IS and CS--college courses
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
I was wondering if anyone could give a general overview of each field... TIA
-Paul
Comments
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.
IT is general tech stuff whereas CS concentrates more specifically on programming design.
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.
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.
Where I come from EE's end up with better CS jobs than CS majors if they want them.
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>
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.