College Major - Meeting Heart and Mind Halfway

Hey guys!

I’m really torn to make a decision about my major. I’m Comp Sci and Business right now. Being a sophomore, the last thing I’m allowed to be is indecisive. One side wants me to avoid CS like plague but the other side understands its importance in the coming future. What I know for a fact is that I do not picture myself coding for a living. That is not my goal. I am more interested in World Politics and Global International Relations… things like Security, Terrorism and how it shapes countries and changes their stances. Another thing that is cool is analyzing numbers. Doing the math in Econometrics, combining it with Economy and financial engineering is something that catches my attention.

A good solution is if I meet my heart and mind halfway. Obviously I want my LinkedIn to be blown with job offers when I graduate, and that should happen if I don’t lose CS. Get a CS minor, minor in Cybersecurity, machine systems etc. etc etc… Just stay with CS somehow and then hone my skills/take up research projects at my college in the fields that actually interest me. That way I still have the fall back in CS (hopefully that day never comes when I have to JUST code for a living) but I would have worked/researched and honed my skills in things I like to do through my research and outside the classroom activities. CS can come in handy in giving me an edge in terms of problem solving abilities, logical thinking and by just having that backing of a technical skill when working in the Economics/IR industry.

In short - I don’t see CS as a goal, I see CS as a channel that should take me to my goal. CS should provide be a solid base to stand on (make me financially secure) but my research/efforts/outside classroom projects should be able to show which side I tilt towards to the employers.

Does this make sense to you guys? I would appreciate some insights and some critiques on logical errors I have in my approach to deciding my major in college.

Thanks!
Hope you have a good rest of the weekend.

Your plan is sensible.

I think your route is going to be hard if you try to use CS as a means to an end and you don’t actually enjoy it. You don’t want to code for a living, so how will CS help you balance passion/money beyond having a safety net that you don’t appear to want to fall back on?

I don’t see how CS can act as a channel if you don’t want to ever be working in it for an extended period of time. CS has its value but it doesn’t mean you need to go into it, especially if you don’t enjoy it.

Why can’t you go the business / economic / IR route and that only? The prospects there aren’t bad at all, it’s not like you’re trying to get a job in Ancient History or something. If I were you I’d get out of CS ASAP, take the minor if you want the absolutely want the safety net, and go for the best option your school offers in what you actually want to do. There’s no sense in getting a degree for a field you’d never like working in.

Life largely consists of doing things you don’t want to do. It always has been that way, and it always will be. These unliked things are done for the sake of other things in life that are liked. And if it weren’t for this, it’s fair to say that we wouldn’t have a significant economy (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2013/10/10/only-13-percent-of-people-worldwide-actually-like-going-to-work/, http://www.ryot.org/gallup-poll-70-americans-disengaged-jobs/3761770), and we as a species would not have gotten far. Yes, as a matter of fact, the world runs on unhappily employed people.

The role of the CS in this case is exclusively to prevent something even less liked from happening: unemployment and poverty.

Obviously, the OP has the sense to try to do the liked stuff first. Not everyone has the sense to prepare for the low availability of the preferred, and that is unfortunate.

If you outright don’t like programming, don’t get a CS degree.

@jjwinkle While the stats are true as presented, enjoyment and dislike aren’t binaries, there’s a spectrum. It sounds like CS is very far to dislike on that spectrum for OP and I don’t see what use a CS degree or minor would be if he has no intent to use it, even strongly disliking it as a safety. Additionally, the job/major he likes is a field in relatively good standing.

I can tell some people don’t like to see someone doing it.

However, the relevant question is only this: How is it IN THE OP’s INTEREST to refrain from having this safety job track (given that it’s the only really high demand area other than health services)?

It’s in the OP’s interest because doing absolutely anything worthwhile - may that be a safety option for a backup plan or an interesting subject - would have some value of sort while the CS major or minor will serve absolutely no purpose if OP never intends to code and also strongly dislikes learning and practicing it. It’s the same idea as picking a safety school that isn’t affordable - it’s no longer a safety school.