Thread: Future in Computer Science.

I'm currently a computer science student. After finishing my last math class which is Calculus III, I'm attracted so much with it and still continue studying Advanced Math concepts on my own. I'm really so attracted with computers, airplane and space since childhood years. I'm more interested in developing fancy 3D graphics where I can apply math and physics there.

As years past by, I don't see any good thing about computer science or maybe I don't know if it that's CS. Yeah, we have windows 7... but what's with that? Nothing fancy about it. There we have a 32-core processor but an engineer made that.

I'm thinking that I really did a wrong decision for choosing a computer science degree. I should took engineering instead or maybe not. Is there any future in a computer science course? Yeah, I see computers went advances but I think that's for the engineering part not with computer science.

Please enlighten me.

If this were a poll I would just vote you're wrong. You didn't make a wrong choice. What you've said applies to CS. I'm having trouble navigating your English, so I'm going to leave it at that.

Computer Science can lead to hundreds of opportunities in several different fields. I, for one, am planning on returning to school and getting a graduate degree in the near future, and I'd like to do Neuroscience (although Computer Science was my undergrad).

You say you'd like to use math and physics to do pretty graphical things, well that is right down Computer Science's alley. Look at every pretty computer game out there Windows 7, of course, is more related to completely different areas of CS than those having to do with graphics, physics, and math...and if that's not the portion of CS that interests you, then that's okay.

Originally Posted by Perspective

If you want to build physical things (like CPUs or airplanes) then you might want to consider switching to an eng degree. If you want to build software, then stick with CS.

I don't really see how computer science is relevant to software development. Writing good software is an engineering problem, not a science. And CS itself isn't really science either, more an offshoot of mathematics.

Depending what type of engineering you want to do, it's probably necessary to have an actual engineering degree. But that doesn't mean you need to start over on your undergraduate education. Plenty of people switch fields for graduate study.

I know two engineers who worked on the designs of the Mariner Venus probes, the space shuttle, and various satellites. They both have EE degrees, and one of them has a masters in Communication Theory.

"BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or related technical discipline (or equivalent)."

That bolded part is pretty vague. It can be argued that a degree in Math, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or physics would qualify as a "related technical discipline".

Originally Posted by Perspective

I guess that depends on your program. But if you look at job postings for software developers they generally say "degree in CS or equivalent" as opposed to degree in engineering or equivalent. I think CS degrees are generally geared more towards software development.

Certainly not the case at my uni. Basically, the CS students get lots of electives and the core units are maths, CS theory and more maths. 99% of them choose not to do the SE units, so you could say that CS is geared towards maths / doing what the SE's tell you to . The only reason I would transfer to CS is if I didn't want to do an extra year, or failed some SE core units.

That being said, you could always do engineering electives in your CS degree (or other electives) and hope to go that way, or transfer to another degree, or do a post-grad degree after you finish your CS degree. But if you're being employed in a team to build a rocket, don't expect do design it, program it, construct it and test it all at once by yourself (no matter your degree *hopes no-one mentions management degrees *)

Originally Posted by sarah22

So does that mean that I can get a Masters on different field?

You can always get your Masters in a different field from your Bachelors so long as the under-grad curriculum is similar. As a computer science major, you'll have almost no trouble getting into masters programs for electrical engineering, mathematics, or possibly even Physics and Aeronautics, depending on what you took in your undergrad. Typically, as long as the degree is a science (as apposed to an art) discipline, they transition is not overly difficult. If you look at the education history of some great names in science you'll typically see a transition between disciplines from their Bachelors and Masters (and even again in the Doctorate).