Is an Informations Systems Major a good idea?

College Majors Business Major
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<p>I have chatted with a Finance/something else major, and I told him I wanted to do Informations systems that is one of the options for a business major. He said that is very good, except that it might be a better idea to couple it with another major. Well, Computer Science might hold me back for too long, so I'd rather do something else with computers and I decided on IS, even if it's not a closer look on programs. Anyway, is it true that an IS major alone won't really land a stable job? Is it cause of the competitiveness of computer technology? There is also a joint accounting+IS major, but you obviously take less upper division courses to choose from with this combo, which I wanted to do in IS, and take more IS courses.</p>

<p>I wonder how fun Finance is though, I was bored in my Econ classes, so I don't hear Finance being much fun either. Damn what do you guys think?</p>

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<p>I honestly don't know how the market for MIS is right now, and it's impossible for me to say what it will be in 4 years. It's not the most stable industry. It was in extremely high demand in 1998-2000. Then it crashed hard in 2001.</p>

<p>However, it appears to have rebounded. You should be able to find out from the career services of your (future) university as to the percentage of MIS students that had job offers and how much those were. Here is an article (albeit 2 yrs old) that talks about how the MIS classes have gotten smaller and thus the job opportunities are better:</p>

<p>MOR</a> Job Board - Fall/Winter 2005 Magazine - McCombs School of Business - The University of Texas at Austin</p>

<p>In regards to a double major, they are somewhat worthless. If you go into MIS, you will probably not use finance at all (until you make management which is in the distant future). The one exception double major that wouldn't be worthless is MIS/accounting which one can leverage to become an IT auditor.</p>

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<p>That's not entirely true, coupling MIS with, say finance, would definately help if you would ever want to be building/overseeing the building of Financial Data mining models or expert systems, etc. It also gives you more flexibility. But if you don't like finance or accounting, then don't major in it if you will hate it.</p>

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<p>MIS or Information Systems by itself is a damn good major. It is at many schools one of the highest paid majors and very well sought after since not many people do it. Major in MIS and you'll be set - don't worry about a double major.</p>

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<p>agreed.. .</p>

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<p>
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MIS or Information Systems by itself is a damn good major. It is at many schools one of the highest paid majors and very well sought after since not many people do it. Major in MIS and you'll be set - don't worry about a double major.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yes, as mentioned by VectorWega, It has indeed rebounded quite well. It sort of depends on location as well, in cities such as Silicon Valley and NYC, and bigger cities in general there is a good demand.</p>

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<p>The issue with IS is avoiding being pigeon-holed as the tech guy if you ever want to work in the 'front office', people who are in the back office for a few years generally stay there. If you don't care about that because you're more comfortable with technology then it's a fine choice. I actually think you'd be better off trying to couple it with quantitative economics than finance, but QE undergraduate majors appear to be fairly rare so if you have finance I guess do what you can with it.</p>

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<p>Well I was thinking of economics as a major by itself, just a bachelors too. I don't mind wrestling with fractions or decimals if those are the numbers it deals with. I've taken two econ classes, micro and macroeconomics, and had a pretty cool laid back, funny professor, but his lecture was dry, and it was pretty boring. Especially to those who has a professor who tends to space out sometimes. He is pretty old so he's probably feeling like the topics he does are. Anyway, never heard of a econ and IS mix, that is pretty unique. I think the business majors has a lot of classes that overlap, but I don't know if I want to double major anyway, that would set me back like a year or more still. I was thinking of majoring in IS and getting a Computer Science minor, to see if that helps my prospects or value any, but it's probably useless. I don't know if that's a good combo, name some other good combos for me, haha. I </p>

<p>I don't know if finance or accounting is similar to econ classes. If it is, ouch, but I might have to do it anyway, all the other majors aren't that great or flexible as business, especially science, and sometimes I'm not very good or enthusiastic about writing, and that market is competitive. </p>

<p>Business will cultivate my writing skills though I suppose. Anyway, this whole rebound thing sounds scary, it sounds like a temporary thing. Man, I wish I can get Computer Science, the careers related to it may be risky, but you get valuable skills, for the skills they teach you at uni. But this IS rebound thing sounds temporary. I was planning on moving to California, specifically San Francisco or Sacramento, I live in Nevada now, so I will probably get an internship to see what it's like from here. I can't afford to take an internship and not like the job, so that's why I want to hear your guys' input. I'm already a junior in college, and if I don't find something I can't do well, I might as well go with something I can handle. Any of you guys know how Environmental Science or Geology majors are like. I was wondering if a lot of jobs out there in S.F. seek people with those degrees.</p>

<p>Still, I'd like to program something even if it's related to business, and learn some IS stuff like security, database, or data communications, etc. I would hope if I did this major, that it is more interesting than the IS101 class where you do robotic actions like spreadsheets or access or word processing.</p>

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<p>Your post is a little all over the place, but I'll tell you what I can.</p>

<p>IS can be a lot of things. A lot. MIS is what most people are familiar with, which is essentially a vocational discipline that generally prepares you to manage or personally develop enterprise-level intra or extranets, and most MIS graduates are expected to also be proficient in networking/IT. Your course load also might include a significant portion of business administration courses, as MIS graduates are basically trained to both develop the infrastructure and manage the people who's full-time job it is to manage it. An MIS graduate is closer to a 'small scale' CTO or (in some cases) CIO than he is a regular developer 'worker bee.'</p>

<p>There's also issues with naming conventions. Now, you're posting in the business major subforum, so it's expected you're posting about Information Systems. But it can also be Information Science, which is closer at some schools to HCI/UI (human-computer interaction, user interface), multimedia and client/server-side web programming.</p>

<p>In either of these scenarios you're going to learn about information design/architecture, which is basically a way of saying "a map for content." M infront of IS obviously means management, and MIS generally signifies IT/networking and intra/extranet work with a management bend to the curriculum, as opposed to focused web programming and HCI/UI.</p>

<p>Information Science can also be... Information Science. Confused yet? Information Science is technically one of two names given to the discipline librarians learn (the other name being library sciene), and if you search for it you might find that half the results are about librarians and the other half are about computational information science.</p>

<p>Basically, systems is closer to making and maintaining the 'bridge' between computer science and business, while science is generally either focused on usability and human interaction or web technology. Either can involve networking.</p>

<p>The difference between Computer Science and MIS, ISystems or IScience (doesn't matter which) is theory. It's like the difference between finance and economics. One is heavy on the theory, the other is closer to a vocational degree. Theoretically you can learn the programming languages and skills you want to as a CS major- but in many cases the curriculum won't be structured the way you want it. What CS does is heavily introduce you to programming logic and all the things that go along with it, just like economics introduces you to economic theory. You may not care about how societies manage resources, you just want to learn how to invest. Application, not theory.</p>

<p>Good CS programs are supposed to be a mix of application and theory, but the reality is that even the most prestigious CS programs focus heavily on theory over application. In CS you may never work with web programming languages, and in the "informations" you may only have introductory classes to C and Java (generally the mainstays of CS programs).</p>

<p>As for finance and accounting courses being similar to econ classes- they're not, but the prerequisites to them are going to be introduction to theory courses like the what you've taken (macro and microeconomics). Most markets are competitive, and business administration is one of the most common majors in America. Also, don't expect business to improve your writing skills. Writing will improve your writing skills. Business will probably improve your oratory skills more than it will your writing ability.</p>

<p>The "rebound" is what it is- 'the cutting edge' has a penchant for spectacular crashes, and technology is generally considered the cutting edge. The fact of the matter is that there has always and probably will always be a massive shortage of computer engineers and programmers, while many of the most 'elite' people in networking and IT never graduated college. Work experience is more important in networking/IT than it is in any other field but possibly the military. Does this mean you shouldn't become involved in the field? No, it just means that like anything else there's going to be competition and you better enjoy the topic to get past the difficulties caused by competition.</p>

<p>As for your other concerns, you're having a mini-existential crisis. It's not a bad thing, and it happens to people a lot. Anything can be made boring. Snowboarding can be made boring by a bad instructor. The way you know you like it is if you continue on despite the quality of education you receive. Finance will be made boring by bad instructors, so will economics and computer science and every other discipline on Earth from cooking to building nuclear submarines.</p>

<p>I'm going to tell you a secret that a lot of the younger people on this forum aren't really aware of- you can make a lot of money doing anything. I know "passion" and loving what you do has become a cliche at this point, but it's accurate. It has to be true passion though, the kind where you read about the topic even when you're not at work and you think about it in the abstract when you're not in class.</p>

<p>Anecdotal evidence is normally horrible, but I'll still relay the story of my boss to you. He had two kids, was unmarried and was dirt poor when he was in his early thirties. He went back to community college, started working for a property management firm and by the time he graduated with a degree in accounting from a low-quality four year that probably no one on this forum knows exists he was preparing to buy the business from his boss.</p>

<p>He's in his early forties now, he runs the business remotely and manages over 20 large malls while privately investing in real estate, his illiquid assets are probably over 3m and his liquid assets are well over a quarter of a million. He did it in a little over 10 years, and he hasn't been hurt by the housing bubble (he obviously can't move the properties, but he's not losing money) even though he lives in Florida because he didn't overleverage himself.</p>

<p>Why didn't the editors at the NY Times create Wikipedia? Why didn't the 'creative content' people at MTV create Facebook? Why didn't Target or Macy's become the first e-tailing juggernaut instead of Amazon?</p>

<p>It doesn't matter what field you work in, as long as you enjoy it, continue studying it, manage your money well and keep your mind open to innovation and entrepreneurship. And when I say entrepreneurship I don't mean being taught entrepreneurship- it's impossible to teach someone to think innovatively. An MBA in entrepreneurship is ********. It doesn't matter if you go to Wharton, concentrating on entrepreneurship will only teach you about the legalities of starting a business, the intricacies of venture capital, theories of personnel management and the basics of any business administration degree.</p>

<p>The creator of Dilbert (of all people) probably wrote the smartest thing I've ever read when it comes to the topic of success in a career. There are two ways to be successful, assuming everyone starts at the same point with the same level of intelligence. The first way is to become exceptional at something. This is tremendously difficult. Everyone else with ambition is trying to become exceptional at something, and those few people who really do become exceptional at that one thing generally have some resource or talent you don't.</p>

<p>The second way to become successful is to become good (top 25%) at two things. This is much easier, and often times that second thing can be rhetorical skills. There are engineers today making $60,000/yr working 60 hours a week that could instead be working 20 hours a week as consultants for $150,000/yr- if they had people skills, a willingness to network and take some chances and basic financial and managerial skills.</p>

<p>What I'm trying to tell you is that you're worrying about the job market while you're still in school and you haven't even delcared a major that could conceivably lead you to that job market. You're putting the cart before the horse. You find what you're passionate about and skillful in, then you worry about that job market. You don't find what has a good job market and then try to become passionate about it and skillful in it.</p>

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<p>What's CTO or CIO if you don't mind my asking. Damn it, so if you don't work hard, you work with people, so is that what the business major is all about. I mean I know every person at school is a people person regardless of their major, but I am not. I only like video games, something not many people are very talkative about. So, I hope I don't have to be all personal if I manage people. And this networking IT thing, seems to have been competitive for awhile, losing job security to the more secured computer science degree, since they know more. Where can I get this networking degree besides Computer Science courses. CCNA, certificate programs? I tried Cisco networking one, and these are pretty long classes, I think these accelerated programs are okay, the material was alright cause it was about technology, but it was pretty boring.</p>

<p>I'd like to couple that with web programming, I'd mostly like to program or build the company up designing these programs. You sure it's an analytical science that is involved in information systems? What is science to you? Experimenting and trying to come to efficient solutions? So do former CS majors go the IS route?</p>

<p>I didn't have much fun in my econ classes, though my professor was cool, his lecture was pretty dry. I don't know if he's feeling that it's all getting old and that he doesn't care much, but he does show interest in teaching in his office, I'm sure all professors do, if the students show the interest in learning. Anyway, does economics get more fun as you move up? Cause I feel economics is more interesting, cause you're trying to see how society is working through their behavior, kind've like a science I guess, where as finance just sounds boring. Funny thing is, when it comes to computers, I'd rather take the easy way out, only cause I'm already a junior, and I don't want to fail anymore classes. They take the same classes as engineers for maybe a year and half, so it takes a lot of work.</p>

<p>There is always going to be competition in any field, yes. Well, I heard it was the opposite for CS, wow, but I'm hearing the opposite from you. I heard there's going to be a lot of people graduating with CS degrees, and that you need to take classes that make you unique. A CS degree alone will probably not cut it when your employer checks your transcript. Actually it probably will, because CS gives you a set of problem solving skills that some employers will value. You are given those set of skills, but it sucks for IT doesn't it? I mean technology is always growing exponentially, and just knowing applications of computers isn't always going to cut it. Unless the information science gives you similar but different set of skills to apply generally to problems like CS does. But anyway, could it be true that, IT skills could be outdated, and fresher graduates with recent knowledge of technology be more marketable than you? </p>

<p>I am interested in the ideas of computer science, the intro classes were fun. But the problem is, it doesn't reflect how technical and hard the upper division classes are. See, I love the idea of how programming is modular in nature, and that you break down a problem individually. But making the actual code and being confused by your professor when he makes up his own code that isn't really related to the assignment is hard. And I did not enjoy staring at my computer til 12AM at the school's labs with my partner, and then having my partner trade me later on for not contributing or finishing one assignment. This very much discourages me, and I have to retake C++. I'm afraid to fail any more classes in the position I'm in right now.</p>

<p>Good advice though.</p>

<p>I enjoyed my intro classes in chemistry, mostly the lecture than the lab. But this is just an intro course, and does not apply to future courses in this major. Again, the upper division classes is uncertain since it depends on people's learning abilities and capacities. I know no one will know except me, but I don't want to take a class and not get it, or if there's too much memorization. I am looking at organic chemistry, I'm sure you might have guessed it, and have heard of how frustrated people had become with this class. You know I don't want to end up with one of those 'make or break it' majors.</p>

<p>And really, I don't care about money or making the big bucks, so advancing or growing in my career is not something I care about at all. I would probably want to grow if I get bored of one routine, but it's all routine work regardless of what you do or where you work I guess. Just gotta make the best of it I guess. I just want to make decent money, enjoy the subjects I like, and have a stable job. This may seem impossible with just a bachelors in science or liberal arts. I'm not very good at writing anyway, but it can be developed, just as your analytical skills can be for math. Anyway, this will sound crazy to you guys, but I don't have plans to make a family or anything. Thus, I will have huge income, and I will probably have to take care of my parents. Which shouldn't be so bad cause I don't have an extravagant lifestyle.</p>