<p>I heard that companies hire SEs from non-CS majors, and that Philosophy majors do well on programming because of their strong logic background. </p>
<p>Can UMich non-CS majors still get into high paying companies that CS majors get into? (avg 75k starting salary)</p>
<p>NO! You can’t freaking major in Asian Studies and become a software engineer!! Jeez…</p>
<p>Actually, what you say is true. Philosophy majors do have a strong logical background to start on programming. However, companies will never know you’re programming skills until you do some programming and show that you know how to program. For a company to pick up a philosophy major and telling them to program without any knowledge of their programming background would be likee picking up a music major to do mathematical financing. You must do something that shows that you are an experienced programmer such as interning for a company, developing some popular websites, or maybe doing some research that require programming</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I am a non-CS major. I’ve done two internships with Microsoft doing software development. So I can confirm the answer is yes. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Totally true. It’s important to do a lot of coding in your spare time so you can pick up the skills you need.</p>
<p>tetrahedr0n, can you elaborate (or send me a message)? i am interested in this too. What coding languages did you know, how did you learn them (do you know of any useful resources), and what skills do you need to get these internships? My math background is pretty strong but I don’t have much CS knowledge.</p>
<p>Wait wait wait. I took 3 years of HS CS, and I know C++ and Java, and other random languages like LISP. Does this mean I can major in Asian Studies and become a SE? I’ll maintain a 2.0 GPA and make a face book if it’ll help my chances.</p>
<p>Yosup is continuing his offensive comments. I ask the moderator to delete his comments and ban him as the rule says to ban repeat offenders. Although these mean offenders can create another account, they wouldn’t keep repeating their offense if they are actually banned because it is not worth taking pains to get another email account to sign up on new account.</p>
<p>You’re the one who asked, in a thread you made, whether you could get a good job “majoring in something easy like Asian Studies”. You also asked in another thread if you could get a job with a low 2.0 GPA, and you made another thread asking if you would be overqualified to get a job at KFC with an Asian Studies major. Finally, you made a thread asking if you could get a job without a Facebook. </p>
<p>Please forgive me for not taking you seriously.</p>
<p>That’s fine if you don’t take me seriously, but why do you post offensive messages?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In all fairness, I should state that I’m an EE. So we do plenty of coding - we just don’t need to take classes that specifically focus on coding. However, we are required to take Engin 100 and EECS 280, which will at least get you going on C++. From there on, most of my EE courses are either in C, or in other languages more focused on hardware (assembly, verilog, VHDL.)</p>
<p>If your goal is to get software engineering internships or jobs, you’ll probably need to develop some coding skill. For example, take a year and do the EECS 280/281 sequence - that’ll help a ton. Or get involved in contests, like topcoder and google code jam. Or just pick up some books and learn on your own, and do some of the millions of practice interview questions online. For internship interviews, the questions tend to be technical, ie, here, code this simple algorithm on a blackboard. So a bit of practice will really help. It’s a lot better of course if you also have some classes with programming projects that you can talk about, or even just side hobbies you have that you’ve coded for.</p>
<p>Theres an electrical engineering minor for those not involved in EE, CSE, CE.</p>
<p>[Michigan</a> Engineering | CoE Academic Minors and Certificates](<a href=“http://www.engin.umich.edu/bulletin/uged/coeminors.html]Michigan”>http://www.engin.umich.edu/bulletin/uged/coeminors.html)</p>
<p>This will help show that you know how to code. Its not a huge investment of your time but it will be difficult.</p>
<p>If your goal is to show you know how to code you’d be better off with a CS minor.</p>
<p>sure… I’ll go major in philosophy then…maybe one day I can be employed as a quant coz i’ll have good logical skills …</p>
<p>Team America - Kim Jung Il “Sheems rike nobody takes me serirousry…”</p>
<p>If you wanted to be a philosopher, but later changed your mind and went into CS and SE, I’d understand, but if you’re a freshman wanting to be a SE, major in CS. If you don’t think you can handle the workload, and want to major in some philosophy to be an SE (which I think is the case here…), you’d probably be better off going to an easier college and majoring in CS.</p>
<p>Just my $.02</p>
<p>let me predict the next topic this man’s gonna make</p>
<p>Can business majors at UM be cashiers at mcdonalds?</p>
<p>^ Lol! That or maybe, he’s gonna take this thread to a lower level. “Can I major in Asian Studies, minor in Philosophy, and become a software engineer?”</p>
<p>I read that CS is not same as SE and kind of irrelevant so why not major in something else that is more enjoyable and applicable in the real world (such as a foreign language), while study programming on your own (without the irrelevant abstract computer fluff in CS that you won’t use in SE anyways), and then become SE?</p>
<p>Let me rephrase my original Q: </p>
<p>Will non-prestigious majors at UMich be able to get <em>relatively high-paying</em> jobs by going into top SE companies like the UM CS majors do (75k salary), as long as they apply for the jobs and pass the interview tests. </p>
<p>–or will you be only able to get 55k salary jobs like CS majors from low-profile Universities get.</p>
<p>I was thinking maybe those high paying top SE companies only hire CS majors.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure you have to be an ENGINEER to work as an accredited software ENGINEER. So you probably need to major in ENGINEERING (or computer science). </p>
<p>If you want to be a software engineer, why don’t you just major in computer engineering or computer science? You can still minor in a liberal art or double major. But I’m pretty certain that software engineering companies are looking for people with engineering degrees.</p>
<p>
.</p>
<p>What abstract fluff do you learn in CS that you don’t use in SE? Please, give me some examples…</p>
<p>
.</p>
<p>I already know 3 different languages. I can easily learn another one by taking 1 class a year, and I can become fluent by speaking to others. However, if you truly think learning a foreign language is more enjoyable, then go ahead and major in it, but I’d much rather learn computer science.</p>
<p>
I don’t know much about CS but I was under the impression that CS majors learn a lot of things that are not needed for being SE but is only useful for Grad School and research papers, after reading this:</p>
<p>
[Advice</a> for Computer Science College Students - Joel on Software](<a href=“http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CollegeAdvice.html]Advice”>Advice for Computer Science College Students – Joel on Software)</p>