Information security, big data, usability engineering?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>Hello all, these are the main three computer science fields that interest me the most, and I was wondering if I could get some info of one or more of these fields from someone who has worked / is working in the industry. So, here are my questions:</p>

<p>How easy is it to find a job in one of these fields? How much competition is there for jobs?</p>

<p>Are there a lot of layoffs any of these industries?</p>

<p>What field generally pays the most?</p>

<p>Which one of these fields is predicted to have the most job growth in the next 10-15 years?</p>

<p>Does big data require a lot of stats knowledge? Does the engineer actually analyze the data, or is it already analyzed for you by a computer program?</p>

<p>I think usability engineering is interesting because the goal is to improve user experience as a whole, but does it require a lot of graphic design-type stuff? I'm pretty bad at that kind of stuff, but I'm good at thinking up ways things could be improved. Which is it more of?</p>

<p>I apprecite any answers I can get. Thanks.</p>

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<p>I cannot speak on about usability engineering as I don’t have experience in that area. Of course, information security is big here in the Washington DC area to support the various INTEL agencies. I will say that 3rd-party certifications are what commands the money and jobs for information security.</p>

<p>The last 15 months, I have been attempting to move into the “big data” industry having taken Hadoop training, doing some Hadoop admin work and now getting into the “data science” area. The “No Such Agency” has decided that they are totally p-i-s-s-ed at Oracle and wants to no longer be dependent on Oracle for their data needs…which means database folks like myself who ate quite good for years need to find a new technology.</p>

<p>Right now, I get calls everyday JUST BECAUSE I know a little bit about Hadoop…with some jobs being just to advanced for me right now (even if the recruiter doesn’t think so). I want to stay at this current position where I can learn the Hadoop/Data Science skills some more at a slower pace before I cash in.</p>

<p>Enough about me and let me answer the question about big data.</p>

<p>Right now anyone who can spell “big data” is getting recruiter calls. I am taking a Data Analysis Methods course (as part of a Data Science cert) and here are some of the topics:</p>

<ul>
<li>Inferential Statistics</li>
<li>Gaussian Distributions, Other Distributions and The Central Limit Theorem</li>
<li>Testing and Experimental Design</li>
<li>Bayesian vs. Classical Statistics</li>
<li>Probabilistic Interpretation of Linear Regression, and Maximum Likelihood</li>
<li>Graph Algorithms</li>
</ul>

<p>Fortunately, half of my M.S. Engineering degree was applied statistics courses (mathematical stats, experimental design, stochastic processes, regression, etc) and I should be able to remember graph algorithms from my computational math undergrad degree…ummm…hopefully.</p>

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<p>If it wasn’t for Oracle we’d be stuck with DB2 and SQL Server, sigh :). Or, the No-Such’s could use my favorite language, RPG (makes FORTH look good by comparison…). Anyhow.</p>

<p>Let me give my two bits in about Usability Engineering. It is a relatively new field, but the problem is to convince companies that they need to invest in UX (general term for User Experience). In theory, any company that has a product or service that faces the public should have a UX department. In practice, most don’t. and one can tell pretty easily that usability was like not considered… For products, same kind of thing. There’s Apple, who takes UX very seriously, and everyone else. And Microsoft :).</p>

<p>The other thing with UX is that their services are often farmed out to consulting companies who do UX for a living. If you hook up with one of those firms you’re golden. Layoffs are a way of life in engineering, regardless of field or company. </p>

<p>For UX you need the requisite degree(s). Not much competition since UX requires a bit of interdisciplinary craziness - i.e. it is a rather specialized field. A lot of good undergrad programs are out there (the usual U Michigan, Purdue, Georgia Tech, and the like) plus some hidden gems like Wright State or U Dayton. </p>

<p>Does it need graphics ability? well, yes. Some. It really requires one to be a ‘visual’ type. To do basic 2D and even some 3D stuff. Not at the level of my daughter the architecture student obviously, but reasonably competent. I’m pretty good in Photoshop / Sketchup / etc as well as in specialized packages used in the industry (i.e. Altia). Mostly you have to be able to listen to what users or customers want, see details that nearly everyone else will miss (hence the part about being a very visual person), analyze the details, and be able to write reports to the clients. Graphics work comes in handy if the Industrial Designers were all partying the night before and can’t provide artwork, if you’re prototyping stuff on your own, etc. It also requires one to have thick skin and stand up in a big meeting and proclaim in no uncertain terms that a product or service is bad… Lots of teamwork.</p>

<p>Another thing - there are not very many openings for UX - i.e. even a huge company, say, a major retail chain with a bunch of web sites) only has a handful of people in its UX team. Depending on how the UX team is organized, they may work with the developers, do testing, write specs, and so on when they don’t do UX. So wearing many hats is paramount. I wear a software developer hat and UX hat. </p>

<p>I find UX extremely entertaining but then I get to design and implement stuff. A lot of UX is just ‘this is bad’ or ‘this is good’ type work (industrial design does the design work…) I probably would not do UX full time any more than I would do software full time. The mix is refreshing.</p>

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<p>Now for the Big Data part of our program. The lovely Mrs. Turbo is a Big Data IT consultant focusing on Business Intelligence and Analytics for manufacturing. Manufacturing generates tremendous amounts of data and more reports than it should, and everyone wants their stuff now. </p>

<p>Depending on what the data is and who reads the analysis, there may be a department’s worth of statisticians doing the work or it may just be an analyst that does both. She has both computer science and statistics degrees so she can do either task. </p>

<p>The programs can do the analysis but you have to know what to ask it to do. Programs like SAS or SPSS are very good but you have to know what tests to run, what the data coming in should look like, and what the answers mean. So, yea, statistics in the context of Big Data is quite important. </p>

<p>Do you need a statistics degree? well, depends who is your audience. In her case her audience was engineers who wanted statistical process control, capability studies, and the like, so the stat knowledge was important. In corporate Big Data environments, I would say a good understanding of statistics is needed (as GlobalTraveller mentioned). The bummer with Big Data is that tools and methods used in college may not be popular in industry, and vice versa. I don’t know many colleges that teach using the usual Business Intelligence and Analytics tools. maybe SAS or SPSS, but that’s about it.</p>

<p>Layoffs? always. In a few years Big Data like anything else could be outsourced, since it is really IT by any other name and could be done across the ocean. Usability Engineering, by virtue of needing to talk to customers day in and day out, and the cultural baggage that comes with it, is a bit less outsource prone - but still anything can happen.</p>