire a developer.
>if you could give me your location, degree in what major and how much money you make yearly
I live in Atlanta, Georgia. My only schooling in programming is an associate's from a local community college, and while I won't give you hard numbers, I make more than your minimum.
Narue
Bad Cop
15,460 posts since Sep 2004
Reputation Points: 6,464
Solved Threads: 1,401
My specialty is systems programming, and my job is the lead engineer in software research and development.
Narue
Bad Cop
15,460 posts since Sep 2004
Reputation Points: 6,464
Solved Threads: 1,401
>should I go into software engineering or computer science?
What courses does your school offer, because most of the time the closest you'll get to a software engineering course is CS. Everything else typically focuses more on electrical engineering, business, and management.
Narue
Bad Cop
15,460 posts since Sep 2004
Reputation Points: 6,464
Solved Threads: 1,401
They're right; it's a lot of theory. You should still study computer science for what you want. (I don't know whether this recommendation comes from my honest assessment of your situation or my desire to sic theoretical classes onto unsuspecting victims.)
-- Web Programming (Web Development using PHP, ASP, .NET, etc)
These won't be taught except maybe in some specialty course. You should be able to learn these on your own, anyway. (PHP is a crappification of C++, and ASP and .NET use some programming languages that are similar to ones you'll probably be using in getting a CompSci degree.)-- Software Programming (Video Games using Direct3D, OpenGL, C++, etc. Also regular application programming
Once I hear 'video games', even though I doubt that's what you'll be doing when you graduate, I have to say go into Computer Science.
I think the most important thing, though, is not your degree, but how hard you work and how smart you make yourself.
Rashakil Fol
Super Senior Demiposter
2,658 posts since Jun 2005
Reputation Points: 1,135
Solved Threads: 177
>will I be able to learn everything I need to know about computer
>programming in terms of web development and software
>development with a computer science degree?
Bwahahahahahahaha! No course will teach you everything you need to know. Everyone I've worked with who has a degree says that they use only a small fraction of what they learned, and the majority of what matters to them they learned on their own. If you're expecting the classes to teach you everything you need then you might not have the right mindset to be a successful developer. A degree is usually nothing more than a piece of paper to get you your first job.
That said, CS will open your eyes to a lot of things that you may not have considered. Those perspectives might make you a better problem solver in the real world.
Narue
Bad Cop
15,460 posts since Sep 2004
Reputation Points: 6,464
Solved Threads: 1,401
>When you said that most people learn things outside of class, what do you mean?
Let's take a simple example: a linked list. A class can teach you the concept of a linked list, as well as basic implementation. When and where to use a linked list comes intuitively through experience in real world projects. Little tricks to improve a linked list are gathered over the years by looking over the shoulders of better programmers. In the end, the class taught you very little compared to your out of class experience.
>will CS let you see other aspects of science as well?
Well, you won't learn about marine biology in a CS course, if that's what you mean. ;) But a lot of fields come together in CS, like mathematics, physics, and electrical engineering. You won't get the same intense focus on any one of them, but a general taste of different things is expected.
Narue
Bad Cop
15,460 posts since Sep 2004
Reputation Points: 6,464
Solved Threads: 1,401
Well, you won't learn about marine biology in a CS course, if that's what you mean. ;)
Not necessarily ;) I did some of that in a Bioinformatics course cotaught between a Comp Sci professor and Bio professor. The course was cross-listed under both departments. :)
Sorry, but I just had to interject :)
cscgal
The Queen of DaniWeb
19,422 posts since Feb 2002
Reputation Points: 1,474
Solved Threads: 230
>I did some of that in a Bioinformatics course cotaught
>between a Comp Sci professor and Bio professor.
I stand corrected.
>What i meant is that computers might one day go down
Barring some catastrophic event that either completely destroys all computers and the information required to make them, kills all of the people who know how to make them, and basically causes the human race to become extinct, or creates a worldwide EMP that makes it impossible to fix things and throws us back into the stone age, I don't see computers going down one day.
They permeate too much of our society for anything short of complete devastation to put an end to them. And in such a case, you really wouldn't care much about your education, would you? ;)
>and if you study CS, will you definetly be working with a computer or software for a job?
Not necessarily. You'd be surprised how many people don't work in the field that they studied for in college.
Narue
Bad Cop
15,460 posts since Sep 2004
Reputation Points: 6,464
Solved Threads: 1,401
>Is there still room more major break throughs and advances in computers?
Of course. We've only scratched the surface in the field of computing.
>i just like to think of these questions
Take some time to think of the answers as well, they're usually pretty intuitive.
Narue
Bad Cop
15,460 posts since Sep 2004
Reputation Points: 6,464
Solved Threads: 1,401
