<p>I am currently starting my under-grad at a local community college. I have come from a high-school that allowed me to study under their "Information Technology" program. </p>
<p>Recently, I have been doing as much research as possible. This research has ranged from unemployment rates, to the overall health and outlook of both the Engineering Industries and Computer Science related industries.</p>
<p>I have been involved with computers since day one, so I tend to lean towards Computer Science but my programming experience is very limited. Another interest of mine has been Chemical Engineering and I cannot decide between the two.</p>
<p>Has anyone had hands on experiences with either of the majors? and which do you feel will be most beneficial 4 years down the road? With the lack of Programming Experience am I at an extreme disadvantage with job prospects?</p>
<p>If you major in computer science, you should get plenty of programming experience along the way.</p>
<p>If you are starting at community college, you can take all of the computer science courses and all of the chemistry and physics courses and decide based on which you like better (or if you find that you do not like or do poorly in the first one, you know early what you should not do).</p>
<p>I feel I’ll be in the same boat next year. I can’t decide between finance and computer science. I just have no programming experience at all, I just always loved the idea of doing it</p>
<p>Exactly, I love the idea of being able to create a product in any shape or form and have it distributed and used by many people. </p>
<p>The only thing that sways my position on computer science is my lack of experience in programming. Also, when surfing dice.com most users of that forum tell everyone to steer clear of computer science due to all the visas and outsourcing.</p>
<p>Engineering seems like such a straight forward path, by this I mean that if you focus on the course work there is not much you should have to worry about outside the class within reason of completing your work. With Computer Science and Programming they are structured to supply labs and work, but you must go above and beyond the classroom/course work to truly become competitive.</p>
<p>I do not fear the course work, nor the effort put in outside of the class but I do fear the overall trend of the IT industry and where one might likely end up with a Computer Science Degree. Just some thoughts.</p>
To be competitive in anything in life, you will need to do more than is required. Plenty of people can do what is required.</p>
<p>You might find the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook informative. Check, under the A-Z index, “Computer software engineers” and “Engineers” for some information.</p>
<p>You will get a bunch of programming in your courses. Make sure you take the programming sequence that will transfer to most of your in-state 4-year schools. I would look for courses like Object-Oriented Programming I & II, which will use either Java or C++. It doesn’t matter which one is selected. You will do some more programming (not much more) in your Discrete Structures course. Depending on your school, your 4th CS course at a community college is Computer Organization. </p>
<p>While taking something like Data Structures would be nice at the community college level, chances are that your 4-year school won’t accept it as that is a CS Core course and most school want their core taken at their school.</p>