<p>I'm a senior CS major who has been accepted into my school's M.S. graduate program in CS.</p>
<p>My career goal is to get an M.S., graduate, and get a job in the industry (not so much do more research in CS). I understand that I must do research to get my M.S., and I'm fine with that. I would like to contribute to the great field of CS. However, I don't want to make it my life to contribute.</p>
<p>I have a few of questions:
1. Does your concentration matter when applying for an industry job?
2. What if you studied a more theoretical field of CS (Algorithms, Compilers, AI, etc.) instead of a more "practical" (Databases, Information Systems, Software Engineering, Networks)?
3. Is it better to pick a field that is "hot" right now in the industry (like something related to cloud computing or Internet or mobile computing), or does it not matter?</p>
<p>I put "practical" in parentheses because I know that these fields are also theoretical, but have obvious practical applications.</p>
<p>Right now I'm leaning towards Software Engineering as my concentration because of my career goals. I'm sure I can change it any time before I start grad school. I just want to make sure that if I decide to pick a more theoretical concentration that I won't regret doing so.</p>
<p>there is enough demand for software engineers that you will get a great job regardless of your course selection. However, if you do want a very focused job, then you should pick your courses accordingly.</p>
<p>Machine learning is definitely a hot field – everyone is doing it now. With the prolonged death of PCs and the rise in popularity of smartphones and tablets, embedded systems has become a really hot focus, too.</p>
<p>I don’t think databases is a very popular focus. Many people consider databases to be a “solved” problem nowadays – I don’t know if there’s been a whole lot of interesting research in database in recent years. And don’t focus in “software engineering”. I’m convinced that learning about software engineering methodology in an academic setting is largely a waste of time. First of all, you can learn a lot of useful things in school (fundamental science and mathematics) that are difficult to learn once you start working. Second, you will learn much more about software engineering in your first year working on a real, software team in the industry than you ever will as a student focusing in software engineering.</p>
<p>If you get into a top 20 or 30 grad program, I think you’ll be in demand no matter what your focus is in. If you don’t get into a well know CS school, choose a focus that not only interests you, but has some talented, cutting edge faculty who are actively doing research in those fields.</p>
<p>As someone who is working in software right now, I can affirm that AI and machine learning are very hot right now and are in extremely high demand.</p>