Hi,
I’m majoring in comp sci, but…
I’m bored to death in my data structure class… It’s not even the prof, the course is boring. Plus, I don’t like to do programming ‘for fun’, I don’t enjoy doing homework, etc. Coding is not too bad, but I would be happy if no one bothered me with it.
Should I change my major? Or it’s going to become fun and exciting later on (I’m in my first year)?
@Stol555 I do think it gets interesting later on (there are tons of unsolved problems in CS and quite a bit of recent developments in the field). But I did find a couple introductory CS classes somewhat boring, or at the least, tedious. I wouldn’t take that as sufficient reason to change major just yet - it should get interesting later on.
When I was going to school, I found the initial CS classes to be interesting, and then they got progressively more tedious. By the time I graduated I thought I had picked the wrong major.
My first job out of college was fantastic - interesting application (flight simulators and radar systems), great co-workers, multiple trips to Europe. Still, there are lots of boring jobs out there, so you have to be careful about matching a job with your interests.
Is it just the coding that you find boring? Or is it the theory too?
And if you find the actual information boring, why is it boring? Is it just of no interest to you? Is it too simple? Is it kind of interesting but not what you’d prefer to be studying? Or something else?
If you find coding boring, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should switch your major. Personally I find just straight coding boring too. What I really like doing is playing around with the concepts taught in class, and the general thought process that goes into figuring out a problem to put it into code. If you don’t like that thought process and/or none of the concepts are of interest to you though, you might want to consider switching.
For what it’s worth, I found upper division courses much more interesting than lower division courses. Even then, there were some classes I would have preferred not dealing with (algorithms, theory of computation)…but those classes weren’t necessarily flat-out boring to me, just not aligned with my interests nearly as much as other classes were.
My impression is that many engineering majors find their freshman year classes to be boring. Sophomore year may be a bit more interesting, and then they like it in junior and senior year.
In every engineering subject, there is basic information that you have to understand but may not be very fun.
I don’t think grouping CS with engineering is correct in this generalization - it usually isn’t well grouped frankly.
Beginning CS classes are often what hook students and get them interested - programming as both a science and an art (not just hacking stuff together) can be an incredibly challenging, interesting, and rewarding process.
I don’t think most CS majors that stick with it find the beginning boring, though finding higher level classes more interesting makes sense. If the coding feels to basic or obvious, then the boredom is not a reason to quit, for the reasons @PhantomVirgo and @MITer94 mentioned.