Computer Science Major Is Cool Again

netbuzz sends along a piece from Network World reporting that the number of computer science majors enrolled at US universities increased for the first time in six years, according to new survey data out this morning. The Taulbee Study found that the number of undergraduates signed up as computer science majors rose 8% last year. The survey was conducted last fall, just as the economic downturn started to bite. The article notes the daunting competition for positions at top universities: Carnegie Mellon University received 2,600 applications for 130 undergrad spots, and 1,400 for 26 PhD slots. "...the popularity of computer science majors among college freshmen and sophomores is because IT has better job prospects than other specialties, especially in light of the global economic downturn. ... The latest unemployment numbers for 2008 for computer software engineers is 1.6%... That's beyond full employment. ... The demand for tech jobs may rise further thanks to the Obama Administration's stimulus package, which could create nearly 1 million new tech jobs."

Comments

Cool?

[oodaloop]

From TFS:

the popularity of computer science majors among college freshmen and sophomores is because IT has better job prospects than other specialties

How does that make it cool? It sounds more like desperation.

Re:Cool?

[stewbacca]

It's cool to have a job, I guess?

Re:Cool?

[Anonymous Coward]

From TFS:

the popularity of computer science majors among college freshmen and sophomores is because IT has better job prospects than other specialties

How does that make it cool? It sounds more like desperation.

Exactly.

What's worse, is that computer science is not relevant for most IT positions. Unless you are programming, but those jobs are the smallest slice of the IT pie.
Those kids would be better off at a trade school or VoTech learning networking, systems administration, etc.

Next winter you can expect to see an article alerting us to a sudden surge in CS majors who are switching or dropping out & going to IT tech schools.

It's a fairly predictable cycle.

Re:Cool?

[COMON$]

Man I need to start copying and pasting my response to this question. If the kid wanted to take the easy route, yes, VoTech is the way to go. However, I have made a rather sucessful carreer as a network/system admin with a BS in CS. Sure I dont work on microcontrollers and I cant tell you how to write C++ anymore. But the vision and reasoning skills I received by getting a BSCS gives me a huge advantage. (relevant books in parenthesis) I can relate to any area of IT easily, I can read code smoothly (Essentials of programming languages), I can troubleshoot (File structures,algorithms and analysis), predict future needs (numerical analysis), adapt easily to different OS's (Applied Operating system Concepts), and can relate socially (many late nights at the bar).

Yes CS CAN be IT, is there an easier way to do it? Oh hell ya. But you miss out on so much. Vo-tech is outdated in 5 years...BSCS well that hasnt changed in what...40-50 years?

Re:Cool?

[lgw]

I have looked at the average person that enlists in the Army. Have you? Sure, there's some amount of falling for a recruiter's sales pitch, but there's a lot of deliberate decisions to make one's life better through self improvement. Self improvement is rarely anyone's first choice, but neither is it a sign of desperation! I've also looked at the average person who thinks "work" is some sort of scam invented by "the man", and I far prefer the company of the average person that enlists in the Army!

Re:Cool?

[Lemmy Caution]

Studying art (and literature and film etc.) may actually help make you interesting to people who are outside your field of specialization. Heck, I even find people in my field of specialization boring if that's all they know.

Re:Cool?

[Lemmy Caution]

A lot of the people who are in the US military - about 40,000 - aren't even US citizens. Clearly, they aren't motivated by patriotism (at least not patriotism of their home nations.) They are serving another country with the hopes of joining it, because they are desperate to become US residents.

The people who are being targeted in inner city recruitment centers consider the Army because they lack a lot of other options.

This is about the enlisted ranks: officer commissions are a different matter entirely, and US military officers are, indeed, usually very accomplished. But for the enlisted ranks, you are in denial if you think that much, even most, recruitment isn't essentially a business proposition, a quid-pro-quo, usually directed to people with few other viable choices.

RTFA

[Marxist Hacker 42]

These ain't programmers, nor are they REAL "Software Engineers", the article writers are throwing Project Managers and Software Architects into the mix to get their numbers:
 
 

"The latest unemployment numbers for 2008 for computer software engineers is 1.6%...That's beyond full employment," says Josh James, Director of Research and Industry Analysis with TechAmerica. "Computer programmers' unemployment rate has gone up from 2.5% in 2007 to 3.7% in 2008. That's a sign that programming skills are easier to do from anywhere in the world. But the high-growth jobs include skills that are hard to send abroad such as systems integration and IT managers."

 
In other words, for the type of *real programmer* who isn't on a team and does everything from Requirements Gathering to QA (and everything in between) your job is STILL threatened by outsourcing. But the schools have finally figured that out, so instead of teaching basic concepts like data mining and programming, they're teaching people to be managers right out of the box. Dilbert Principle, here we come.

Re:RTFA

[Eli Gottlieb]

Data mining is not a basic principle, and programming is to computer science what algebra is to mathematics.

Re:RTFA

[Nursie]

"In other words, for the type of *real programmer* who isn't on a team and does everything from Requirements Gathering to QA (and everything in between) your job is STILL threatened by outsourcing."

What sort of a real programmer isn't on a team these days?

Any serious sized project has a team. And believe me, good software engineers are still very sought after.

engineering

[Lord Ender]

Now that the financial industry is in shambles (what do they produce, again?) the only way to make bank without sacrificing the 8 to 12 years of your youth to med school or law school is engineering. And since most people are now familiar with computers, software engineering seems more accessible.

This makes perfect sense. Engineers make more money than any other Bachelors degrees can get you. Many students don't realize that it is damn hard to get an engineering degree compared to other degrees, though. At least, that's true of good colleges.

Re:engineering

[Lord Ender]

Who said anything about math? Scientific computing, including math-related stuff, is not what's driving software engineering employment. It's the ability to produce software which helps business that's driving the hiring. This means "pure" programming, yes, but also HCI, communication, design, testing methodology... there's a lot more to producing software than just programming.

Oy!

[Samschnooks]

Harsha says computer science majors are critical for the U.S. economy because their training provides them with computational thinking and problem solving skills that they can deploy in any industry.

So does: physics, chemistry, engineering, math, accounting....

"The primary reason for the downturn in computer science majors was the erroneous fear that everything was being outsourced to India, which we know is not true," says Prof. Jerry Luftman, executive director of the School of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J.

Really? Tell that to IBM.

The lobbying group TechAmerica says computer software engineering and computer systems design are the fastest-growing high tech jobs, even in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Who is this "TechAmerica"? The lobbying group TechAmerica says computer software engineering and computer systems design are the fastest-growing high tech jobs, even in the fourth quarter of 2008. Oh, I see. So, corps want more H1-Bs, I take it and they're setting up the public opinion to be more open to it in these troubling times.

The whole article keeps mentioning "IT","IT","IT" and only once did they say something mobile devices. I wish they would say exactly what area of IT is booming.

This article is nothing but fluff.

Good luck with that.

[PeanutButterBreath]

Picking a major, especially an intensive one like CS, based on current employment statistics, that is.

time for my rant again

[jollyreaper]

I love learning but am sick of institutionalized education. The problem is the right way to do education is incredibly expensive, incredibly time-consuming, but if we had proper priorities as a society, would be seen as completely worth it. At this point, only idiots or saints would go into a career in education. There's no money in it, and I'm not talking about enough money to become a rich bastard, I'm talking about enough money to avoid poverty.

I'm not quite sure what the right solution is yet but I'm wondering if it might not be a good idea to start on the Young Lady's Primer. We've certainly made some advancements on the sort of technology that would be required.

Re:Uh, no it's not. Never was. Never will be.

[COMON$]

man, where is my +1 awesome.... ;) Need we remind people of how many movies are made about our jobs...hackers, sneakers, swordfish, several TV channels, Entire clothing lines, not to mention the gadgets we were ridiculed for carrying around 10-20 years ago are the fashion accessories of today. Ya, we are not cool...

So glad I didn't do CS

[cortesoft]

I have been programming since I was 8 years old (made a kick ass dog racing game in 2nd grade), but decided to be a philosophy major at UCLA instead of a CS major. The best decision I ever made. My philosophy training (I specialized in formal logic theory) has helped my programming more than any CS class would have. A good programmer needs to be able to teach themselves, or they will be obsolete almost immediately. Learning how to use logic and transform abstract human concepts into a formal logic representation is the true base skill for programmers.

It worked out for me.... 4 years removed from graduation, I have a great programming job that I love, making excellent money, and happy as can be.

Re:To nitpick

[Daravon]

Agreed. In a Venn diagram of who would benefit the most from a simpler tax code and those who are in the position to make that a reality, there's a tiny bit of overlap with maybe two dudes in it.

Re:The Problem with New CS/IT Grads

[robert899]

These grads will need C and Assembly approximately never.

Those of us who work on embedded systems beg to differ.