IS and CS--college courses

paulpaul
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
OK, I'm looking to study either Computer Science or Information Systems in college... Now I am technically inclined and COULD do CS, I would rather not spend the rest of my life in front of a computer typing code....thats where IS comes in....Its my understanding it is not as technical and deals more with the management side of CS rather then the coding...



I was wondering if anyone could give a general overview of each field... TIA

-Paul

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    well, my understanding of IS (or inf tech, "IT") major is its more support. Like Nick Burns, your company's computer guy. i had an it job and i didn't really like it.



    im an se (software engineering) major, which is similar to cs, except more design oriented. all i can say towards deciding is that i love coding. i u don', u'd probably prefer an IS life.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    ditto what "thuh Freak" said.



    IT is general tech stuff whereas CS concentrates more specifically on programming design.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    spotbugspotbug Posts: 361member
    I say CS. Believe it or not, there's a lot more to CS than coding. Later in your life, if you decide you don't like it so much, you can switch to IT/IS pretty easily. It's harder to go the other way.



    However, my feeling is, if you decide you don't like whatever CS-related stuff you end up doing (like coding 8/5 [as opposed to 24/7]), you won't want to switch to IT/IS either. The "burn out" that usually occurs, tends to be related to computers and technology in general rather than coding or some other, specific endeavor related to computers or technology. That is, you end up wanting to get far, far away from computers all together. Luckily, I'm not there yet, but I can understand it. Some days I wish I were a farmer... back before they got all technologically advanced.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    colorclassicg4colorclassicg4 Posts: 224member
    Jobs after graduation:



    Computer Science: developing software to run on Windows



    Information Systems: reinstalling Windows



    It's true. IS people are "help desk". CS people are developers.



    CHOOSE CS, NOT IS.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Or if you have a sack, choose EE.



    Where I come from EE's end up with better CS jobs than CS majors if they want them.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    macommentarymacommentary Posts: 196member
    Although neither one is actually defined by colleges collectively, IT and IS are quite different.



    IS is like digital and conventional cataloging. Many of ther graduates attain high level database sysops, librarian and archivist jobs.

    IT should be seen as computer interactions which splits two ways - human-computer and computer-computer.



    CS on the other hand is like computers running around in circles. CS students program algorhythms that make computers work. IT students make these applications useful by either giving them a GUI (human-computer) or using them practically (help desk) or hooking them up (networking).



    You have to be very careful if you want a job in the human-computer range because many colleges blur the lines, and there aren't that many programs to begin with. Be sure that you look at the course outlook and what kind of jobs they put people in at the end. The three best programs (for either end of IT) in the Northeast are RIT, RPI, and Drexell.

    Oh, and if you're on the west coast, take a look at CalTec... they rock.



    And in case you couldn't guess, I'm an IT student



    [ 04-23-2002: Message edited by: MaCommentary ]</p>
  • Reply 7 of 7
    pushermanpusherman Posts: 410member
    don't forget about options that just require really good computer skills, but aren't actually centered around the computer. i started out in computer science, but transferred to SCAD and changed my major to graphic design. now i get to exercise my computer knowledge, but it's not my life, and i can get away from it when i want to actually interact with people.



    the other nice thing about that is you don't have to be "that guy who knows a lot about computers," which is a terrible position to be in, especially in smaller companies. because everyone will call you, because they don't want to have to deal with the assholes at the help desk.
Sign In or Register to comment.