   Career/College Advice
  Hello all, I am strongly considering majoring and getting a bachelors in comp sci, and going on to get my masters, I am wondering what your professional experiences have been in this field, is it a good field to go into?what are the starting salaries for your select careers?did you get a degree? from where? did it help?do you have any tips for me?   
  1. The term 'good' is subjective.2. Varies from company to company, country to country and individual to individual3. Yes. BSc was done at Lincoln (UK), MSc at Hull (UK). Yes.4. Yes. Ask more specific questions. What are you trying to find out? What country are you in? What specific career are you asking about (A BSc in CS covers a lot of areas)?   ;  As for your BA, it 'can' be very rewarding if you apply what you got it for.  As far as salaries, it's all depending on how you use your knowledge and talents.  You can land a job as a technical consultant somewhere (which I've done some part time work doing myself) and net anywhere from 40k to 80k a year, pending on your location.  You can use your degree and find a programming job for 50k+.  Again, it depends on the company you are working for and the area you are in.  I live in KY, and a reasonably paid programmer will bank in around 40k-60k a year.  That's incredibly LOW compared to a programmer based in LA, California, but the cost of living is also not even comparable.  Minimum wage here is $6.55 an hour.  Minimum wage in CA is $8.00, up to $9.76 in San Fransisco.  So again, more information would have to be given to give a more detailed response.I can tell you now though, spite what some others might tell you, a degree is always better than no degree, regardless.   ;  I am in the US, Texas, and am planning on going to UT Tylerbasically, out of collge, how hard will it be to find a job?is it possible to get job during college doing programming?Im just going to say this one, It seems like for the amount of college and just overall work that goes into this career, the payscale is relatively low...real estate agents make more than 50k easy with one year or less of collegeand brokers easily more than that..comparatively, work doesnt seem like it equates to higher salaryjust my thoughts..sorry if this is not a good point   ;  If I really wanted to, I could earn almost double the salary that I am currently earning as Games Programmer if I moved into Finance Software Development. The reason I don't is because I much prefer doing something that I enjoy and passionate about over simply earning more money.   ;  Blueb wrote:>basically, out of collge, how hard will it be to find a job?Very.>is it possible to get job during college doing programming?Anything is possible. Since anything is possible, any question about whether something is possible or not is pointless. Wanna try again?> It seems like for the amount of college and just overall work that goes into this career, the payscale is relatively low...>...comparatively, work doesnt seem like it equates to higher salaryjust my thoughts..sorry if this is not a good pointWhat is your point exactly? If you want high pay, you should go into a higher paying line of work, shouldn't you?;Quote:Original post by Tom SloperQuote:Blueb wrote:basically, out of collge, how hard will it be to find a job?Very.Baloney.The unemployment rate for Computer Science or Engineering fields is relatively low.  According to this article, the unemployment rate is 4.2% for software engineers, and 5.7% for computer scientists.  This is during a large US recession; before 2009, it was 1.9% and 3%, respectively - very good odds.  With any luck, it'll be back down to ~2% again much sooner than the time it would take you to finish your higher education.Any university or college worth its taxpayer's salt is going to offer career fairs, where businesses set up shop for the sole purpose of taking your resume.  My position at my current company was determined a full 8 months before I even graduated - there was literally no down time between school-work and work-work.[Edited by - BTownTKD on May 11, 2009 12:25:47 PM];Quote:Original post by BlueBan007basically, out of collge, how hard will it be to find a job?is it possible to get job during college doing programming?Depends on your location. I'm not sure how it's like over there. Hard for a programmer? Depends on what type.- Web programmer/.NET developer: (it's what I'm specializing in) I have 3 job offers already after graduation this summer, ranging from 45k-54k. I live in Florida where cost of living is doable with a 8/hr wage; so that's about 70-85k in CA, so it's more than reasonable.- Desktop/Native developer: probably much harder. My cousin is one of these and it took him a couple months after graduation (Fall 2008) to find a job. But I wouldn't take this one example too seriouslyQuote:Original post by BlueBan007Im just going to say this one, It seems like for the amount of college and just overall work that goes into this career, the payscale is relatively low...Yes it is. College != real experience. What type of payscale are you expecting?Quote:Original post by BlueBan007real estate agents make more than 50k easy with one year or less of collegeand brokers easily more than that..comparatively, work doesnt seem like it equates to higher salaryjust my thoughts..sorry if this is not a good pointApples and oranges. It isn't that easy to sell a house either.   ;  So I take it we talked another one out of game development as a career?Honestly, do your research.  The salaries involved in programming aren't much, but it's MORE than enough to survive on.  In KY, 50-60K is MORE than a 'comfortable' living.  It's not enough to get a mansion and a brand new sports car, but it's more than enough to afford a small house or actually a rather cushy apartment (pending on your preferred style of living)  Of course, your average rent around here is between 600-800 bucks a month for a 1-2 bedroom.Sadly, there aren't any GAME programming jobs around here, for me to give you a better example of salaries, of course most game programmers make even less than that of their business class brethren.  But as I was starting to say earlier, it's for those who WANT to do it for the pleasure of programming games, not for those who care how big their wallet is.   ;Quote:Original post by JoshuadSo I take it we talked another one out of game development as a career?Honestly, do your research.  The salaries involved in programming aren't much, but it's MORE than enough to survive on.  In KY, 50-60K is MORE than a 'comfortable' living.  It's not enough to get a mansion and a brand new sports car, but it's more than enough to afford a small house or actually a rather cushy apartment (pending on your preferred style of living)  Of course, your average rent around here is between 600-800 bucks a month for a 1-2 bedroom.Sadly, there aren't any GAME programming jobs around here, for me to give you a better example of salaries, of course most game programmers make even less than that of their business class brethren.  But as I was starting to say earlier, it's for those who WANT to do it for the pleasure of programming games, not for those who care how big their wallet is.I'm a Computer Science student living in Louisville, KY.  I can confirm that  50-60k is a solid home in a nice neighborhood.  If you lived out of the city and drove in to your work you could afford a really nice home!   