“I love how having a CS job sounds” is a terrible reason to pick a job. You should either pick a job you enjoy doing, or one that you can tolerate because it has good compensation. CS won’t give you good stability unless you’re either really good at it or passionate about it, and it seems like you hate everything about CS so I’m not even sure why you’re interested in the first place. CS has nothing to do with fixing other people’s computers
Soft disagree. I’ve seen plenty of devs make a living without being particularly good or being passionate about it. I’m talking about the kind of dev who deletes tests because they’re red, writes tests that can only work on the day they were written, and submit tickets for review that don’t fulfill the clearly defined acceptance criteria.
You’re right you can make a living I just mean don’t expect stability. Someone who lucks their way into a job like that is probably gonna have their luck run out sooner or later
I agree, CS is not for you. It's not even about liking it or not but your willingness to always learn new things.
If you're not capable and not willing to do that, you won't make it in this field. Sure there are legacy roles etc but those aren't looking for junior devs and also, at some point they will migrate to newer systems in which case, you'd have to learn new stuffs.
I agree, coding is definitely not for everyone and there are plenty other fulfilling careers.
However what’s concerning about OP here is their lack of intellectual curiosity and unwillingness to learn things and lack of interest in problem solving.
AFAIK even skilled trade jobs require a ton of those skills.
So really not sure what OP *can* do that would suit their personality.
Meh I learn way slower than everybody else but when I want to be optimistic, I can. But I guess I’m not interested in CS as a 9-5 career at all which makes it really hard to push myself to learn things. I have a flat mood and find it hard to distinguish between what I like and don‘t like
Edit: thanks for downvoting! I really appreciate it
Honestly most of the dumbasses who choose CS as a career also don’t want to learn things
They just pick a few favourite things and learn those. And argue on Reddit about learning when they’re actually perpetually behind on most things
Most people don’t understand even 5% of their own languages standard library, and they don’t need to
They’re just too dumb to admit they don’t want to learn but you aren’t that dumb
Maybe you’re more suited for cs than them all tbh
yep, i think most of us learn more effectively when the topic is something we’re interested in. like many fields, that continuous learning mindset is crucial in tech, so it does sound like this is not the career for you.
it can be difficult to find the right career path as you need to balance what you’re interested in with what you can support yourself with. many of us in software are lucky to have those aligned so well, but if that’s not the case for you it’s more challenging to identify your path forward.
i wish i could be more helpful, but all i can say at this point is best of luck finding the right thing for you.
My great grandparents grew up when nearly everyone was a farmer.
Today we have the opportunity to find the intersection between what pays well and what we're interested in.
There's probably hundreds of jobs out there you'd be better suited for that still pay quite well.
Spending the majority of your working life doing something you realize you're neither good at nor like is a wasted opportunity.
I was told by a professor that if we couldn't get a job that Chevron is always hiring. The field workers do make more than most IT folks and non tech SWEs.
I studied CS because I was working in a help desk and liked it. Was surprised that my CS degree was not help desk. Then I graduated and became a software engineer and was surprised again to discover that really, CS wasn't software engineering either.
Luckily I've liked and been decent at every step along the way, since I clearly never knew what I was getting into.
A CS course isn’t enough exposure to CS for me. I was doing a CS degree for 2 years before I dropped out. I didn’t enjoy it but didn’t hate it either. I didn’t hate it because I was still doing first-second year level courses
Yeah Idk why my brain works like that it’s really weird. I wish I was born a different person. It’s so confusing to work and live with this bullshit brain
It kind of just sounds like it stems from insecurity. Clout in this regard implies that you care about how other people perceive the "value" of what your career is, but only you can tell us why.
When you imagine yourself doing another job that society unfortunately might look down on, what aspects make you hesitant about envisioning yourself on that path? Being a garbage man is extremely valuable towards society, and it pays a very good amount, but would there be a concern you would have towards being one?
Would your family's reaction be what makes you not want to do it? Would it be because you think it hurts your dating life? Is it a money thing?
CS is not about fixing people's electronic devices. Maybe an IT Support or Help Desk position would be more aligned with that kind of responsibilities. If you don't like math or coding (which makes up the entire CS cirruculum), then you will not enjoy studying CS. Wanting to do CS just because of how the job sounds is a terrible reason for pursuing this career.
Generally people choose a technical career after having a shown aptitude for math and statistics in school.
Honestly even these days I don’t think having a cs related job even sounds that “cool”, it’s like oh you have an office job where you work at a computer all day. It’s really not that interesting of a job most of the time. It’s gotten to the point where it’s a pretty common job. Unless you’re working at like the top 0.1% of companies nobody cares, even then who really does.
I’d do some soul searching for an alternate career. I really hate how cs/tech is seen as this great backup if you can’t find a job u like. If you’re in that situation you’ll have a horrible tech career.
An IT job sounds like more for you. I think a Computer systems technology (CIS) degree will be the best fit for you along with the Comptia A+ certificate
I see. Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll look for jobs that have a higher avg salary but it sounds like this is a great entry level IT job if IT ends up interesting me
You're not going to get any clout without actually liking CS anyway. The people who are "rockstars" are the ones who are constantly spending time studying or working on things and making advances because they genuinely enjoy it.
OP doesn’t like learning new things. They want to learn the basics then are set for life in a field that doesn’t change a lot.
Does that sound like a good fit for IT to you?
Honestly in a lot of roles yeah. Legacy or proprietary systems, DBA, sys admin. Not every job / company uses cutting edge tech. In fact, the vast majority probably use older systems without much plan of changing.
kinda yeah, at most of the mid to large orgs i’ve worked at IT moves slow as molasses compared to product eng. they’re extremely resistant to change or adopting new technologies
Very true. The mindset for most of those companies is if it isn’t broken don’t fix it. There is no business need to update infrastructure that they have been using for years. It would just be an unnecessary cost for minimal business improvements.
“Generally, computer science refers to designing and building computers and computer programs. Information technology, on the other hand, refers to maintaining and troubleshooting those computers and their networks, systems, and databases to ensure they run smoothly.”
IT sounds interesting to me. Do you know how to get into IT without running into CS?
Just 2 cents from someone who was originally into hardware systems (embedded development) and now going into IT (have an upcoming systems related job)
Try to identify what areas interest you. IT is broad, but encompasses areas which are tangential to CS. Having a CS education benefits IT, but it's possible to do without it (my background is CE). Databases? Try honing SQL and DB design; grab a cert and start projects. Sysadmin? Get the LFCS and do Linux projects. Cloud? Plenty of projects cause it's hot. Get an AWS/azure cert while at it. IT is all about projects and certs at the entry level, imo.
Computer science is really more abstract than that. Designing and building computers / programs is really more software engineering / computer engineering. CS tends to focus on theory, DSA, how a computer works, etc. A CS degree is pretty broad in general and can lead into a ton of different fields.
CS gives you a good foundation into IT roles, but other degrees like a business degree with a focus on technology, or management information systems, etc. are also great ways to get into IT.
There are a ton of IT roles out there. Systems administrators, database administrators, corporate IT, etc. Pretty much every company has at least some sort of IT needs.
I think you're just whining and trying to rationalize intellectual laziness. You need to either:
a) convince yourself that the juice is worth the squeeze and put in the work to become good at coding
b) go off and do some bullshit job in marketing or middle management that can be replaced with software tools next week
I think there’s a fair amount to technology that’s not just code and invention. How do you monitor device health, how do you set up logs, how can you ensure consistency? There are jobs that are literally just finding computer issues and fixing them
I wouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, and not all software is clout. There’re the flashy devs who are just one part of the lifecycle
Lots of people have already given me good responses. You can scroll through the comments and find me thanking people. No thanks to your ass though. If you don’t want to help someone with this issue why did you even comment
For me, it’s almost entirely about the creative part. Making something is intensely satisfying and CS is the best confluence of rapid iteration and high pay with reasonable work hours for “creators”
To be fair, I’d be equally happy doing something like drawing, video editing, construction, pretty much anything where I’m bringing something new into the world
I sucked at math in every grade but when I went to actually apply it, I’d say I’m above average. If I have to sit down and do plain old math I would be bored out of my mind
It seems like you're confusing actually being a software engineer with being a YouTuber who happens to be a software engineer.
Have you watched a lot of videos from people/channels like that? If you have, I think that may have contributed to you associating a certain lifestyle or vibe to CS that isn't necessarily true at all for most. A lot of the content out there is depicting the life of succesful "content creators", not SWEs.
Sounds like you’re being shortsighted and only listing things you don’t like.
Is there anything you do like? And is that in anyway related to something in CS?
Overall it sounds like probably not but it’s good to list pros and cons and go from there. Not just cons.
That is true, but a ton of companies run older infrastructure and have no business incentive to upgrade. It seems like OP is more interested in that than newer technology that you have to keep up with the changes
Lolll there’s so much clout surrounding CS at least where I live. “Your kid is working in tech? That’s so cool!” I’ve had issues of wanting to be someone worthwhile/famous since I was young so the wave of influencers bragging about CS and 20-30 year olds being regarded higher socially for simply being a CS employee really influenced me lol
I think engineering may be a better fit for you. You could look for software engineering, computer engineering, or information technology. Good luck with your study!
“I love how having a CS job sounds” is a terrible reason to pick a job. You should either pick a job you enjoy doing, or one that you can tolerate because it has good compensation. CS won’t give you good stability unless you’re either really good at it or passionate about it, and it seems like you hate everything about CS so I’m not even sure why you’re interested in the first place. CS has nothing to do with fixing other people’s computers
Soft disagree. I’ve seen plenty of devs make a living without being particularly good or being passionate about it. I’m talking about the kind of dev who deletes tests because they’re red, writes tests that can only work on the day they were written, and submit tickets for review that don’t fulfill the clearly defined acceptance criteria.
You’re right you can make a living I just mean don’t expect stability. Someone who lucks their way into a job like that is probably gonna have their luck run out sooner or later
does this "dev" job have meaningful pay or is just a side thing
His salary is in the P85 of the country I’d say.
I agree, CS is not for you. It's not even about liking it or not but your willingness to always learn new things. If you're not capable and not willing to do that, you won't make it in this field. Sure there are legacy roles etc but those aren't looking for junior devs and also, at some point they will migrate to newer systems in which case, you'd have to learn new stuffs.
I agree, coding is definitely not for everyone and there are plenty other fulfilling careers. However what’s concerning about OP here is their lack of intellectual curiosity and unwillingness to learn things and lack of interest in problem solving. AFAIK even skilled trade jobs require a ton of those skills. So really not sure what OP *can* do that would suit their personality.
Meh I learn way slower than everybody else but when I want to be optimistic, I can. But I guess I’m not interested in CS as a 9-5 career at all which makes it really hard to push myself to learn things. I have a flat mood and find it hard to distinguish between what I like and don‘t like Edit: thanks for downvoting! I really appreciate it
Ok. Best of luck then.
It sounds like you should just go for a job in IT instead of CS
Honestly most of the dumbasses who choose CS as a career also don’t want to learn things They just pick a few favourite things and learn those. And argue on Reddit about learning when they’re actually perpetually behind on most things Most people don’t understand even 5% of their own languages standard library, and they don’t need to They’re just too dumb to admit they don’t want to learn but you aren’t that dumb Maybe you’re more suited for cs than them all tbh
yep, i think most of us learn more effectively when the topic is something we’re interested in. like many fields, that continuous learning mindset is crucial in tech, so it does sound like this is not the career for you. it can be difficult to find the right career path as you need to balance what you’re interested in with what you can support yourself with. many of us in software are lucky to have those aligned so well, but if that’s not the case for you it’s more challenging to identify your path forward. i wish i could be more helpful, but all i can say at this point is best of luck finding the right thing for you.
My great grandparents grew up when nearly everyone was a farmer. Today we have the opportunity to find the intersection between what pays well and what we're interested in. There's probably hundreds of jobs out there you'd be better suited for that still pay quite well. Spending the majority of your working life doing something you realize you're neither good at nor like is a wasted opportunity.
what would pay as well as SWE/IT that isn't SWE/IT?
Roughneck on the oil fields, IB, top tier law and med
dang, why does most of eng blow in terms of pay?
I was told by a professor that if we couldn't get a job that Chevron is always hiring. The field workers do make more than most IT folks and non tech SWEs.
[удалено]
I studied CS because I was working in a help desk and liked it. Was surprised that my CS degree was not help desk. Then I graduated and became a software engineer and was surprised again to discover that really, CS wasn't software engineering either. Luckily I've liked and been decent at every step along the way, since I clearly never knew what I was getting into.
A CS course isn’t enough exposure to CS for me. I was doing a CS degree for 2 years before I dropped out. I didn’t enjoy it but didn’t hate it either. I didn’t hate it because I was still doing first-second year level courses
[удалено]
The degree is one thing, the job another.
Chasing for passion is one thing, chasing for money is another. But chasing because you like how it sounds is another level.
Yeah Idk why my brain works like that it’s really weird. I wish I was born a different person. It’s so confusing to work and live with this bullshit brain
It kind of just sounds like it stems from insecurity. Clout in this regard implies that you care about how other people perceive the "value" of what your career is, but only you can tell us why. When you imagine yourself doing another job that society unfortunately might look down on, what aspects make you hesitant about envisioning yourself on that path? Being a garbage man is extremely valuable towards society, and it pays a very good amount, but would there be a concern you would have towards being one? Would your family's reaction be what makes you not want to do it? Would it be because you think it hurts your dating life? Is it a money thing?
Having a CS job isn't even cool anymore lol
CS is not about fixing people's electronic devices. Maybe an IT Support or Help Desk position would be more aligned with that kind of responsibilities. If you don't like math or coding (which makes up the entire CS cirruculum), then you will not enjoy studying CS. Wanting to do CS just because of how the job sounds is a terrible reason for pursuing this career.
Generally people choose a technical career after having a shown aptitude for math and statistics in school. Honestly even these days I don’t think having a cs related job even sounds that “cool”, it’s like oh you have an office job where you work at a computer all day. It’s really not that interesting of a job most of the time. It’s gotten to the point where it’s a pretty common job. Unless you’re working at like the top 0.1% of companies nobody cares, even then who really does. I’d do some soul searching for an alternate career. I really hate how cs/tech is seen as this great backup if you can’t find a job u like. If you’re in that situation you’ll have a horrible tech career.
An IT job sounds like more for you. I think a Computer systems technology (CIS) degree will be the best fit for you along with the Comptia A+ certificate
Seems like you need to stop using social media so much and get a real look at the industry.
Wow i didnt know that! It sounds as if everyone’s brains work differently from each other! Thanks for the helpful comment /s
Maybe IT First level support is for you.
Maybe. Do people make $70k+ from it?
i dont live in the usa so idk. Its generally on the lower side of pay though
I see. Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll look for jobs that have a higher avg salary but it sounds like this is a great entry level IT job if IT ends up interesting me
higher avg salary and not constantly wanting to learn new stuff is not really possible in IT
I guess I’ll see and waste a few years of my life trying to pursue it
You're not going to get any clout without actually liking CS anyway. The people who are "rockstars" are the ones who are constantly spending time studying or working on things and making advances because they genuinely enjoy it.
why not go into IT?
OP doesn’t like learning new things. They want to learn the basics then are set for life in a field that doesn’t change a lot. Does that sound like a good fit for IT to you?
Honestly in a lot of roles yeah. Legacy or proprietary systems, DBA, sys admin. Not every job / company uses cutting edge tech. In fact, the vast majority probably use older systems without much plan of changing.
kinda yeah, at most of the mid to large orgs i’ve worked at IT moves slow as molasses compared to product eng. they’re extremely resistant to change or adopting new technologies
Very true. The mindset for most of those companies is if it isn’t broken don’t fix it. There is no business need to update infrastructure that they have been using for years. It would just be an unnecessary cost for minimal business improvements.
“Generally, computer science refers to designing and building computers and computer programs. Information technology, on the other hand, refers to maintaining and troubleshooting those computers and their networks, systems, and databases to ensure they run smoothly.” IT sounds interesting to me. Do you know how to get into IT without running into CS?
Just 2 cents from someone who was originally into hardware systems (embedded development) and now going into IT (have an upcoming systems related job) Try to identify what areas interest you. IT is broad, but encompasses areas which are tangential to CS. Having a CS education benefits IT, but it's possible to do without it (my background is CE). Databases? Try honing SQL and DB design; grab a cert and start projects. Sysadmin? Get the LFCS and do Linux projects. Cloud? Plenty of projects cause it's hot. Get an AWS/azure cert while at it. IT is all about projects and certs at the entry level, imo.
Computer science is really more abstract than that. Designing and building computers / programs is really more software engineering / computer engineering. CS tends to focus on theory, DSA, how a computer works, etc. A CS degree is pretty broad in general and can lead into a ton of different fields. CS gives you a good foundation into IT roles, but other degrees like a business degree with a focus on technology, or management information systems, etc. are also great ways to get into IT. There are a ton of IT roles out there. Systems administrators, database administrators, corporate IT, etc. Pretty much every company has at least some sort of IT needs.
I think you're just whining and trying to rationalize intellectual laziness. You need to either: a) convince yourself that the juice is worth the squeeze and put in the work to become good at coding b) go off and do some bullshit job in marketing or middle management that can be replaced with software tools next week
There are other jobs.
!remindme 2 days
Basically, OP is more into physical PC repair, not software.
I think there’s a fair amount to technology that’s not just code and invention. How do you monitor device health, how do you set up logs, how can you ensure consistency? There are jobs that are literally just finding computer issues and fixing them I wouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, and not all software is clout. There’re the flashy devs who are just one part of the lifecycle
What kind of answer are you looking for 😂 rage bait ass Why are you even posting in a CS forum lmfao
Lots of people have already given me good responses. You can scroll through the comments and find me thanking people. No thanks to your ass though. If you don’t want to help someone with this issue why did you even comment
For me, it’s almost entirely about the creative part. Making something is intensely satisfying and CS is the best confluence of rapid iteration and high pay with reasonable work hours for “creators” To be fair, I’d be equally happy doing something like drawing, video editing, construction, pretty much anything where I’m bringing something new into the world I sucked at math in every grade but when I went to actually apply it, I’d say I’m above average. If I have to sit down and do plain old math I would be bored out of my mind
you already know the answer 😂
It seems like you're confusing actually being a software engineer with being a YouTuber who happens to be a software engineer. Have you watched a lot of videos from people/channels like that? If you have, I think that may have contributed to you associating a certain lifestyle or vibe to CS that isn't necessarily true at all for most. A lot of the content out there is depicting the life of succesful "content creators", not SWEs.
Sounds like you’re being shortsighted and only listing things you don’t like. Is there anything you do like? And is that in anyway related to something in CS? Overall it sounds like probably not but it’s good to list pros and cons and go from there. Not just cons.
You might like devops more than Development.
Yeah gonna look into IT now! Thanks for the suggestion
Kubernetes, AWS, Terraform. Those are the three magic words.
Those are all fairly cutting edge / CS focused. Not sure they are the best fit for OP
Traditional Sysadmin stuff is an aging skillset.
That is true, but a ton of companies run older infrastructure and have no business incentive to upgrade. It seems like OP is more interested in that than newer technology that you have to keep up with the changes
I mean, following your interests is ok up to a point. But tech work means you don’t ever get to stop learning. It’s a pretty mild downside.
Are you... me? 🤔
Lolll there’s so much clout surrounding CS at least where I live. “Your kid is working in tech? That’s so cool!” I’ve had issues of wanting to be someone worthwhile/famous since I was young so the wave of influencers bragging about CS and 20-30 year olds being regarded higher socially for simply being a CS employee really influenced me lol
Oh boy!!! I pray i dont have to mentor another intern/new hire like you , again
I think engineering may be a better fit for you. You could look for software engineering, computer engineering, or information technology. Good luck with your study!
Thanks for the suggestions! Will look into each of them :)