<p>I keep hearing about CS majors that graduate and can't find jobs for 3-5 years post-graduation. </p>
<p>I keep hearing the same about Engineering majors to some extent, but not as bad as CS majors.</p>
<p>Right now I have a choice to either graduate on time with a Biology degree with less debt or spend an extra semester and receive a CS degree and possibly a minor in Biology.</p>
<p>What should I do? I don't want a worthless degree, I want a job.</p>
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<p>Oh really? </p>
<p>[Revenge</a> of the Nerds: Tech Firms Scour College Campuses for Talent - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303360504577408431211035166.html]Revenge”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303360504577408431211035166.html)</p>
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<p>From who? All of my friends found jobs and many had multiple offers (Both CS and Eng)? Very strange you even heard that. Your source might not know what they are talking about.</p>
<p>I’ve read mixed opinions all over the internet. Apparently most of the comments I read say that we are in a massive tech bubble right now waiting to burst. This is scaring the crap out of me.</p>
<p>First I wanted to go into bioinformatics (MS program), but then I read that there is a bubble in that field and it’s ready to collapse.</p>
<p>Then I thought about switching my major from Biology to CS, but then I read the same thing.</p>
<p>So now i don’t know what to do… I’m completely lost.</p>
<p>Comment from your link, sakky:</p>
<p>Fred Smith Wrote:
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“Top quartile Electrical Engineering/Computer Science grad here, from 2002. Did my two degrees in under 5 years. Have submitted my resume thousands of times to tech firms. Rarely do I receive a response, nevermind much interest in interviewing me or offering me a job.”</p>
<p>Go to trade school and become a plumber. Or have you “heard” that the plumber bubble is about to burst too?</p>
<p>Those who don’t have jobs will be more vocal and vicious. They have more time on their hands because they don’t have jobs, and they’re jaded by the fact that they’re among the minority that don’t have a job, whether they deserved it or not. Engineering is by no means a guaranteed career. No major is. In comparison to other areas, however, it’s by far the best. In addition, it’s definitely not a bubble. The first engineering degree was awarded in 1835 (Civil from RPI I think, not entirely sure) and the field has been growing at equal to or greater rates than any other profession in past year.</p>
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<p>Job and career prospects can be very cyclical with economic and industry conditions. 2002 was one of the worst years to graduate in CS, during the depths of the tech bubble crash. The one who made that post probably become long term unemployed, which often leads to becoming unemployable, due to employers believing that “if no one else hired him/her, something must be wrong with him/her”. Unfortunately, that tends to happen to those who graduate (in any major) during an economic or industry downturn.</p>
<p>The current downturn was particularly bad for those graduating in civil engineering and architecture, since the current downturn followed a real estate and construction bubble crashing.</p>
<p>A B.S. in Computer Science would give you WAY more job opportunities than a B.S. in Bio. Biology is a pretty useless degree without grad school (maybe not for teaching). Computer science gives you a a skill set you can apply right out of undergrad.</p>
<p>The world runs on software… always gonna be a need for someone to fiddle with it, at least until Skynet becomes self-aware. Given the precarious nature of most fields of training (with the exception being plumbing), might as well go with this one…</p>
<p>On that note…</p>
<p>cout<< "I should’ve been a " << GetExpletive() << "plumber
";</p>
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<p>Even if we are, it is still clearly far far better to have a degree that is pertinent for an industry in a bubble than in a bust. If nothing else, a bubble at least allows you to accumulate large-scale savings, and perhaps even become filthy rich if you cash out in time. All of the real-estate agents, mortgage brokers and investment bankers were certainly not complaining one bit during the housing bubble of the previous decade, and many became rich. I can think of plenty of people who banked fortunes from the housing industry during the last decade, either by selling their houses at peak value or by working in the housing industry, and they’re not giving any of that money back. </p>
<p>And besides, as CivilEngr mentioned, you have to compare CS relative to an alternative. I agree with CivilEngr that biology is basically an unmarketable major at the bachelor’s degree level unless you want to be a high school bio teacher. CS may well be in a bubble, but I would argue that that’s still better than a bio bachelor’s that suffers from consistently low demand.</p>
<p>Furthermore, even if CS was in a bubble, it will recover.</p>
<p>And I personally think that the underperforming of the Facebook IPO is a good thing for the tech industry because it has really prevented things from overheating into a bubble by providing a reality check to all the tech startups thinking about IPOing.</p>
<p>CS>Biology. That’s pretty established at this point. Pure lab sciences are doing pretty bad right now for a fair number of reasons.
However, CS is also in a serious bubble. All these Silicon Valley software startups are starting to cease to add value, and that’s going to implode in the next few years. I wouldn’t personally recommend going that path if you’re not already there. A need for CS isn’t going to expire, but we also still needed houses in every housing bust too.
That being said, there are good, well-paying paths for biology. You may or may not be able to find a nice job with a BS(I wouldn’t count on it, but you might get an offer). But bio leads to a few nice career paths with grad school. If you’re into it, med school is a pretty good option, and you should be able to pay your debts if you graduate successfully. Pharma school is ok. You could also take some math classes and try to go into an engineering MS (BioMedE if you like, but honestly you could go into any major engineering field if you’re good enough). You could also get a PhD in biology and go for a research job, which I wouldn’t recommend.</p>
<p>If you can get a clearance and don’t mind living in the DC suburbs, a CS degree is the smart money.</p>
<p>I remember reading a recent article by a very well respected blogger within the bioinformatics community that the perceived “lull” in the traffic of projects coming in to these companies isn’t because there aren’t enough data to be analyzed, but because the current system can’t keep up with the flood of data. According to the guy, the level of information needing to be processed sits somewhere on an exponential curve (he relayed a story of how his team invented this revolutionary method that sped up their work 20 fold so that the test set only takes about 2 weeks to process what originally took a year, only to find that the amount of data needing to be processed has still grown well beyond that level now that its customers realized that they can push in more data), and what they’re really looking for are better computer scientists who can come up with clever algorithms or to robustly implement these algorithms. Bioinformatics is a good field to be in right now.</p>
<p>Just read about another CS major who had a 4.0 and 1 years worth of experience from an internship. He has a full time job right now because the employer of his internship decided to hire him for a full time job after college.</p>
<p>He’s trying to look for another job outside of the one he is currently in, but can’t get an interview for a single one.</p>
<p>This is just pathetic. If our computer science and engineering majors can barely find jobs, then that means every other major is essentially screwed and our economy is about to bust. This will be worse than the Great Depression sadly.</p>
<p>I’m sitting here freaking out. More debt, CS degree or Less debt, Biology or Neuroscience degree. </p>
<p>The latter one will at least allow me to graduate with less debt, then get a fast food job, and live with some roommates and enjoy my life until the depression happens.</p>
<p>The first one will allow me to receive a technical degree that <em>supposedly</em> helps with job prospects, but there’s a good chance I might not even find a job. Hell, if someone with a 4.0 and 1 year experience can’t switch jobs in his field, then that’s a sign that the economy is about to crash. This CS degree can either land me a decent job to pay for my extra debt that ill accumulate for the extra semester spent or it will screw me over.</p>
<p>Man. These are tough times. Thanks for the advice everyone, but I’m still confused. It’s pretty much determined that the overall consensus is CS>Bio, but if CS is more marketable, why is it near impossible to get a job? In my case, is it worth the extra debt?</p>
<p>Slow job growth. We’re still in a market that’s cautious after the recession.
Bio does indeed have some options. Just not so much with a BS.</p>
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Calm your freaking horses. It does not. Anecdotal evidence of one person really doesn’t mean anything in the big scheme. For all you know, the 1 year experience could have been started off because of connections, and the kid just doesn’t interview well (even if he was good enough to get offered a full time position from that company).</p>
<p>Listen to the other posters here: there is no reason to panic like you are.</p>
<p>Man, Debbie Downer. You have your options. People have told you that you have much better prospects with CS, but you keep seeking out the worst case scenario’s, and talking about depression setting in. Others advice does not seem to be settling in.</p>
<p>I apologize, but recently I’ve been feeling depressed about what I’m going to do. I’m transferring into IUB and i’ve either considered graduating on time with a BS in Bio or go the extra semester/debt for the CS degree.</p>
<p>My family business isn’t doing so well and I keep thinking about the worst case scenario. I just want to make the best decision so I can succeed and eventually help my family with their struggles.</p>
<p>It worries me when I read all of these horror stories.</p>