<p>Hello there, I am quite worried about my future. After spending two years in college its like I am confused on what to major in. I declared a CS major as a freshman but on completing all my CS courses so far, I don't really find programming fun(sometimes I do). I have taken many math courses and I have all A's ( algebra, trig cal I, II, linear algebra and discrete math). I am not the best at math but I'm pretty comfortable. For some reasons, I got the impression that if I'm comfortable at math then I can be a good CS student but this hasn't been the case. I dont enjoy programming like my mates do, I find it hard translating requirements into code, I grind through programming homeworks in a very tedious manner -its not just spontaneous and natural like it is for other students</p>
<p>I chose CS as a major primarily because my brothers are into it and I felt like what they do is really cool. The money also enticed me. I am wondering if I should still stick in with it. My plan is to get a bachelors degree that I can work and earn good money with before I go into what I feel is my passion (Health/medical care). I will most likely be getting some kind of professional degree in that area. I dont want to do something like biology or chemistry at undergrad level because of the poor prospects as I can always take prerequisites for whatever program I decide to go into for professional/grad school.</p>
<p>I would appreciate any kind of suggestions. Should I stick in with it or I should look for other things with good prospects that I can do. I know people will say i should go with my passion first but, IMO I think you have to survive first, then chase your passion. If not you might never atttain fufilled height in that passion (of course, not in all cases)</p>
<p>I have a CS degree and I work in Health Care so I feel like your question is targeted at me. </p>
<p>Software development isnt the only thing you use a CS degree for. Quality assurance, technical educators, product reps and managers often have CS degrees when they are working in the IT industry. It is pretty common for you to do some software development to start off, but not uncommon for you to be doing none a few years into your career. Also realize that even those in software development often dont code later into their careers…its more architectural in nature. </p>
<p>Ironically you have chosen 2 fields (CS and healthcare) which, in my opinion, have a great future. I dont think you will have a tough time finding a job in either case. College is more about getting the credential than choosing a job. Ultimately your interests will drive your carreer where they want it to go. GL.</p>
<p>Thanks. I know for sure that I can never go wrong in those two industries(Technology and Healthcare) but I am quite worried how my g.p.a may look like if I am not enthusiastic about technology& programming like most CS majors. I want to stay in the major but a part of me is saying I should accept my weakness in it and move to other fields.</p>
<p>Pls I just want to give a little background about my situation. I got admitted as a freshman into a very small liberal arts school. I was a CS major. I did the my first 4 introductoty CS courses there and I got A’s(I didnt have any iota of CS background from highschool). In actual fact that school wasn’t teaching up to par.Thats why they had accreditation issues, and I had to transfer. I am now at University of Houston, a tier one research university and on transferring my CS courses, I realized I have a HUGE (cannot emphasize enough) foundational crisis on CS (not as much in other subjects). I didnt even know how to read and write to a file and was being placed into data structures.This has made it really hard for me when doing programming homeworks and various CS projects. Thats why I’m scared to continue CS and contemplating moving to something else afresh. Someone told me to start my CS courses from square one at UH. Although I will lose a year do you think its worth it?</p>
<p>I agree with the advice to start the CS sequence over. It’ll be much, much harder to succeed in the upper-level classes without a good foundation. </p>
<p>Presumably you’d lose that same year switching majors, and at least by starting over, you’d know for sure if you liked CS.</p>
<p>adeyemo as Douglas Adams says, dont panic. </p>
<p>What you are calling a huge foundation crisis may not be as bad as you think. I have developed software on dozens of systems and their is always a learning curve no matter how much education and experience you get. Good software developers arent afraid of situations where they dont understand things. Roll up your sleaves and dig in. Find some mentors and dont be afraid to ask any question you have. Programming classes are typically just a lot of work, so put in the hours and know that this isnt what your entire cirriculum is based on. </p>
<p>When I took my first class in my programming sequence we started with about 300 students. About 120 of us finished. The rest panicked. </p>
<p>So just yesterday I was at a Microsoft tech talk, and one of the speakers was talking about how she really didn’t enjoy coding (even though she was passionate about technology). What she found that she enjoys a lot is being a PM (project manager), which is a role that involves a lot of design and interaction with other teams to create a spec that devs can then implement. So don’t worry; there are all sorts of roles available for people who don’t like coding as much.</p>
<p>That said, perhaps you do just need a better foundation. Or maybe CS really isn’t your calling. Regardless, I’d advise you to retake some CS classes, and if after a quarter or semester you’re still not feeling it, come back here and post again.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree. Given my situation, I think it will be too soon if I give it up, and to sum it up I am not 100% sure of where I want to be if its not CS. I think its (healthcare/medical care) but thats just because I feel comfortable to wake up every day and help people. Not sure if its a good enough reason. Anyways you will always need a grad/professional degree to get there and CS is a good undergrad background for that.</p>