Is a bachelors in computer information systems worthless? (college degree, jobs, career)
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The curriculum looks odd to me. Seems 3/4 of the subjects are basically liberal arts and business administration. Only 1/4 of the classes relate to computers. If you have a passion for IT why not earn a BS in computer science? Also, not much of what you learn in school will be applicable to an actual job. The diploma basically opens the door for an interview. The rest is getting a job and then doing well at it. Doing well at a job is as much about managing your boss as the work itself.
Is there a cheaper route to get that diploma? I'm not saying it's a waste of money, but $80K for a piece of paper seems high to me. From my experience of 20 years, the best job in IT was unix sys admin. Wherever there is a server farm you will have sys admins. HP and Sun unix servers are the backbone of all the biggest enterprise computing departments. The sys admin has to know hardware, software, database, networking, interfacing peripherals, security, shell scripts, etc. Edward Snowden was a Unix Sys Admin.
Info Systems Mgmt is too vague for direct IT application.
If you want a career in IT, study languages and particular disciplines.
I had a job in IT, and the degree added nothing - it was kind of a joke because it is so vague and became immediately antiquated. Languages and particular hardware, software, firmware designations are much more useful.
The curriculum looks odd to me. Seems 3/4 of the subjects are basically liberal arts and business administration. Only 1/4 of the classes relate to computers. If you have a passion for IT why not earn a BS in computer science? Also, not much of what you learn in school will be applicable to an actual job. The diploma basically opens the door for an interview. The rest is getting a job and then doing well at it. Doing well at a job is as much about managing your boss as the work itself.
Is there a cheaper route to get that diploma? I'm not saying it's a waste of money, but $80K for a piece of paper seems high to me. From my experience of 20 years, the best job in IT was unix sys admin. Wherever there is a server farm you will have sys admins. HP and Sun unix servers are the backbone of all the biggest enterprise computing departments. The sys admin has to know hardware, software, database, networking, interfacing peripherals, security, shell scripts, etc. Edward Snowden was a Unix Sys Admin.
If you have a passion for IT why not earn a BS in computer science?
I can't speak for the OP but I can speak for myself, Computer Science involves a lot of math and technical coursework which a lot of folks aren't necessary good with. If they were easy to get, everyone would have it.
But yeah, if you do have it, you can do anything pretty much. IMO.
I can't speak for the OP but I can speak for myself, Computer Science involves a lot of math and technical coursework which a lot of folks aren't necessary good with. If they were easy to get, everyone would have it.
But yeah, if you do have it, you can do anything pretty much. IMO.
Exactly, you dont need to know calculus to know how to program, I learned how to program just with google and a debugger jeez. And I hate Math. Im going for CIS.
You would be better served getting an accounting degree with a bunch of computer classes. A CIS degree is pretty useless if you don't understand any of the business processes behind the applications.
The DBA's where I work don't really do much, other than configure servers. We write all of the scripts, create the tables, create the indexes, etc.
You don't need math to program but you do need to be able to look at a problem and figure out how to solve it. You may look at it for hours until the light bulb goes off. You have to believe if you stick with it long enough you will figure it out. This is exactly what you need to fix a program that isn't working. I once spent 6 hours on a calculus problem, then figured it out while I was taking a shower, got out of the shower and solved the problem. I was the only person in the class who solved it. I was also the only one who spent 6 hours looking at it. Years later a multimillion dollar conversion project I had proposed at work was stalled. A crucial piece of code wasn't working. The code was written in a graphic computer language that didn't have a debugger, so it worked or it didn't. None of the programmers could get it to work. As sys admin I asked to look at it. I spent 3 weeks going over the same 1200 lines of code, and finally spotted an incorrect comma in the syntax. It solved the problem. Exactly the same mindset and mental work was required as in solving that calculus problem. To get somewhere in IT you need that type of mental work and dedication. Anything easy is going to be poorly rewarded.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeAllen2110
Exactly, you dont need to know calculus to know how to program, I learned how to program just with google and a debugger jeez. And I hate Math. Im going for CIS.
Exactly, you dont need to know calculus to know how to program, I learned how to program just with google and a debugger jeez. And I hate Math. Im going for CIS.
So you’re going to be a technician. You’ll spend your whole career looking over your shoulder waiting for your job to be outsourced.
Smart people capable of critical analysis always find good work because they’re in short supply. You get enough math courses in your undergrad to be a math major. If you are lousy at math, you’re not going far as an engineer.
Im coming closer to graduation, time for me to choose a major and I dont want to end up working at McDonalds or Starbucks, I do have a genuine passion for I.T... Here are the courses I will be taking: https://myumo.moc.edu/academic/regis...S%20080116.pdf
Then you can progress to other courses as you like.
This will give you a feel of how things work in software companies. If you are a really good developer and can solve problems through code, you will make it.
You will have edge over the 1000's of grads all over the world studying the same syllabus with a fraction of your tution/salary.
Study computer science and constantly train and push your brain.
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