<p>I'm currently a Comp Sys Major at RPI and I planned to dual with one of the above, but the problem is I'm not really a fan of NX (normal cad) and programming as of Compsci 2 is fun-ish but I don't want to program for the rest of my life. I am interested in creating portable hard drives, AI, networking, and I really want a job that involves helping people directly if possible. I think I would hate to work in a cubicle for 8 hours...that just isn't the type of place I see myself in the future, lots of my friends say I'm "overly social" and I don't completely agree with them, but I'm definitely far from antisocial. I'd rather have a job where I meet with and talk to people a bunch. </p>
<p>Anyway, which major do people think I should go for? I don't mind coding sometimes but I don't want to for the rest of my life...</p>
<p>I forgot to add, I'd prefer working in a city area like new york or california...or even japan...</p>
<ol>
<li>You want to work in a glamorous city</li>
<li>You don’t want to sit in front of a desk all day</li>
<li>You love to chit chat, meet new people, and make friends.</li>
</ol>
<p>Honestly, I would just go into business if I were you. I’m not trying to be rude, but I doubt engineering would make you happy. Just do finance.</p>
<p>You cannot create portable hard drives, AI, and networking applications without programming. Programming is not just writing codes. Succesful programming requires the highest mental abstraction and creativity. Perhaps you have not seen the big picture with software development yet because the introductory programming classes have not set your mind free. You are now like a student driver who is afraid of accidents and cannot enjoy the fun of driving yet.</p>
<p>It becomes really frustrated when you sit in front of a computer for ten hours just to solve a bug. It gets very very boring if you have to learn a couple languages on your own, reading a 800-pages books every day.
It becomes very time-consuming just to play around with Linux, etc.</p>
<p>I think you can still be a programmer, but you are probably won’t get too far if you wants to meet people all the time. I mean many software companies promote “sociable” working environment. But that doesn’t mean you will be chilling all the time. </p>
<p>It could also take weeks to debug a circuit board.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>SW engineers go back and forth to the the labs, to customer sites, to development conferences, to work with other companies around the nation and overseas more than electrical engineers. Electrical engineers sit in the office to calculate, draw diagrams all the time; and once they finish with their design they send them to technicians or outside companies to build the circuit boards or the hardware components. They don’t play with their toys as much as SW engineers do.</p>
<p>As you move up the ranks, you do less and less coding in software development. Also, your specialty along with the type of employer will dictate how much coding you would have to do on a daily basis. Lots of variables.</p>
<p>I am in databases (Data Architect). I create models on how the data should be organized and how the data will flow from one system to another. The only time I “code” is when writing stored procedures which usually will not have the complexity nor difficulty of what Java/C++ developers would write.</p>
<p>On top of that, I am more of a consultant/contractor to support a client (in this case Federal clients). I discuss how solutions can be implemented to support the requirements of the clients. Out of an 8-hour day, I may be flappin’ my jaws about technical jargon (design, how to develop, timelines, due dates, etc) for 5 or 6 hours and actually CODE for a grand total of 2 hours.</p>
<p>It all depends. The above could be applied to a Java/C++ developer, a network specialist or operating systems specialist.</p>