Posted: 12/18/2004 2:12:19 PM EDT
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I've been wanting to finish my bachelors degree lately (I have 50-something credits towards it), but I haven't been in college for about 5 years and really don't know what I should shoot for now. I was aiming for computer science but the job outlook on that is doubtful right now. I've looked into an MIS degree at this point but I honestly don't know how this really differs from computer science other than less technical/more business. Most people I've met in the IT industry either don't have degrees or have them in something else. Not sure at all what I'm going to do yet, just thought I'd tap the arfcom brain trust. |
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If you get the computer science degree you can handle any MIS job as well. The opposite cannot be said. The job market for computer people is just starting to open back up. While many people got in during the dot com boom without a degree employers are much pickier now. They either want a degree or several years of experience. The average person off the street who played with computers but has neither a degree nor the professional experience is not going to be hired. Bottom line, get the CS degree, it will open the most doors for you. |
| I think right now is a rotten time to graduate with a CS degree; however, historically it has been good (has been for me) and I expect it will be good in the future as LOTS of people seem to be shying away from it in the aftermath of the tech wreck. I find the comment about India interesting and not without significant basis. |
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DoD and DoD contracters will hire those with CS/CIS degrees and these jobs cannot be outsourced to India or anywhere else for that matter. If you are an outstanding student with a high GPA, there are special intern programs that after 3 years you become a permanant Civil Servant employee as either a GS -11 or GS -12. |
| One other question, does anyone have experience with Excelsior Colleges (formerly Regents) BS in computer technology, or know anyone that has one? Their program seems great in that you can get credit based solely on CLEP tests and certifications, but I wonder how employers feel about the credibility of their program. My sister brought it up to me because one of her coworkers got her BA in nursing and is now an RN solely through their program. |
True, but that doesn't protect you from lay-offs. One of the probems of working in defense is you're always at the mercy of the next contract. |
I wouldn't be so sure about that. A recent Wired article discussed .gov computer jobs being outsourced. It might have been database type stuff but even the .gov is looking into it. My wife works at a big computer company and recently they were essentially training their Indian It is a serious Catch 22: Everybody wants their support better and cheaper. But to do that these days (especially with the cost involved) you almost have to outsource it. (Some companies get around the "outsourcing" term by just opening up a branch in Mumbai to do programming and thus becoming an international corporation- no outsourcing here, folks! We're International!) The Catch is, you're giving your jobs away. Just like with NAFTA, where we've lost a lot of our purely domestic manufacturing base (and a lot of Mom & Pop machine shops), and now we're starting to lose our technological base. If the US ever has to go into anything like an Isolationist mode (or terrorists begin to attack the companies in nations we outsource to, thus making it "not worth it" to work for the US) we are HOSED. |
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Don't waste your time. As a software engineer for the biggest network company out there I can tell you that the American Software / IT / Tech job is a thing of the past. We're sending more and more work to India. The sub-group I work in has 4 people here and 6 in India. Though we are terribly understaffed and stretched thin they have continually refused to give us more resources. The next wave of coders will be from Russia. Even folks with postgrad degrees in com sci are having trouble finding a decent job these days. If you absolutely LOVE computer science and would do it no matter what the pay was, then go for it. If you are going into it because of the high pay, great benefits, stock options, etc, then don't waste your time. Those days are over. 
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Computer Science is truly a subdiscipline of the field of mathematics. Unless you want to work in Academia, private research, or government research (DoD, NSA, etc.), then don't waste your time and your brainpower. Of course, probably half the "Computer Science" degrees in this country aren't worth the paper they're printed on, what with the weak theoretical requirements and half a dozen hours of "Java programming" classes 
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Hrmm. My experience would differ. Maybe I am just one of the lucky ones as I am very highly paid for what I do. True, the days of free beer might be over for good, but the industry is not lost. You still need engineers (not code monkeys) to design and architect systems. In my expreience, overseas workers are terrible at that. Case in point: my previous company outsourced programming to Romania. The code that came back was SO bad, that we had to rewrite it from scratch. I've heard of more disasters than successes. The only situations in which overseas programming seems to be successful is sustaining engineering (e.g. bug fixes of mature products). |
DoD isn't like the rest of the Govt, our networks are considered a weapon system and IT work most definitely isn't outsourced to India. Foriegn nationals DO NOT TOUCH our Network, if you can't possess a clearance, you will not touch our network. The next few years are going to be a good time to get into Civil Service in DoD as about 1/2 the workforce is going to retire. There must be 2 or 3 retirements a week where I work, this has been going on all year too. |
+1 |
The problem is, if you don't already possess a clearance, you'll never get interviewed. |
+1 Yup...it's a Catch-22...you need a clearance to work most DoD sites, but the backlog for investigations is a year or more, and most companies don't want to invest the thousands of $$$ in getting you a clearance when the payoff is over a year down the road. It sucks, but that's the way it is... |
Good... Mebbe I can get my wife to apply there! |