Mathematics or Computer Science?

[Maven]

I'm starting to question my computer science major. It's not that I don't like doing it, or that I cannot do it. I just don't know how *safe* of a major it is. While I know that just by having a degree in and by itself doesn't guarantee anything. some degrees have more 'promise' then others. A good example would be a philosophy major. What good is a degree in that? I mean, it may be useful for when your bitching about the long line at the unemployment office, other then that I'm not sure.

With trends of globalization and outsourcing, I really don't know if it's such a good idea to go into computer science now. Reading about programmers who have been doing the job for 25 years and are now lawn mower repairmen, isn't exactly inspiring.

So what do you think?

[TNick]

Hi, Maven!

It may sound silly, but it's not everything about the money! It's OK to have money, but it's even better to do something you like and you feel that you are good about.

Nick

[drhowarddrfine]

As an electronic engineer, I was told by a head hunter, once, that living in Missouri is like being a ship's captain in Kansas.  iow, there aren't a lot of jobs there.  But living in Silicon Valley would make getting a job a lot easier.  That may be the problem with some lawn mower repairmen. 

Also, I firmly believe that a lot of comp sci grads got that degree because of the money and so they can create games but not because the really like comp sci.  Which is why they are now lawn mower repairmen.  I've met a few.

I totally agree with TNick, btw.

[gabor]

Hi!

I can agree with both opinions...
It would be really important to have the chance to work and have career opportunity in the area or field one's degree is about.
To have a job with adequate salary is another wish.
Third thing is the happiness about having a job because it is more like a hobby.
Obviously, in my opinion, the happiest worker on Earth is the one with all 3 points realized: a well paid job that is more like a hobby and demands the knowledge, degree he/she has acquired.
I personally would not give up my job because it would not be well paid. Certainly, this would be a dejecting fact, but I like (almost love) what I do and this simply cannot be replaced by more money.
The state is quite different if the problem is that there are scarce or no jobs at all. In this case I suppose one (or more) of the 3 "directives" must be left away  :(.

In my country there are still tons of arts faculity graduates: mostly teachers. However the number of children to be taught is steadily going down, so the sad fact is that educating, training those young teachers is simply a waste of money. They are going to be either jobless or in better case employees, but not teachers. I guess the question "will I have job opportunities" must be ask before choosing the faculty and the college, university.

Here the computer science education has increased its students enormously in the last few years. This degree's got so much appreciated, this attract aloso those who only want a good payment. If they take possibilities from other better talented and motivated youngserts, first in the education and later when looking for jobs, this can lead to a poorly advancing profession, industry and in general a worse growth of economy...

I better finish now, because I could write full essays about the bad effects of letting not well educated programers work in the computer science industry, about the bad effects of the faster-on-the-market rule... Maybe some day in an other thread.

Greets, Gábor

[u]

I certainly don't recall knowing of any good programmer, that stopped being a programmer after many years. Except for my boss, who had to start leading the company he started :). (and he's often fixing and adding code to our projects when he finds time to spare).

A pessimistic ex-colleague of mine had doubts (more like prophecies of doom, in his case) about the software industry, and instead of changing profession, he simply moved to another company - where he found the terms of work and projects more to his preference.

A quick insider-essay to cheer you up: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FindingGreatDevelopers.html
I recommend you read the whole Joel on Software archive of articles(essays), from start to finish.
Good coders can always find a good job, with a good salary, the only thing stopping some is relocation. A good comp.sci diploma is usually a means to not have your resume spam-filtered. [though, there are some useful things that you can learn at uni - completely different from how to code in C++]