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Just FYI, getting an Information Systems degree instead of a Computer Science degree is one of my regrets. I would not advise it to anyone. If you want to work

by wikibob 10y ago

Just FYI, getting an Information Systems degree instead of a Computer Science degree is one of my regrets. I would not advise it to anyone. If you want to work in tech, go for the CS degree. Yes it'll be harder, but it's vastly more valuable. IS/IT degrees are nearly all fluff, especially a MS.

zengid 10y ago
I agree, but hey, at least you have a framework you can use to fill in the missing CS pieces on your own! You're probably in a better position to be promoted to a management level with an IS degree over a CS, so that's not a bad thing. In my case, the school that I'm attending only has a MS in IT. I decided that spending a short amount of time getting a higher degree in a 'softer' field would be better than struggling through the (somewhat arbitrary) math for a long time just to earn another Bachelors. Either way, I'm trying to use all of the free-time that I have now to supplement my education as thoroughly as possible in the realms of hard CS topics. I hope to integrate this into my thesis as a way of demonstrating that I made the most of my time.
- wikibob 10y ago
  Your reasoning isn't far off from what mine was at the time I was choosing a major. With the benefit of hindsight I can tell you that if you want to work in the quantitive side of technology, the pain of suffering through the math and truly grasping it, is absolutely and completely worth it. As time goes past, the tech industry appears to be becoming more specialized. An analogy that I think works pretty well is the medical field. In the beginning you just had "doctors", then as more advances were made, the field specialized into nurses, doctors, physicians assistants, and then further into specialties and now sub-specialities. Someone can absolutely work in technology without a firm grasp on the fundamentals, hell they can even make a lot of money. But it's a difficult leap to go from working on a React & Rails app to working on distributed systems, advancing the state of the art AI, etc. Also be careful about assumptions about who is in 'management'. This is also a mistake that I made when I didn't really understand the industry. I have spent time working for managers who are non-technical and am rebuilding my life so that I never have to do that again. Happy to chat more about this if you'd like. Good luck with your degree and I hope it works out well for you.

by wikibob 10y ago

zengid 10y ago

I agree, but hey, at least you have a framework you can use to fill in the missing CS pieces on your own! You're probably in a better position to be promoted to a management level with an IS degree over a CS, so that's not a bad thing. In my case, the school that I'm attending only has a MS in IT. I decided that spending a short amount of time getting a higher degree in a 'softer' field would be better than struggling through the (somewhat arbitrary) math for a long time just to earn another Bachelors. Either way, I'm trying to use all of the free-time that I have now to supplement my education as thoroughly as possible in the realms of hard CS topics. I hope to integrate this into my thesis as a way of demonstrating that I made the most of my time.

wikibob 10y ago
Your reasoning isn't far off from what mine was at the time I was choosing a major. With the benefit of hindsight I can tell you that if you want to work in the quantitive side of technology, the pain of suffering through the math and truly grasping it, is absolutely and completely worth it. As time goes past, the tech industry appears to be becoming more specialized. An analogy that I think works pretty well is the medical field. In the beginning you just had "doctors", then as more advances were made, the field specialized into nurses, doctors, physicians assistants, and then further into specialties and now sub-specialities. Someone can absolutely work in technology without a firm grasp on the fundamentals, hell they can even make a lot of money. But it's a difficult leap to go from working on a React & Rails app to working on distributed systems, advancing the state of the art AI, etc. Also be careful about assumptions about who is in 'management'. This is also a mistake that I made when I didn't really understand the industry. I have spent time working for managers who are non-technical and am rebuilding my life so that I never have to do that again. Happy to chat more about this if you'd like. Good luck with your degree and I hope it works out well for you.