Computer Science as a Major and as a Career

An anonymous reader writes "IBM DeveloperWorks is running an interesting Q&A with Director of IBM's Academic Initiative, Gina Poole. In the article she talks specifically about taking computer science as a major and ultimately as a career. From the article: 'There are a couple of reasons [for the decline in science and engineering degrees]: one is a myth, believed by parents, students, and high school guidance counselors, that computer science and engineering jobs are all being outsourced to China and India. This is not true. The percentage of the total number of jobs in this space is quite small -- less than 5%. According to a government study, the voluntary attrition in the U.S. has outpaced the number of outsourced jobs to emerging nations. Further, for every job outsourced from the U.S., nine new jobs are actually created in the U.S.'"

Comments

CS is a bad field to enter

[Equinox11]

1. You don't get overtime... A lot of times people are expected to work 50-60 hours/week. 2. It's a tough field -- Much tougher than say business or nursing. Failing computer science students often get a business degree.. There is a good reason: The difficulty is a joke compared to computer science. 3. There are way easier fields(say nursing) that compensate more highly, are not subject to outsourcing, and give overtime. 4. There is a huge risk of outsourcing. 5%? Come on.. When is the last time you called a tech support line and got an american? Cisco, Dell, Gateway, Microsoft.. Anywhere you call you speak to someone from India. Any kind of "Government study" from the Bush administration isn't exactly reliable. 5. No one understands your job, this often comes with lack of appreciation for the contributions made to an organization. 6. No licensing -- Someone can study for 2 weeks, get a MCSE and take over a lot of peoples jobs. They won't be as good as someon with a degree but see #5. In short-- Don't enter this field.. There are more highly rewarded skills you can pursue for a lot less effort.

Re:From the article

[Josh teh Jenius]

Hey Grey:

Does this remind you of when the Pres. of Harvard was chewed out for sharing some statistical facts?

Why does this world hate the truth so damn much?

Re:Getting a job

[Overzeetop]

They
(a) pay too little for you to want them
(b) occur in places where you can't afford to live to the salary they'll pay you
(c) require working in a team, and you don't interview like a "team member"
(d) already know somebody (ie: the job interviews you've gone on already have a "wired" candidate)
(e) want a specific skill class that
        1) you don't have and
        2) probably doesn't even exist

How do I know? I spent a month looking to replace an employee, and got a whopping 2 resume's from a month of online ads and paper ads. And this was for an entry level position. All I needed was somebody fresh out that knew the software I use (the most popular in my industry, by the way) - I would train them in the in-house particulars. I got two resumes - one from a guy with no experience in the software at all, and one from a guy wanting $50k. For a $20-$25k position.

Either you and the employers in your field are looking for different things in your employee/employer relationship, or neither of you are looking in the right place.

As for your friend still looking for a job after 14 months. From the position of a hiring manager, that person is "stale." With a 14 month resume gap, I would suspect that - even if he or she looked good on paper and in person - there is something "wrong" I may not be seeing that others have seen. Dangerous to pull the trigger on that one. That's not necessarily fair (okay, it's not fair at all), but would you buy an '05 car with 2000 miles for full retail price, even if it was the color and style you wanted, when the '07 models were just about to be delivered?

Sorry for being a bummer, but I'm in the office on a Saturday, and am pusing 70 hours so far this week. And I'll be here tomorrow. I haven't taken a pay check since January 1 (all of my employees get paid on schedule, not to fear - and don't cry for me, I'm on pace to make 6 figures this year).