# Computer science majors...



## Ames105 (Nov 6, 2005)

Do you feel like you've chosen the right major? I'm a junior this year and I have doubts. At this point, I'm not exactly hating computer science but I'm not exactly loving it either. I think I just feel so incompetent in this major because I look around and see everyone who is doing better than I am. So the question becomes, why don't you change? 

1.) I have no major interests, passions, if I do change majors, what would I change to?
2.) It will put me behind, I'm pretty sure now that I won't be able to graduate in four years, so if it will take me 5 years to graduate with a CS degree, if I change my major now, just how much longer will that take me?

For those of you who started CS with no programming background or anything and love it, at what point did you realize that? When you took your first class? Not until years later?

Computer science is so hard and I'm just worried I won't make it through. And even if I do make it through, I'm afraid my gpa won't be high enough to help me get a job considering how currently I have no work experience whatsoever.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Ames105,

Well, I guess this post was meant for me to answer. I have been there and done that. I decided to continue with my CS degree despite the fear, which was exactly like yours. I ended up with an average GPA and am still employable. Despite being in a rough field, the market was flatlined for a long time, I don't regret the decision to stick with it.

It took me 5 1/2 years to complete my degree. I didn't really start to go full time until I progressed into the final "two years."

To be honest, you have gotten through the rough part and are getting into the really interesting part of the major - where computers can communicate with each other and real software engineering stuff. I even took some graphics courses. The work was hard, forcing me to be social, but I had a lot of fun.

Today, I am in quality assurance (graduated in March 1999), and work with several computers on different UNIX and Windows platforms. I have to check networks and drive mounts to make sure everything is set up properly.

You really did pick an interesting field; you just may not completely know it yet! :yes


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## Meee (Oct 24, 2005)

I don't know. I'm studying CompSci too, but to be honest i'm getting bored with it, lack of motivation and such. Maybe it'd be that way whatever subject i studied, but maybe not.. i'm 20 years old and still haven't figured out what i'm trying to do with my life.

Gah, this sucks.


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## Ames105 (Nov 6, 2005)

I'm not sure about getting through the rough part, I've got some major hard classes coming and I can't help but think, if I'm struggling this badly with the easy courses, how the hell am I going to get through the harder ones?



> i'm 20 years old and still haven't figured out what i'm trying to do with my life.
> 
> Gah, this sucks.


Yep, that's where I am too. It does suck... a lot.


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## kikachuck (Nov 10, 2003)

Ames105 said:


> > i'm 20 years old and still haven't figured out what i'm trying to do with my life.
> >
> > Gah, this sucks.
> 
> ...


I wouldn't worry about it too much. It is a rare site indeed for a 20 year old to have a clue :lol


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## rb27 (Jul 17, 2005)

kikachuck said:


> Ames105 said:
> 
> 
> > > i'm 20 years old and still haven't figured out what i'm trying to do with my life.
> ...


Don't you hate it when you meet a person who knew exactly what they wanted to be since they were like, fourteen? They're making the rest of us look bad.


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## pittstonjoma (Nov 10, 2003)

Honestly? Lately, no. I think I should have been a music major.



> I think I just feel so incompetent in this major because I look around and see everyone who is doing better than I am.


Yeah.. I barely get 70's on programs and damn people always get 98's and 100's.. makes me angry



> For those of you who started CS with no programming background or anything and love it, at what point did you realize that? When you took your first class? Not until years later?


Since I transferred to the college I am at now.. because at the old one I always did in the high 90's.. so halfway through.



> Computer science is so hard and I'm just worried I won't make it through. And even if I do make it through, I'm afraid my gpa won't be high enough to help me get a job considering how currently I have no work experience whatsoever.


Right on.. and I myself am afraid I am not going to be happy in a programming job.. but I'm a senior.. I'm not changing majors now.. I may go back and get another degree though.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

RB27,

I actually wanted to be a teacher when I was growing up. It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I was kind of "moved" into the computer field. I also (want :lol)ed to be a meterologist (hence my computer-drawn "partly cloudy" avatar). I still may pursue a degree in atmospheric science (Ohio State, Purdue, Valparaiso and Univ. of Michigan all carry the degree). 

I can say confidently that there is a VAST array of jobs in this field - even in languages I STILL have never heard of - almost seven years after graduating.


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## Paul (Sep 26, 2005)

I transferred out of computer science after 3 1/2 years, but just because I'd flunked data structures three times in a row (with progressively lower scores) and so didn't have any choice. I did get bored with the fact that after those 3 1/2 years they never taught us how to do anything interesting... data structures consisted of paper tests and completely senseless programs which may have been about balancing an AVL tree, but never gave any clue of why one would _want_ an AVL tree. Assembly language sure didn't produce any practical programs. Don't get me started on the disappointment of discovering that a "software engineering" class consists of learning to write mountains of paperwork and navigate bureaucracy without ever typing a line of code... that was perhaps when I realized working in the industry might not be much fun.

Anyhow, I picked a new major (philosophy) which required very few units, so that it only took me a year to graduate. If you find such a quick major, you can actually graduate faster than you would by staying in computer science.

In the end it turned out well for me, as I was able to apply the concepts I learned in computer science (OOP, etc) to something much more interesting (PHP) and employ myself... though your mileage may vary.


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## Meee (Oct 24, 2005)

> Don't get me started on the disappointment of discovering that a "software engineering" class consists of learning to write mountains of paperwork and navigate bureaucracy without ever typing a line of code... that was perhaps when I realized working in the industry might not be much fun.


Yeah.. "software engineering" bores me to tears. Paperwork and a huge amount of bull****, basically. Most of it seems to make no sense whatsover either, just specifying things that are completely obvious over and over "formally". Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

I don't know of other degree courses, obviously, but mine seems to just jump around randomly without ever explaining *why* you'd want / need to know this stuff. It's just "do X, do Y" even if X and Y are completely pointless. bleh.

Which did you change to?

I wish i'd done Physics or something, even though that'd be very hard. (i think)


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## Paul (Sep 26, 2005)

Meee said:


> Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?


Dilbert is a software engineer, that sums it up. The world would fall apart if somebody touched their keyboard without documenting it according to ISO 89723557.

_I wish i'd done Physics or something, even though that'd be very hard. (i think)_

Heh, two physics classes were required for the computer science major and I flunked one of those badly (not unrelated to flunking differential equations). I do like physics until you get to the complicated math though.

I would've considered anthropology or psychology or english if they'd been quicker majors, but philosophy got me out quick with a nice GPA boost.


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## mismac (Oct 27, 2005)

Meee said:


> I wish i'd done Physics or something, even though that'd be very hard. (i think)


Why don't you? You're still young (only 20 years old!). You should give yourself the freedom to explore other career options.


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## michaelg (Jan 29, 2005)

Ames105 said:


> I think I just feel so incompetent in this major because I look around and see everyone who is doing better than I am.


I don't know anything about majoring, but in high school I notice that half the people I talk to about computer science know more than I do, and it's depressing.. but then I know quite a bit more than a lot of other people, so I can't be doing too bad. You can't be better than everybody else (and you don't want to be), and heck, its sometimes more fun to talk to people better than you.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Paul said:


> I transferred out of computer science after 3 1/2 years, but just because I'd flunked data structures three times in a row (with progressively lower scores) and so didn't have any choice. I did get bored with the fact that after those 3 1/2 years they never taught us how to do anything interesting... data structures consisted of paper tests and completely senseless programs which may have been about balancing an AVL tree, but never gave any clue of why one would _want_ an AVL tree. Assembly language sure didn't produce any practical programs. Don't get me started on the disappointment of discovering that a "software engineering" class consists of learning to write mountains of paperwork and navigate bureaucracy without ever typing a line of code... that was perhaps when I realized working in the industry might not be much fun.
> 
> Anyhow, I picked a new major (philosophy) which required very few units, so that it only took me a year to graduate. If you find such a quick major, you can actually graduate faster than you would by staying in computer science.
> 
> In the end it turned out well for me, as I was able to apply the concepts I learned in computer science (OOP, etc) to something much more interesting (PHP) and employ myself... though your mileage may vary.


I hated data structures, on tope of what we had to do, we switched from Pascal to C++ which made things 20x worse! I never really used a tree after that, but did learn about classes.

My software engineering class was amess, and taught by a database guy who wore a white labcoat all of the time. The actualy program was a vending machine simulator that NOBODY got to work. In previous times the class was run, we were able to work in groups of four. We had to do ours alone!

Still, I managed to get through it. My job is really interesting though (quality assurance). Just last night, I had to look up a crash and what was causing it.


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## Mork (Apr 11, 2005)

I loved data structures. For me, that was the really good stuff, where as most other courses were just background material. It helped I had a really good teacher, a Ph.D. student that was full of enthusiam and had a gift for teaching.


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## kikachuck (Nov 10, 2003)

Funny, data structures was the class that made me quit computer science as a major back when I was a freshman :lol


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