Hello all, this is my first time posting on this forum. Although I’ve seens threads here many times before, this is the first time I haven’t found a satisfactory answer after hours and hours of google (why add to the forum mess if it’s already answered)?
To start, I’m currently finishing my sophomore year at the University of Houston, and am currently on track to graduate a semester early with a BS in Computer Information Systems. I’m a strongly self motivated person and I have somewhat of a strength in self learning. I don’t respond so well to lectures but when I sit down on my own with the material in front of me I’m able to learn really well for long periods of time. My reasons for taking this major are:
- Job Opportunity - My brother was a CS major, and he had a lot of job opportunities coming out of college. He told me many of his colleagues were CIS majors. Additionally, I'm in Houston,TX, so there are tons of technology companies and oil companies ( I salivate at the idea of working in the IT dept of an oil company).
- Salary - Different sources give different levels, but on average (including the jobs a CIS major would qualify for) starting pay was around mid to high 50-60k. Median salary rose to 90-100k, with upper percentile salaries being 150k-170k. I feel this is pretty similar to what I saw with CS majors. If anyone has any information to add or correct, please do so!
However after doing some more research, I see that some people prefer CS to CIS degrees. My understanding so far of the two degrees is that CS has much more programming knowledge, much more math, and is theoretical in nature whereas CIS has basic programming, basic math, and much more business knowledge. Most people put it as “CS makes the stuff, CIS uses the stuff.”
So logic would follow that CS majors who make the “stuff” can also use the stuff. As such, if these are the major descriptions, it would seem that a CIS major offers nothing over a CS major, while a CS major offers programming knowledge over a CIS major. It appears that for entry level work (interns, first year out of college), CIS can be on par with CS, but I would HATE to be in a situation 10 years from now where myself and a handful of colleagues are vying for one position, and I lose out because I lack a technical degree. I grew up without a dad, I want to have a big and happy family, and I don’t want to go home and tell my wife and kids I can’t move up because I didn’t learn enough 10 years ago.
Of course, people have mentioned that some CS majors they have met had very little knowledge, while CIS majors they met were extremely competent. I understand that learning doesn’t stop after college graduation, and that a CIS major would be able to train themselves and gain that knowledge as well, but is it ever a case that there is nothing a CIS major can do in his career to be as capable or more capable than a CS major?
I’ve also seen people say that CS vs CIS can be a peer issue. Colleagues may not respect you as much because you did not receive as rigorous an education as they did. This seems pretty juvenile, but I can understand how an engineering major would look with disdain on a colleague with an art major, and what superior would ever promote an art major to be supervising over an engineering major (sorry art majors!)?
I’ve also read that some believe the market is over inflated with CS/CIS majors, and that eventually there will be massive layoffs. Is the IT field in any danger of this? I was under the impression that it was growing faster than graduates were being produced. Aren’t more and more companies using more and more IT solutions?
To sum it up, my concerns are:
- Less competitive than CS/other tech degrees coming out of college
- Making less money than CS/other tech degrees mid career
- Lack of upward mobility holding a CIS degree
Specific Questions:
- Will CIS ever put me at a disadvantage against CS?
- Do CIS majors have a lot of opportunities for promotion (software engineer, database admin, etc)?
- If I take CS, would I be better off with the Software design or CS systems, science?
- Are CIS majors actually differentiated from CS majors?
- What are salary prospects like for CIS and CS majors coming out of college and mid career?
Difficulty is not a concern for me. I just want the most practical degree coming out of college and for my future. My only problem is not being sure of what I want because of all the concerns I weigh in. Briefly skimming the CS course catalog, it seems like I would only have 20 more classes to take, putting me still at a semester early graduation.
Here are relevant links to my University:
About Our Department <---- Computer science at UH (Ranked top 50)
UH Undergraduate Catalog: Computer Science Major < CS course catalog
CS courses include Probability, Discrete Mathematics, Calc 3, Fundamentals of Soft. Eng., Fundamentals of OS, Algorithms and Data structures
Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems <— CIS at UH
Recommended Course Sequence for Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems <— CIS Courses
CIS Courses include Database Administration and Implementation, Information Systems App Dev, Internet Apps Dev, Fundamentals of Information Security, many Applied Technology courses. The highest math class taken is Calc 1, and the only programming class appears to be Intro to C++ Programming (I’m not sure if the other classes will learn more code, but it doesn’t appear so).
I know this is a really big post, and I hope I’ve shown that I did a lot of research on my own instead of asking someone to just give me the answers. I feel that the answers I seek require somewhat more detail and credibility than the random sources I see across the internet. As I said, I’ve gotten help from these forums before so already thank you all so much for your contributions!