Slashdot Mirror
Best Degree to Pair w/ a B.Sc. in Computer Science?
VeryCleverHandle asks: "I have held a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science for about two years now, and I want to further my education, and increase my marketability. I am wondering what kind of degree makes a good pair for my existing one. At first, I thought of a Master's, but in my searches for a job, I've rarely (read: never) seen a Masters degree required. I am also researching what kind of degrees others, who have obtained their Bachelor's, received to help complement their education. So I ask you, Slashdot: Which degree(s) do YOU think will go well with a Computer Science Bachelors?"
MBA. You've learned how. Now learn why. The resultant doubling of your earnings potential is just a sad side-effect you're going to have to learn to cope with.
trustedworlds.net - gaming, security, and the gunk that lives in between
Experience. Nothing even compares.
Inconceivable!
Most pairable degree with Computer Science: Mathematics. Affinity for math tells employers you're capable of high level, abstract thought.
MBA. You're exactly who it was invented for, not the alreay have a BBA and don't want to get a job types that I see in business school. Or you could go EE which is a good pairing as well, I have friends who did that and have done very well for themselves.
I would think it would depend on what parts of CS appeal to you - for example, a degree in Math tends to be a good augmentation to a CS degree if you were going into Data Analysis, or databases. But if you were writing a physics engine, a Physics degree would be useful. Generally, I would say that a Math or Business degree would be a good augmentation.
Possibly a good minor with the oft suggested MBA.
If you're looking at eventually rising through the ranks into management and executive positions, an MBA would be a good idea.
If you want to be a tech for the long haul, perhaps a degree in mathematics.
Whatever you do, remember also that communication skills are important. You're not typically taught them in college (at least not very well); but your advancement will to some degree depend on them.
Hot Damn! It's the Soggy Bottom Boys!
With a Comp Sci. degree and a Law degree, you can become a patent lawyer and make tons of cash (and be a pariah among nerds).
Come play Heroes of Might and Magic Mini online.
then you'd be EVERY engineer's worst nightmare, a marketroid with an engineering degree but no engineering experience!
seriously. work in the industry for 5 years, then go back to school, experience is more valuable than any piece of paper.
The difference between Theory and Practice is greater in Practice than in Theory.
Psychology. Don't laugh, my Psychology minor has been extremely useful, particularly the classes that dealt with cognitive Psychology, which is directly applicable to human-computer interfaces. I intend to turn that into a full Bachelor's someday.
1) Get a degree in a field that interests you.
2) Don't Get a degree to increase your "marketability", unless it increases your "marketability" in a field that you would want a job in. In which case, see (1).
A Masters degree in Quantitative Finance.
/. suggests.
YMMV. Pick a degree that compliments what you are interested in. Not what the consensus on
After all, you're gonna be the one stuck with the job that it leads you to. The degree could be a marketing MBA, or in Biochemistry or Astronomy, etc, etc.
But you've gotta be happy with it.
A message from our sponsor
You should never need to ask someone else what degree to pursue. Do what YOU WANT TO DO. Not what someone tells you will "fit nicely" with the degree you already have.
If you're going to college to get a degree simply to have the piece of paper to show your boss, you're going for the wrong reason. Pick something else to do.
If you can't decide on a field of study, you probably don't belong there.
If you can get into a top ten law school, then you can become a patent lawyer and make a few hundred thousand dollars right out of school. Big firms pay $125K base (not counting bonuses) for patent attorneys from top ten schools--no legal experience (aside from law school) necessary.
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
I'd reccommend getting some experience to increase your marketability as opposed to another degree.
I know when I interview possible engineer candidates, I'm looking more for experience than education.
What are you wanting to do? Your write up was very vague.
On the other hand, if there are areas of learning which you really would like to know more about (be it History, Physics, English Lit, etc) then get a degree in that. It will be far more interesting for you and will make you a much more interesting candidate.
But that's just my $.02...
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Agreed. Also math, physics, EE, bio, chem... Any of the "big sciences" all tie in nicely with CS. It depends on what your interests are. Pair it with something you enjoy so that classes won't feel like a waste of time and any job resulting won't bore you to tears. None of these sciences would have made it to where they are now without computer technology and they'll openly admit it.
"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." - Patton
Personally, if you have unlimited time and funds, I recommend a law degree. Fight the good fight against the SCO. What's more, there will be a deluge of criminal computer cases over the next decade. You would be in a perfect situation to take advantage of this.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
It really depends upon what he wants to do. A Masters or doctorate in bioinformatics combined with a bachelors in CS will get you a job very quickly and would be a much better choice than biochemistry if he really wanted to do that kind of work. Look at any one of these programs for bioinformatics training.
Chemistry, economics, business, biology, genetics, physics, computer science, neuroscience are all fields that could use folks with some training in computer science to help with modeling and other problems related to their work.
SGI is one possibility, but most folks doing this sort of work are looking at more inexpensive hardware and building clusters of commodity hardware to do their work. Also Apple's Xserves are proving to be quite cost effective and screaming performers for genetics work.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
That's exactly what I'm doing right now (a master's degree in embedded systems) and I don't regret it. My parents always told me the contrary: learn something useful because later, you'll be unemployed if you don't. The problem is: jobs requirement change every years and you CAN'T predict what will happen in these one or two years.
Maybe another major isn't the answer. I took Math as a second major and it ended up sucking up alot of my free time in college with little benefit in return (in terms of marketability). Now maybe that just means that Math is definitely not a good choice , but I'd say one major is enough. Enjoy your time in college before you have to head out into the real world rather than breaking yourself in a second major. Otherwise, you might just find that you're burnt out on both subjects before you get a chance to apply any of your new found skills in the real world.
If you must take a second major, I'd suggest something to round out a liberal arts education such as History or English. And who knows, the fact that you have a well-rounded education may just give you the edge over others in the job market.
Surely explains her medieval management style.
That's what you should get a master's in. At this point in your career, I would offer to you that relevant experience in your field is going to do more to increase your marketability much more than a master's.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Based on the usual sort of writing I see in /. comments, I'd suggest an English degree.
Which degree(s) do YOU think will go well with a Computer Science Bachelors?
./? We don't know who you are, your personality, or what you really want to do with your life five years down the road. Sure, you ask what would be helpful to increase your marketability, but marketability in what? My field is education, and I double majored in CS and Math Ed. An Ed degree would be great for any company looking for communication and management skills, but it won't get you very far if you're looking for marketability for anything to do with, say, software engineering.
./ will be able to help you with this type of personal decision. I've already seen a few friends drop out of college at some point because the only advice they followed was everybody elses, never their own.
When I read this, my first response would be to pit the question on the submitter. Why ask
I don't know if
Sure, you can get as much advice as you can take on what might "look good" on a resume, but I also knew a few classmates who tried for a minor that they thought would give them a one-up. In the end, they didn't like what they were studying, were too mentally exhausted to try harder, and just detested the class material so much that they then detested the work that came with it. And no employer's going to want to hire someone who isn't motivated to do their job, that's for sure.
Figure out what you would really like to do first. If you don't know, try out market yourself with what you have. If you then find something that you'd really like to go for but don't have what the education / experience, THEN you'll find the motivation to take more classes, and you'll know what you need to take.
Oh, and it's also a good starting point for striking out on your own as an innovator.
Not only those. The best thing I find about comp sci is that it can be nicely combined with pretty much everything from the "big sciences" to arts or any other thing.
While not directly saying it, what most employers appreciate is the ability to deliver. Best way to achieve this in college? An opensource project.
The Raven
If English doesn't appeal to you, any degree in the humanities will look great, since most require language and research skills, and present you as a well-rounded renaissance person, not a single-minded code zombie. (Read: as someone who makes decisions, not as someone who is subject to them.) History is also particularly good.
Remember: CS majors stereotypically are introverted nerds who can't communicate with anyone who doesn't speak LISP. CS majors with MBAs are stereotypically suit-wearing nerd-wannabes who can't communicate with anyone who doesn't speak Marketroid. Anything you can do to prove that you're not either of those will help a lot.
Another one bites the dust
I was looking into this a little while ago. The big thing that people are REALLY looking for here is some one with a PHD in BIO or MED type field, with CS abilities. I mean, I'm sure you could find something, and I'm sure they really need people who actually know how to properly code, but most of the postings I saw were more shortsided and seemed to want a person who was in their field already, but could hack some code together.
http://monkeyserver.com --- weeeeee
That's because more people fail in a position for personality reasons than for technical ones.
Team players with good communications skills may not succeed, but good programmers who aren't team players and can't communicate won't succeed either.
Only do a postgraduate degree if you have a passion for the subject matter. If you do have that passion, you'll have a great time, a really interesting life and meet lots of clever, deranged and interesting people.
You will also never be rich -- unless you are extremely lucky.
But that is a judgement call on your part. It is, however, worth remembering that "quality of life" and "standard of living" are not equivalent.
You have at least something of a career path framed in your mind, and experince (I presume) with the CS degree. What do you want to do, though, now that you have all that theoretical knowledge? You probably aren't lookign to be a code monkey somewhere, imlpementing what other CS majors have designed, complaining that they never took any of your advice, or even ask for input from you.
I'm mroe of the IT end of things, working on finishing up my bachelor's degree in CIS. However, I started my 'career' in programming working with a friend on fluid-flow analysis using finite element analysis software that we wrote from scratch. I didn't understand most of the math (I was only in 9th grade when we started), but I did learn a lot through that experience. I learned that I didn't want to just be a programmer. I wanted to be doing work at the systems analysis and design level, system/network administration. Both are high-level, complex job functions where your employer expects you to work at the macro level, but be able to jump down to the micro layers when needed.
If you liked all the math you did for your CS degree, I would reccommend going back for some form of engineering (I would personally choose mechanical, civil, or aerospace engineering). A few other posters suggested getting and MBA. They're great if you want to get into the business side of things. If you want to work for some place like AutoCAD, though, I'd say engineering will help a lot more than an MBA. If you want to get into running an IT department, then the MBA will give you the business savvy that higher-level management wants, but your CS background will keep you grounded in the technical details that your users will need.
antipaucity
Physics or math. Stay away from chemistry or biology. If you know physics and math you can figure out chemistry or biology, but not vice versa.
Agreed, as a Datamining analyst I have had the opportunity to work with Micro-Array Genetic Analysis for a research project at UCSF. As it turns out, the microbiologist doing the research needed the skills of dataminers and mathematicians for more advanced techniques Peason's Correlation and other simplistic statistical approaches. Generally microbiologist are not expert statisticians, or computer experts.
Persons with skills in computer science, dataminig-statistical techniques, and a knowledge of microbiology, genetics, or other related fields would be extremely valuable in this field.
a mathematics degree with
software engineering and
some hardware knowledge makes for a damned useful combination - especially in a communications/signal processing environment playing with all sorts of signals and modulation schemes.
If you want a broad range of subjects to cover, go for Test Engineering, it covers a helluva lot of areas of interest to most geeks! And I don't mean script-writing etc, that's for the technicians. This is full-on test system implementation - a pivotal position in any engineering company is test automation for hardware/software.
Take a look at the Raytheon job site, or other sites, they are screaming out for people in test engineering roles! It is a vital role in major companies.
From my short experience, MBAs are suitable for older people who can't make it up the management chain on their own (this isn't intended as a troll). It is valuable though, as people have plastered all through this thread, the right MBA works wonders, much like a laxative.
Couldn't stand the weather
As a 2d year law student with a long engineering background, I think I have some input here...
(1) Patent lawyers are occasionally referred to as the "Dermatologists of the legal profession" -- they work semi-normal hours and get paid well.
(2) Patent is also hard to branch back out of if you don't like it -- you tend to pigeonhole yourself.
(3) Don't make your decision based on salary -- better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable. Also, while lawyers coming out of the top 12 or so law schools will typically start at $125-135/yr, those salary figures drop dramatically in the next tier. You don't want to rack on a bunch of debt only to find out that you're working more hours but making about what you were before.
I don't think that a JD would give you any help in management -- the only management skill you learn in law school is time management.
On the other hand, lawyers are the grease of the economy -- nothing much happens without them. When things go well, you need lawyers. And, when things go poorly, you need lawyers. Not too many legal jobs being outsourced to Bangalore.
So what you're saying is, you can code OK but you have poor communication skills and can't fit in with the corporate structure.
Don't want to be mean, but it isn't your CS degree that's the problem - the people getting the jobs have those too, remember - it's your lack of social skills.
Imagine someone with good people skills who can code too? I bet that person gets the job.
I'd rather see hiring based on pure skills, but that's not how U.S IT companies do it.
Until you find this magical job that allows you to be the sole developer on your own project, people skills are relevant skills for a programmer. It seems to be something you lack, so don't be surprised by your inability to find a job you feel is commensurate with your coding abilities.
This isn't college anymore. You don't get to work by yourself. A good coder who can't interact with people is less valuable than a decent coder who can.
If you care to notice, you could learn a valuable life lesson here.
If you're interested in computational biology or bioinformatics, you'll have it made in either academia or industry. With the genomic revolution looming, people who can apply their knowledge of CS and algorithms to biological/biomedical problems are in HUGE demand.
Feel free to replace biology with biochemistry, molecular biology, or biomedical engineering degrees, as your particular tastes warrant.
Foreign languages are helpful. It depends on the company, and where they have offices, plants, or what to expand.
I've debated learning Mandarin based on the possibility of China's future impact on the market.
For a while after finishing college, you feel drawn back to the college life. Be sure you're not going back just because it's comfortable. If you don't even care if you're gonna become a manager, head-geek, marketdroid, tech-writer, tech-law guru or whatever (what *Degree* depends on your answer to that question), you're seriously not prime for grad school.
/.
One friend's dad offered to pay for her grad school completely after she'd worked 5 years. Wise man: she's never looked back.
Another friend, the smartest science/tech student in years at my high school, stopped with a BS, moved to Silicon Valley, and says she'd literally *fall behind* in her field if she left work for 1-3 years. I kind of doubt this, since she could nail additional courses in her area as they paralleled her work until the degree sorta just plopped in her lap one day. She publishes enough. She studies and learns new stuff enough. But the degree also stopped mattering to anyone she knows *years* ago.
Another friend nailed a triple major, which took him longer than the rest of us. It didn't gain him any of the cash or glamour he bragged he'd get. That's some serious money wasted.
My own take is that graduate work should wait until you start finding something really compelling to become gods-own-expert in. Let me say it again: if you don't even care if you're gonna become a manager, head-geek, marketdroid, tech-writer, tech-law guru or whatever (what *Degree* depends on your answer to that question), you're seriously not prime for grad school. Take a class or two. Or just dive into some side project to gain some focus: pick a subset from that list of career paths and find a way to get experience in it.
I did some grad courses, and exited because it was clear that I wasn't sure what I wanted to do yet, and figured if I was going to become a PhD, it had better be in something I gave a rat's-ass about.
Ten years later, I'm fairly certain what that might be. If I weren't having so much fun with work, wife, kids, life in general, I'd probably go back. Once the kids aren't a delightful distraction, I'll start picking an ideal college/mentor or three to contact and apply to.
Caveat: grad degrees are candy: I approve, but I don't preach 'em. OTOH, Bachelor's degrees are not optional IMHO: they're a 2-way vaccine: at some point not having one can kill your career advancement; and they're used by employers as a yardstick. Doesn't apply to you, doesn't matter here, but it's a big deal to me: I've seen a few friends really hurt by not having BS behind their name (usually happens pretty late in life). Mileage may vary and that's my humble opinion and the value-of-a-degree subject has been hammered to death on
I agree with your predicitons for the future of america, all of those things are already happening, just not as widespread /severe as they surely will be in 2025.
But what the hell do you suggest the 'Americans' do to 'take destiny into their own hands'? If our crazy leaders enjoy quashing rebellions all over the rest of the world, doesn't it follow that they're deadly efficient at quashing rebellion at home? Our media ignores any protest, or mass dissent our citizens attempt. Our votes are run through republican-controlled machines for tallies.
We put people to death here with state approval. We send 'enemy combatants' to other countries to be tortured. We have the most expensive and least comprehensive healthcare. We would be spending half of our federal budget on war, except that for some reason the president keeps the war OUT of the budget entirely, as if it's some kind of unexpected emergency that pops up, every 6 months or so. Why do we put up with it? Well, there isn't really much we can do - at least without lots of money. Rights have become de-emphasized in the 'post-9/11' US. Fear is the replacement.
This is the dark side of the world, buddy.
1. Do something you're interested in (good advice from many other posters). 1) Easier to do; 2)Easier to do good in something you enjoy than to struggle with something you dislike.
2. If you want to teach, you need at least a Master's. Dept chairs have to manage their faculty degree ratios, so the "higher" your degree, the more useful you are. Otherwise, I wouldn't focus so much on levels.
3. If research interests you, then the M.S. -> PhD in compsci is the path.
4. The most useful course I ever took: Business Law (yes, I slept through English comp...). In just about every job I've had in 25+ professional years, I've had to know something about contracts and contract law. Even in the technical jobs, you're typically working on one end or the other of a contract, so it is extremely helpful to know how your work is directed. This advice would push preference to business degrees, but see #1 first.
5. It's not about the degree, it's about what you do with it. Your most valuable asset is the package you present to employers, and I'm not talking about diplomas. Your ability to think, communicate, and execute are formost on the minds of folks who have to rely on you to do their work. Use the experience of pursuing a degree to enhance your ability to think, communicate and execute. I know tons of folks with paper who have a hard time getting through the day, because they focused on the paper and not the experience behind it.
i just spent a couple months on an interview committee for a MS systems admin. we had one saying, skills can be taught, soft skills can't. If you give a good interview and conduct yourself well, demonstrating excellent intrapersonal skills, it will go a LONG ways to cover any inadequicies in your computer skills.
I know a few people here at my university who are dual majors in CS and Political Science. At first it seemed like an odd combination, but it works quite well both in terms of academics and employment prospects.
Political Science classes tend to be pretty flexible in terms of managing writing and reading assignments, so they mesh good with the more deadline-intensive CS projects. Since Poli Sci tends to emphasize writing, its also a good major to build your language skills with. (Not to mention, a political theory class with a unit on Machiavelli has priceless potential when its lessons are applied in the workplace!)
In terms of employment, there are a ton of opportunities in academia, business, and government. There's a surprisingly large demand for techies in political research, as things like polls often require lots of customized code to carry out statistical analyses. Then there's the government potential... a Poli Sci degree is a ticket into many government agencies, and combined with Comp Sci, you bring useful and much needed tech skills... (you'd be especially well suited if you wanted to go down that whole secret agent CIA/NSA/FBI sort of route).
Similarly, Sociology or Psychology also work well with CS from what I've heard, for many of the same reasons. So definitely don't overlook the social sciences as an option.
Based on some of the IT people I have worked with, taking some English courses and being able to actually compose a readable email could go a long way.
How about Electronics then? You know how to write great code - but how about combining this ability with some in-depth hardware knowledge in order to design the next killer gadget?
You speak as if getting these degrees automatically "qualifies" you for a career in patent law. The fact is this is just a foot in the door. Many people get that foot in the door, only to fall on their face because they lack the *talent* it takes to be a patent lawyer worthy of the kind of pay you're hearing about.
Hmmm. Why not pick something that interests you. As someone with 27 years programming experience, lets just say that money isn't everything. Nevertheless, I've had a hard time getting full-time computer work for over 3 years (at least in Canada; I get offers to the States but can't move just yet). So I'm now preparing to beef up my math background with a BA Math, MSc Applied Math, and hopefully a PhD Applied Math.
On the other hand, there are several combinations that would make you very marketable:
Masters of Technology - similar to an MBA but specifically geared to technology companies
Law degree - Computer Law is sorely lacking in knowledgeable people. Look what's going on with the US Patent Office. Ridiculous patents are being granted for "algorithms" that belong to Mathematics, not to some powerful conglomerate. Once upon a time, patents couldn't be granted for techniques in the public domain. So why has that changed?
Electrical Engineer - You just might become the creator of the next CPU design.
Human Kinetics - Computers will never go away. How we use them might. So design input devices that suit our physiology makes great sense. Let's get rid of poorly designed laptops, please.
Geography degree - maybe you'd enjoy pairing your Comp Sci degree with digital mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Geographical analysis for business and government use has been increasing steadily since the mid-80s. GIS has many, many applications. While you do not need a full Geography degree to use or even design a GIS, knowing geographical/mapping terms, spherical projections, etc., is quite useful.
For those of you with a strong creative bent, pair up your Comp Sci with:
Fine Arts - ever consider being a digital illustrator/ animator? Our Canadian arts colleges seem to have most of our grads snapped up by Disney and other American companies
Music - Electronic composers are making a name for themselves on TV shows like CSI, CSI:Miami, and CSI:NY, amongst others. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to get into this biz, nor in computer game music. (Check out the Los Angeles Institute of Music's distance course "Music for the Media" at www.musicforthemedia.com.)
-- punkmonk --
A good patent lawyer doesn't simply tell their client whether something is patentable. A good patent lawyer finds a way to make whatever their client brings them patentable in the broadest way possible.
If you have any doubts about how well the patent system works, this job is not for you. It's very much like a typically defense lawyer. Your job is to get the person the lightest sentence possible regardless of crime with faith in the fact that the system in general will work regardless of your abilities.
I'm not making a judgement about how well the system works or doesn't work. Just pointing out that you should consider this before you pursue this path.
And for what it's worth, dealing with IP lawyers has been the most pleasant lawyer-related experience I've had. Extremely bright people.
I would absolutely agree with the need for balance. However, I think finding someone with acceptable coding skills is an easier task than finding someone with acceptable communication skills.
Unlike what is suggested by the parent, you don't "pick up" a little bit of molecular biology, or bioinformatics, or computational biology. The focus of your studies should be in studying the biology and then dabbling in a little bit of CS. Hell, I'm doing computational biology research and datamining bacterial genomes, and you hardly even need to know how to develop applications. I've primarily been doing scripting in PERL, and I'm trying to pick up a little python. If you know the fundamentals of programming, you don't even need to take a CS course.
If you're not motivated to do the biology coursework behind bioinformatics, you will not get anywhere in your career. Labs want people who can code a bit, not people who understand the fundamentals of designing operating systems. Mathematics, statistics, and scripting will get you farther than CS and a bit of bio will ever get you. Choose wisely.
I am defenseless. Use your button. Mod me down with all of your hatred.
And while generally considered a 'soft' science, psychology is great if you have an interest in AI and think that the pure CS approaches are going nowhere fast.
I'm currently a freshman student going for a B.S in Computer Science. Now, I will admit that I dont have the same expirence in the coporate world as many of you all have had, however, I am dual-majoring in Philosophy.
I originally considered dualing with an MBA but thats what *everyone* has. I like to think (and hope) that in the coporate world, individuality counts for somthing. If 30 programmers apply for a position, all having CS/Business degrees and 1 applys with a CS/Philosophy degree, I would hope the Philosophy guy would get the position.
Now, I also chose Philosophy because I think its fun. Part of going to school is not just learning to help you in the job market, but to actually better yourself through knowledge. I would suggest find somthing that interests you and go for that.
Law degree. Specialize in intellectual property. Fight the good fight; resist the dark side. I have as friends a number of people with (science/cs) PhD's that became intellectual property attornies. The are all exceptional people and the world is a better place because of them, not worse.
Itis utterly shocking the number of intellectual property "attornies" that don't actually understand the law.
The world needs a few more good IP lawyers.
Need Mercedes parts ?
It is an attitude unfortunately typical of a young person trained in physics or math. I'm speaking with a blush here because I remember saying similar things 20 years ago.
My original education was in physics but years later I got a B.S. in chemistry. The physical chemistry classes were relatively easy, though by no means a cinch. Synthetic organic chemistry blew my mind: terrificly hard puzzles that couldn't be framed in terms of math. I've since encountered similar depths in genetics. I still love physics and math, but I no longer accept Rutherford's claim that all science is either physics or stamp collecting.
Don't get me wrong. Education is a good thing, but it really seems like everyone and his sister are enrolling in an MBA program.
Which I think pretty much answers the posters question. If there is a flood of MBAs in the market, someone with an MBA and a BS-CS degree would definitely stand out. Maybe not as much as if there were no MBAs in the market, but an MBA with a CS degree is defintely a benefit.
Of course, you might get stuck doing the MBA stuff versus the CS stuff. Personally, I wouldn't want that. I would recommend getting experience in the "real world" and not worry so much about the extra degrees. I would rather hire someone with the extra experience under their belt.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.