[ale] Sort of OT: College Majors

[Greg]

At 18 very few individuals can predict the future.  I have only known 1
person who grew up only wanting to do something, majored in it, and got a
job in it (education).  After 5 yrs she was kinda burned out and last I
heard she left it.  A lot of folks change majors, careers, and jobs.  I
wouldn't worry about it.  No one expects you to know the future right now.
I would suggest taking the computer science major to start out with (most
colleges make you spend the first year/ semester / whatever taking the
freshman overall/general courses so you do have some time and opportunities
to decide before concentrating on courses for your major.  I don't know your
level of knowledge, but there is a hell of a lot of computer theory that is
taught in college that could prove useful later.  Just remember that there
is "college engineering" and that there is "corporate engineering".  The
former is how the eggheads do it and the latter is how you will do it once
you get a job.  It applies to all engineering professions and vocations
(law, medicine, etc). But ... in you need the base of the former to do the
later.

A college degree is also a door opener to many companies.  There is a kernel
developer at a high level (an OpenBSD committer) who can't get a job in
Europe now because instead of spending time in a classroom he was committing
code for the OpenBSD project & working for a company.  It seems all of the
employers there want to see a college degree on his resume rather than his
string of commits.  There are also research companies (IBM, AT & T, etc) who
require a Ph.D. for certain jobs.  As a friend at GM said "The janitor has a
Masters." (he had 1 BS, 2 MS, and was a course short of a Ph.D. before Uncle
Sam grabbed him).  A degree shows an employer that you can stick with
something and do it well.  Short of getting a job now coding/sys admining,
it is probably a good idea to go to college.  I suspect your folks would
agree.

In short, take what you want with the expectation that it is ok to change
later.  Enjoy it.  You probably won't have the same opportunity again.
Remember, a lot of folks do IT but with another degree for use in another
field (Dow Hurst comes to mind as well as a lot of my Industrial Engineering
friends).

I don't think you have too much to worry about.  There is quite a bit about
IT that I am sure you can spend your time on in college.

Good Luck,

Greg


-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org]On Behalf Of
Parker McGee
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 9:34 PM
To: ALE Mailing List
Subject: [ale] Sort of OT: College Majors


This past weekend I went to Ga Tech's Connect with Tech program.
Going into it, I was all "Yeah, I'm going to major in Comp Sci, no one
can convince me to do anything else!!"  Now, they've convinced me.

I've always been a sponge for knowledge.  I've never turned down the
ability to learn something new.  During that program, I went to a
Physics 2 class, and realized that there are actually teachers out
there that can make Physics fun.  My AP Physics B teacher last year
was horrible, and Calculus based Physics makes so much more sense to
me than Algebra based.  I really, really enjoyed that class.

Meanwhile, I was meeting a lot of the other Comp Sci hopefuls, and
realized that a lot of them were the typical "l33t" computer user.
"Whoa!  A degree!  With computers?!  And I can build video games!?!?!?
 I'm in!!  Wait... science?  Crap!"  And also, a lot of the Comp Sci
majors were even like that!  I don't think I could stand working with
people like that day in and day out for the rest of my life.

A good story: One of the high schoolers at the program talked all day
about how he was going to do computer science and nothing else; how he
loved computers and such.  Then, I was sitting behind him in the Study
Abroad seminar when the speaker said "Oxford College's dorms were
built in the 1300s but they even have Cat5 wiring now!"  He turned to
the person sitting next to him and asked "What's Cat5?"

Also, it seems like I'm going to be bored out of my mind for the AT
LEAST the first two years in the Comp Sci curriculum.  It's something
that I've enjoyed so much for the past two years that I've practically
taught myself 2+ years of college material.  I don't mean to brag,
that's just how it goes.  I think I can teach myself the rest of the
things I would be able to learn in that degree in another two years.
The Internet is an amazing thing.  Going back to being a sponge for
information, I don't think I can take, much less want to take,
spending two years of college, when I could be learning tons, just
relearning things.

A good part of me wants to go get my PhD and become a college
professor.  Now, if it's people like my Cat5 friend up there that I'm
going to have to teach, I don't want any part of it.  I'm sure every
major has their "l33t krew" but it seems like Comp Sci has more than
its fair share.  I really enjoy the really out-there theory and almost
philosophy based AI theory.  A good part of the reason I want to be a
professor is that I will always have an excuse to learn something new.
 Like if I want to learn about a new Physics theory, I could just go
ask my friend the Physics professor.  I feel like in a 40 hour-a-week
job, I'm limited, and learning new things would have to be put on the
back burner as opposed to more of a "How can this information help my
company earn more money?" Because of this and my enjoyment of the
Physics class I took, I'm starting to get pulled me away from a Comp
Sci degree.  I honestly don't know what to do.

Part of me says pure Physics sounds interesting, but then I question,
"Well, what if I decide that PhD isn't for me?  What do I do with just
a Physics degree?"  The main majors I'm starting to lean towards are
Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering.  I'm still, of
course, thinking that maybe things aren't so bad as I think in
Computer Science and I should give it a shot.  I honestly feel that I
could major in anything and still be interested in it.  What I'm
currently leaning towards is Electrical Engineering with an emphasis
in Comp Sci, but then I go back to my original problem which is now
amplified, I don't have enough electives to get past the boring stuff
into the things that will actually be interesting to me.

I really don't know what I should do.  Does anyone have any
recommendations, particularly personal insights?  Anything is
hugely(!!!) welcome!  Thanks!!

Parker McGee
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