Ask Slashdot: CS Grads Taking IT Jobs?

An anonymous reader writes "I'm a soon-to-be Master's graduate from a public university majoring in computer science — with all that CS entails. Of course, it's come time to start job hunting, and while there are a few actual CS-type jobs around, I've noticed that a few IT jobs would be substantially more convenient for me personally. But this leads me to the question (assuming they would hire me, of course) — would having IT experience hurt my job prospects down the road? Would future employers see that and be less likely to hire me — or pigeon-hole me into IT?"

Comments

CS is part of IT

[janimal]

News flash. I'm a Comp Eng, I've been involved in writing software for all of my career, and I tell people I'm in the IT (Information Technology) business. Do you mean admin work? It shouldn't be a problem, unless you end up tailing log files and faxing the errors if you see them. Do you mean equipment/line installation? I wouldn't say the Cable Guy is in the IT business.

Re:CS is part of IT

[JaredOfEuropa]

CS is programming. IT is the maintenance of computer systems.

Interesting. Is this the prevalent definition of IT in the US (assuming that's where you are from)? Because in Europe, IT in common parlance means "computer stuff" i.e. networking, software engineering, database administration, server administration/support, data analysis, web design, etc. My job titles include business analyst and solution architect, but when I state that I "work in IT" to others (all over the globe), it does not seem to cause confusion.

Re:CS is part of IT

[ToasterMonkey]

No, it isn't. CS is programming. IT is the maintenance of computer systems. That's like saying the guy who fixes your car and the guy who designs the engine are in the same field. They aren't.

While an IT worker may do some light programming in his job, the average IT worker is not a programmer, and does not have the skill set to be one. You do a disservice to yourself and the understanding of the industry by continuing to perpetuate this mistake. The two fields are totally separate, and conflating the two only causes confusion.

What GD planet do you and your moderators come from? IT is the name of the whole industry that employs both programmers and system admins.

On top of that, you called everything outside of software development "maintenance". As if there aren't software developers out there stuck in maintenance mode, or people actually building and integrating infrastructure from diverse sources, including but not limited to software.

In your own analogy, the guy fixing the car would also be a software developer! Then we have the driver, which I'm sure is what you are calling "IT". What department designs and builds all the roads, bridges, garages, gas stations, police departments, etc?? Cities don't just appear from nowhere, and they constantly change, just like IT infrastructure.

You seem to really underestimate how much further work writing software enables or necessitates. It's like making a quilt, where software developers are behind.. who knows, maybe half of the patches that go into it.

Re:CS is part of IT

[rsandwick3]

Ha! CS is programming? I'm pretty sure CS is the study of the theory and principles of design and implementation solutions of computing systems. Key word: study. I have been programming since I started playing with assembly around 1993. I interviewed once and had no idea what design patterns were, let alone what Go4 was. When I looked it up, I found it was a collection of ideas I had been using for 12 years, and the company missed out on an outstanding candidate because of this foolish disconnect. Hence, I am not in "CS," according to some. However, I wrote a collision pre-detection scheme in 1999 using a PR-octree because my roomie at the time was doing a quadtree project in his CS hw and I was done with my physics hw, and now we see id using a similar method to introduce raycasting to their 6th gen engine (yes, octrees have been used in the earlier engines, but for storage of geometry and entities). So, to say it simply: business programming is not CS. It is manipulation of data by using computing technology. Key word: using. Talking about IT in a diminutive tone is pathetically misplaced elitism, and is akin to saying that the person who designs roadway material delivery systems is somehow more involved in transportation technology than one who programs devices to operate traffic control lights.

Re:CS vs IT != no sense at all

[catmistake]

You are making hardly any sense. CS is *the* degree you go for if you want to work in IT. The only "CS" jobs that exists are academic ones.

That's what some people think, but it is completely incorrect. There is NO degree for working in IT (ok, there's a few systems adminstration degrees at a few universities now... pretty cool). This attitide, I believe, is what caused the bottom to drop out of entry level IT positions about 10 years ago. In 2001, a crappy Windows administrator position could start at $65K/yr... by 2004 it was part-time $12/hr. You can't really do computer science without the foundations givin in academia. But anyone with a knack for trouble-shooting that likes working with computers can work in information technology, and with experience, get really very good at it, no degree (or social skills) necessary. A lot of what IT is is simply familiarity with the specific systems with which one is working. You don't learn that in CS, and what you learn in CS will only be useful in the abstract in such a specific environment.

There are indeed real computer science jobs out there, but they are integrated into other disciplines. Just a couple that come to mind... in the field of Bioinformatics, and in the field of Meteorology —weather modelling (and, well... any complex computer modelling, fluid dynamics, cosmology, aeronautics... even marketing analytics).

It seems that only real computer scientists know that computer science really has nothing at all to do with what we think of as modern computers. Its really mathematics. You'd be far more correct to think of computer scientists as specialized mathemeticians than as some glorified high-level computer repair techician. Actually, if you think of a computer scientist as a glorified computer repair techician, you are utterly and completely mistaken, and you are insulting both the bone fide computer scientist and the genuine computer technician. These 2 disciplines have nothing to do with each other.

or to put it another way...

[TheWoozle]

Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
    ~Edsger W. Dijkstra