Software engineering vs. I.T.

Hey all, I'm currently in school for computer science. I would guess that most people pursuing CS degrees end up in some sort of software engineering job. I'm not entirely sure I want to end up being deadlocked to software engineering as I love all aspects of computers. I was just curious as to how different softeng. and IT jobs were in terms of things like work environment, salary/advancement opportunities, job security, and overall job morale.

My schools website has Computer Science as the 3rd highest paying degree while business IT is at #10. That is pretty appealing but not too appealing if job morale is low.

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RouteThisWay

tom_dub wrote: »

My schools website has Computer Science as the 3rd highest paying degree while business IT is at #10. That is pretty appealing but not too appealing if job morale is low.

Consider the source of your information. I would wonder what the cost of one degree vs another is there.

The answer isn't as concrete as you like. It totally depends on what you are doing. Not all CS guys are doing the exact job in the exact location with the exact responsibilities. Not all "IT" guys are doing the same job, in the same location, with the same responsibilities. These statistics schools give out are pretty skeptical tbh.

Do what you like to do. If you like your job, you will excel at it. If you hate it, you will be very mediocre at it. And soon you will be out of it anyway lol.

TrainingDaze

Hi Tom,

It's true that software engineer is one of, if not the, hottest careers right now to be in .

But getting a degree in computer science by no means locks you into one career, so don't feel like you are committing your life to one career path right now. I know people who majored in English and Anthropology who are now in I.T. so there is always an opportunity to switch career fields.

My advice would be, as long as you can get decent grades in CS, then go with CS. The reasoning is that having a hard science degree like CS or Elec. Engineering, you have more doors open to you after graduation than just an IT major. Employers gravitate towards hard science majors because it shows they have strong analytical and mathematical backgrounds, which are useful in almost any career field. So with a CS, you have the opportunity to do Soft. Eng., or IT, or business etc..

Xcluziv

TrainingDaze wrote: »

Hi Tom,

It's true that software engineer is one of, if not the, hottest careers right now to be in .

But getting a degree in computer science by no means locks you into one career, so don't feel like you are committing your life to one career path right now. I know people who majored in English and Anthropology who are now in I.T. so there is always an opportunity to switch career fields.

My advice would be, as long as you can get decent grades in CS, then go with CS. The reasoning is that having a hard science degree like CS or Elec. Engineering, you have more doors open to you after graduation than just an IT major. Employers gravitate towards hard science majors because it shows they have strong analytical and mathematical backgrounds, which are useful in almost any career field. So with a CS, you have the opportunity to do Soft. Eng., or IT, or business etc..

I agree totally with TrainingDaze. Having a CS degree makes you more marketable and able to go in different avenues. Just being in IT you are geared towards particular fields, although there are always exceptions....as long as you work hard and network with the right people you will be well off...this is coming from a recent CS graduate

NinjaBoy

tom_dub wrote: »

...I would guess that most people pursuing CS degrees end up in some sort of software engineering job...

Not necessarily, for instance the group of us that graduated with our BSc in Computing (specialising in Software engineering), most of us aren't programmers/software engineers.

tom_dub wrote: »

...I'm not entirely sure I want to end up being deadlocked to software engineering as I love all aspects of computers...

However you can say the same thing about any field of IT/Computing, how many programmers do you know who can build and support (properly) an organisations infrastructure and vice versa... How many IT Support professionals do you know build enterprise class working programs?

tom_dub wrote: »

...I was just curious as to how different softeng. and IT jobs were in terms of things like work environment, salary/advancement opportunities, job security, and overall job morale...

You can't really compare the two that way, it's like saying what's better coke or pepsi. It's down to the individual (as well as down to the individual company and sector).

-Ken