<p>Hello!</p>
<p>I can't decide whether I should do Software Engineering or Computer Science. My primary university is University of Waterloo. Both seem pretty valid options to me and I would not mind doing one over the other.</p>
<p>However, in your opinion, which major has more scope and potential jobs available? Which will result in a higher salary? And which is more fun/interesting/easier ?</p>
<p>it seems to me that this is research you really need to be doing for yourself, so no matter the answers you get here you should make them only part of your research. you might ask people who are majoring in CS and software, others who are working in the field. Is there any way to shadow a software engineer? </p>
<p>According to the BLS software engineering jobs are expected to grow by 22% in the next 8 years while CS/ IT jobs are expected to increase by 15%. So both show exceptionally strong growth, but there will likely be more software engineering positions opening relative to the number of CS positions. </p>
<p>CS will probably sound marginally better to most employers, if only because it’s a more traditional and familiar degree to them. But there really isn’t much of a difference, so if one seems more interesting to you than the other, go with the more interesting one. The demand should be good for people with either degree.</p>
<p>Strangely enough, the Software Engineering program at Waterloo looks more like my old CS degree from 1983 than Waterloo’s CS program does.</p>
<p>I have heard many UW Software Engineering Co-op students go on to work at MS and Google. Is this true for CS too?</p>
<p>All in all, assuming that both SE and CS are equally interesting, what would you choose and why (in terms of long run consideration) ? </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>If I had to make a long-term projection over the next 30 years, I’d say the software engineering job is likely to be more stable and high level. Computer science positions will probably become more and more outsourced to foreign countries or become a job where less than a four year degree is required for many positions. Software engineers will be directing computer scientists whether they are down the hall or overseas, not the other way around, and top level computer science jobs will more and more resemble software engineering positions.</p>
<p>That said, a truly talented programmer will earn his fortune faster if he hits it with the right killer app. Software engineering is more a slow and steady kind of thing, although if you’re talented enough to lead large projects and be a big picture architect, you can probably write your own ticket at some established major players.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the answers!</p>
<p>I think being a Computer Scientist sounds more appealing to me as I will be able to work on robotics and video game designing etc ie more options. </p>
<p>What can you do with a SE btw ?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Pretty much anything someone with a CS degree could do. The differences between the CS and SE programs I’ve seen are very small.</p>
<p>Employers aren’t going to get too worked up over the name of the degree. They’ll be looking at the different classes you’ve had in school, and what kinds of skills you’ve picked up. In fact, most programmers I work with don’t even have CS or SE degrees, although they do have some kind of STEM degree.</p>