I am currently a student at a community college who is preparing to transfer to a UC school as a Computer Science major. However, I have some concerns about my major. At some of the schools (specifically UC Berkeley and UC San Diego) that I am applying to transfer to , Computer Science is a heavily impacted major with strict entry requirements. So, I was thinking that if I did not get into the Computer Science major, I would major in Math and minor in Computer Science instead. Does anyone know how employers would look at someone with a Math degree applying for a Software Engineering job?
Regardless of which major I end up with, I will work on personal side projects, participate in research, and do summer internships so I can develop my portfolio and add to my Github account.
What other majors are considered equivalent to a Computer Science major for Software Engineering jobs?
You could easily get a software engineering job with a Math degree and minor in CS. Same goes with pretty much any math-intensive engineering program or physics.
Most of the programmers I’ve worked with don’t have CS degrees.
^^^ Most important in getting a job is going to be the classes you took and internships you’ve had. Your major won’t matter as much in CS.
This is exactly what you need to be doing. Add in some solid programming skills classes to satisfy hiring requirements and you’ll be in good shape. Getting that first job is key, which is where internships matter. Once you’ve got working experience what your degree is in will matter even less.
Math is not equivalent to CS.
However, math majors and other non-CS majors can self-educate enough CS to go into software jobs (and math majors should be able to think logically as needed in CS). Obviously, this takes a higher level of self-motivation than learning CS in CS courses, but it looks like you may be doing some of this already.
Of course, you can try to take some CS courses as a non-CS major, although if the CS major is impacted, it may be difficult to get into the CS courses.
UCB has CS course materials on the web, if you want to use them as an aid in self-education:
http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/classes-eecs.html
(1-99 = lower division, 100-199 = upper division, 200-299 = graduate level)
I want to caution that while having a math major isn’t a disqualifier and your skills do matter much more than your major officially, there are some doors that will be closed if you don’t have the CS major or a ton of experience already, which will make starting out tougher.
As others have said, taking as many CS classes as possible is what you will need to do in order to have a good shot at breaking into the field. Once you have experience, things will get a lot easier. Side projects, also great.
On a macro note, while many people previously did not struggle to get software engineering jobs without a CS or similar degree, that percentage is going down as more and more CS majors come out of college. The reason they were able to exist before was due to the sheer lack of relevant workers available. Any big software company recruiting from colleges is usually looking exclusively for CS/CE/SE etc.
If you can, getting into the CS major is very worth it based on your plans.
A modestly different opinion here.
There may be a few moments when looking for the first job when you’ll have some doubts. However, I really do think that a strong math background - particularly an applied math background - opens more doors for that second or third job.
Even if we view CS as “an” applied math, some percentage will be about a specific technology and outdated before you graduate. Know that something is today’s Hollerith card - useful for tomorrow’s docent, but not much else.
OTOH, math is the goto tool for modeling our world - and it has been since we gave up interpreting ox entrails at the end of the Dark Ages.
The interesting part of engineering is about solving puzzles - and being able to divine two or 3 routes of attack can be a huge differentiator when it comes to job advancement and selection. Not to mention that with a MA undergrad (CS Minor), you should be able to do graduate work in either field, should you later choose.
And jobs with big companies … I dunno. A small company will often give you lots of stress, but can have autonomy by the fists full, plus an amazingly broad selection of tasks. At one such company I worked for, I might be teaching a class on Monday and Tuesday, planning to double our server size and LAN footprint on Wednesday, yanking cables on Thursday, and writing some code for a customer on Thursday night and Friday … excellent way to find out what I did and didn’t enjoy. Get bigger than 100 people or so and you can get trapped into a position without adding much to your resume.
tldr: I like the idea and think it has excellent medium to long term prospects. Short term could be a little sporting.
Math + CS will open up a lot of doors for you. The data science field is waiting for you, and will pay you a lot of money!