College Help

[Virii]

Hello, currently I'm enrolling in college and I'm undeclared. I read up a few posts on these forums to take a look into them but I figured I would post myself to get feedback.

My main goals are as follows:
- Have enough programming language knowledge to do the following:
-- Web Programming (Web Development using PHP, ASP, .NET, etc)
-- Software Programming (Video Games using Direct3D, OpenGL, C++, etc. Also regular application programming

As well as have abilities in Flash, Photoshop (Although this is more of a natural talent then something that can be taught).

I live in Southern California, in the LA/Hollywood area, and I would love to make a minimum of 95,000$ a year anything more then that would be great.

So my questions are, what major should I Major in in order to get to these goals? I was thinking Computer Science but from what I saw on here people say it's not the best for programming languages. Software Engineering is a possibility as well but what are your opinions?

Also, from those of you replying to this thread, if you could give me your location, degree in what major and how much money you make yearly that would also help my decision as well. I know that money shouldn't influence what I do, but I love programming so whatever makes the most money in programming would be my dream job.

[Narue]

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.

[Virii]

Narue, what is your specialty and what job are you currently in?

[Narue]

My specialty is systems programming, and my job is the lead engineer in software research and development.

[Virii]

Well what about this, should I go into software engineering or computer science?

[Narue]

>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.

[Virii]

It focuses on Computer Science, but 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? Most people are telling me it's all theory.

[Rashakil Fol]

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.

[Narue]

>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.

[bbb777b7]

Hey, I am very interested in this topic.

I am still in high school, but I really like math, science, and computers.

When you said that most people learn things outside of class, what do you mean? I learn many random info but always wanted a class to give me knowledge. can you explain it to me, thx.

also, computers are no longer the newest technology in this world. will CS let you see other aspects of science as well? or is it limited?

[Narue]

>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.

[bbb777b7]

What i meant is that computers might one day go down

............

does that mean i'll be left jobless and wasted 4 years of study?

and if you study CS, will you definetly be working with a computer or software for a job?

[Dani]

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 :)

[Narue]

>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.

[bbb777b7]

it's too bad that computers aren't the latest technology. Is there still room more major break throughs and advances in computers? srry for asking so much, i just like to think of these questions.

[Narue]

>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.