Thread: Area of Specialization

Originally Posted by seal308

The 3 factors that come to mind are money, enjoyment and being more hirable.

I recommend that you go with what interests you, i.e., what you are likely to enjoy and do well in, since the paper qualifications of a degree tend to matter the most in the first few jobs, so you want to make an impact with better grades than with a specialisation, especially since you may find out that what you learn in school is rather different from the realities of the industry. Hiring trends change over time and location, so trying to chase that with a university specialisation seems rather futile to me: you would probably be better off always learning new things, and sometimes having a pet project or two to show for it to a future employer.

How much money you may end up earning could well depend more on being in the right place at the right time, and/or having the right connections, or being flexible in what you learn and do, than on what specialisation you choose in university.

Well, since you're unsure, I'd suggest picking the most widely useful specialization you can. There's a good chance that when you get a job, your specialization will change. As an example, I started with systems development and now I specialize in document imaging at the application level. But the systems experience puts me several levels above my peers because it's so fundamentally useful.