All of my life, I have been obsessed with gadgets. I’ve always loved using technology, whether it be gaming from my childhood or my obsession with smartphones and other consumer technology. Now that college season is coming around, I’ve had to choose a major but the more I look into it, the less appealing computer engineering/science appears to me. I just feel that it requires a more logical, “tech-smart” type of person–the type of person that codes in their free time or has a deep passion for gaming. At the same time, though, I’ve always wanted to work for a company like Google or Apple–I want to be on the forefront, the innovative edge of the consumer tech world. So I don’t know what major to choose. Information Systems seems appealing, but I’ve also heard how dead that field seems to be becoming. I don’t know. Please help?
There are lots, lots, lots of careers in the technology world other than software development/coding. I work at a “household name” technology company - along the lines of Apple or Google - and I don’t know how to program. (I do have a passion for gaming, but I work in video games.) I’m a user experience researcher and I majored in psychology in undergrad. Technology companies have program managers, project/product producers, account managers, artists/animators, recruiters, accountants, HR specialists, lawyers, marketing, research and development…these companies are humongous behemoths that need lots of people to keep them going and make them tick.
So instead of thinking about what company you want to work for, think about what kind of work you want to do for that company, potentially. Do you want to help companies mine humongous datasets to track information about their consumers’ practices and needs? (Data science - math or statistics, plus some computer science.) Do you want to help companies market their products to consumers by conducting research on the market (psychology) or by helping them put together marketing campaigns that make people aware of it (marketing, business, psychology)? Do you want to help companies recruit top tech talent? (Any major works for this, although companies do tend to prefer people with technical backgrounds). Do you want to manage the business/finance/budget? Do you want to manage teams and help them achieve their goals? (Program manager! PM for short.)
Think about what kind of role you want to play in helping those companies roll out their products, and then select your major partially on the basis of that.