Posted by SW on August 07, 2001 at 13:29:31:
In Reply to: CS as a major?? posted by CS Major on August 07, 2001 at 09:57:16:
Don't loose faith! One thing that is daunting about all of the engineering and natural sciences fields is that they all have tremendous learning curves that you have to get over in order to be successful in the field. It is hard for most people. What is harder is seeing the exceptionally gifted people that flock to these disciplines, and how they appear to do things with ease. Don't let this get you down. You can find many people that are in your exact same position.
As for the major, I would try your best to stick with CS. The fact is, many people who get a CS degree wind up doing other things than hacking code. There are lots of other aspects of software engineering and development that do not require you to write code. Having gone through the technical learning curve you will be on a higher, more level playing field with others in the industry, and you will command respect having a CS degree. Even in the face of a bad economy. What might be best for you is to focus on gettng a BA then going to business school afterwards. Having the business/technical pair is quite an asset and will still be for quite some time. You will find out there, like DVW says, totally incompetent managers that try to force developers to do certain stupid things, without taking their expertiece into consideration. What he does not tell you is that for every incompetent manager you will usually find two unruly developers. I think DVW referred to them as 'rouge' developers. What is often a highly sought after skill set is one where it mixes the two disciplenes. But usually this mixes like oil and vinegar for business focused people, and scientists. If you can achieve balance between the two disciplines you WILL succeed.