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I graduated as an engineer and eventually became a business analyst/consultant. If I were in your position I would choose the business degree and either a mino

I graduated as an engineer and eventually became a business analyst/consultant. If I were in your position I would choose the business degree and either a minor in software engineering (it's not the same as CS) or learn SE using web resources/courses. Since you're not in SV and I assume in some other IT dominated locale, you are likely to earn far more in the business world with strong IT skills. Business knowledge and experience opens doors to many industries so you can gravitate to areas that appeal to you. As a software developer your domain specific experience will be far more critical than your knowledge of selection of software tools and frameworks. But jobs for software developers are mostly defined by your technical experience and thus difficult to transition between domains.

CollegeAdvice 2y ago
Didn't the fact that you had a technical degree make it easier for you to transition though? Or do you think that a business foundation is more important and versatile than an engineering one?
- GianFabien 2y ago
  I think there is a cultural component. In my experience (in AU) business folks consider themselves ubermensch and technical folks are viewed as inconvenient but necessary resource to achieving their important goals. Unlike when I started on my career, these days you have about 27 million (and increasing fast) programmers in the world, a vast number of no-code / low-code tools and AI driven tools like CoPilot. Against this background, programming is an ever more fungible resource. You need to be aware that reading HN and other tech oriented forums/blogs/etc you are seeing the nerd viewpoint. Every problem can be solved by throwing more AI and SW at it. The business community views every problem in terms of money - either to make more money or save more money. The rest is just detail (to be delegated). In my view, you need both comprehensive business knowledge/experience and a strong IT foundation.

CollegeAdvice 2y ago

Didn't the fact that you had a technical degree make it easier for you to transition though? Or do you think that a business foundation is more important and versatile than an engineering one?

GianFabien 2y ago
I think there is a cultural component. In my experience (in AU) business folks consider themselves ubermensch and technical folks are viewed as inconvenient but necessary resource to achieving their important goals. Unlike when I started on my career, these days you have about 27 million (and increasing fast) programmers in the world, a vast number of no-code / low-code tools and AI driven tools like CoPilot. Against this background, programming is an ever more fungible resource. You need to be aware that reading HN and other tech oriented forums/blogs/etc you are seeing the nerd viewpoint. Every problem can be solved by throwing more AI and SW at it. The business community views every problem in terms of money - either to make more money or save more money. The rest is just detail (to be delegated). In my view, you need both comprehensive business knowledge/experience and a strong IT foundation.