<p>I am currently a transfer student at USF. I originally started at a 2 year CC and transferred with my A.A degree.</p>
<p>I have always had a lot of trouble trying to decide my major. In high school I was very passionate about computers. I always excelled and the computer classes and they were my favorite. I decided to declare Computer Science as my major.</p>
<p>I am currently having second thoughts and I am unsure what to do. I have never been great at math. The math requirements for this degree are very intimidating. I am currently in Calc 1 and having difficulties. I have a hard time believing I will make it through Calc 1-3, Physics w/ Calc 1-2 w/ lab, Engineering Statistics and others. I have never done any programming whatsoever either. I have heard that most CS majors have done some coding before. I know absolutely nothing about coding and never have attempted it. It sounds interesting, but I have no clue if I will enjoy it. I heard from others that Computer Science is a really tough major. Is this because of the math requirements? I know Comp Sci majors get paid pretty well and it is one of the best computer related majors out there in terms of pay along with Computer Engineering.</p>
<p>I have NO clue what else I would like to major in. Information Technology seems interesting, but can I make a decent wage with that? Are I.T. majors typically working in help desk type jobs? I don't think I would want a help desk job. How about Information Systems? It has less math, but not by much at all. </p>
<p>I just feel so lost. I am currently a Junior and I feel as if I should know exactly what I want to major in by now. I honestly have no clue what I want to do with the rest of my life. Nothing really pops out at me at my university that are non-computer related majors.</p>
<p>My ideal job would be in an office environment working on a computer. I don't necessarily need to be doing something computer-related on the job, but I would prefer to.</p>
<p>Anybody have any advice on what I should do? I feel like I am wasting time right now if I don't stick with Computer Science. I honestly don't even know if I would like writing code, but it seems interesting. Like aforementioned, I just don't know if I can handle all the math requirements.</p>
<p>You say you “like working with computers” and “excel with computers” but you don’t know how to program and don’t appear to have any technical skills regarding computer software. What do you do on the computer then? Gaming? Painting in photoshop? Writing? Chatting?</p>
<p>I just don’t know if I want to do Computer Science anymore and it is very upsetting. I have no clue what else to do. Can you make good money with an Information Technology degree? I just don’t know if I want to be writing code all day. I just wish I knew exactly what I wanted to major in. I feel like I am doomed for failure because of this. I am already 22 years old and still have yet to definitely decide on a major. I will need to stay at university for at least 3-3.5 years if I stick with Comp Sci.</p>
<p>How did others find out exactly what they wanted to major in? I am interested in Information Technology, but it seems like its the major for previous CS majors who couldn’t handle the work. What kind of jobs can I get with this degree? </p>
<p>Is it hard to find a job with an IT/IS degree? I am sure its not TOO difficult to find a job with a CS degree, but what about IT/IS?</p>
<p>One MAJOR bummer about IT is it is only available at my school via online classes. I would think it would sort of suck to completely miss out on college life by taking all my courses online. The only other option would be to transfer to University of Central Florida which has IT. It seems like switching colleges would be a very drastic option. I just don’t know what to do.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this would help, but this is information from my school’s career services site. They explain what kind of jobs people with IT majors can get:</p>
<p>If you want to stick with computer science, have you considered getting tutored for your calculus class?</p>
<p>In terms of me finding what I wanted to major in, it has been a difficult three years. I’m currently a junior who juggled with different majors (I think 5 total) and I ended up choosing English. </p>
<p>I still feel like I am choosing the wrong major though I do love to read and write, but at this point, I have given up and decided to stick to what I feel was comfortable. Seriously, me experimenting with different majors screwed up my GPA badly. I feel comfortable with English, but truth be told I still haven’t found what I exactly want to major in and I don’t think I ever will. I’m just taking the safe route because I want to graduate on time.</p>
<p>Why don’t you go into web design? An IS degree would likely prepare you most for that, with focus in design. You won’t be writing code all the time - in fact, many of my clients now request that I build their sites in wordpress/drupal/joomla, which is really… drag and drop, if anything. Plus you’ll get to be creative and make a great deal of money if you’re good at what you do - I made upwards of $5000 this summer working on my own time, and from home/the beach/Hawaii/wherever. :)</p>
<p>Additionally, there’s little math involved in web design. Most scripting languages, such as PHP, Perl and Javascript are really robust and simple to work with.</p>
<p>I have a question. Does the majority of a CS education revolve around coding? Do CS graduates tend to always have coding jobs? Can you have any other job besides a programmer as a CS graduate?</p>
<p>A lot of CS graduates work in intelligence agencies because they’re very good at analyzing and solving problems. The NSA for instance loves CS grads.</p>
<p>The NSA also loves math students. This shows how heavy in math computer science can be sometimes, if that’s what you wish. Research in computer science involves a lot of abstract math, and if you’re not going to be doing research then you’re likely to be a software engineer, database architect, systems analyst, etc. Some good skills to pick up will obviously be programming, you must learn how to program otherwise you’ll be utterly unemployable as a CS grad. You’ll just have to get past the maths, and just because you’re not good at them doesn’t mean you can’t be good at other things. At this point, you should stick with the CS degree I think because it’s one of the safest degrees (besides engineering, but you could argue that CS is somewhat under the engineering umbrella). IT grads cannot work all CS jobs, but CS grads can work all CS jobs and IT jobs.</p>
<p>If you decide you don’t want to be doing any of that, you can always start up your own web design company or go to work with a small firm. Web design is fun and doesn’t require a lot of analytical thinking if that’s not your cup of tea.</p>
<p>You can have different jobs in CS besides coding, but a lot of them are somewhat related. If you don’t want to do any of that, there are things that are closer to electrical engineering (the theory bit) but it’s hard to get those jobs without taking a few EE classes anyway. Cryptography is a big thing right now. The only problem with the things that don’t have anything to do with programming is that you need to be good at math. That doesn’t really include calculus but being able to do most math classes is a sign that you have the right mind to do the other stuff.</p>
<p>Don’t be discouraged, you probably just need to study harder. University is notoriously more difficult than community colleges (obviously) so you may just not be used to the amount of work that it takes to be successful. Try harder, study more, go to office hours and ask questions! With some discipline you can get through it and perhaps you won’t feel so lost after all.</p>
<p>I am feeling very stressed due to the Calculus. I studied for hours and do plenty of problems prior to the quiz today, but I blanked out on the quiz. I didn’t do well on it at all. We are moving rather quickly and I still cannot understand derivatives for certain problems. Sometimes I don’t even know where to start. It is extremely upsetting and depressing. I feel like a complete failure. I ended up failing the first test, but she gave us all a chance to correct all the problems we got wrong for half credit so I should be able to get a 75 or so if all my corrections are correct. </p>
<p>I am doing fine in my other classes, but none of them revolve math. If I pass Calc 1 this semester, I will have Calc 2/Physics next semester and I am sure it will be brutal.</p>
<p>Right now I just feel severely depressed that I can’t achieve good grades in this class.</p>
<p>Anyone have any advice for me or am I just not cut out for engineering?</p>