so...computer science eh?

<p>uh...i'm a very confused high school student (junior). i was wondering, what kind of jobs do you do with a cs major? do you just program? and how are the job prospects for this particular major? average salary? and what's the difference between cs, c-engineering, software engineering...?? sorry if i'm not making total sense....i'm relatively new to this field....T.T</p>

<p>Usually computer science graduates become software engineers. According to Money Magazine, thats the best job in America right now. The field is one of the fastest growing careers in America right now. It expected to grow around 40%+ in the next ten years. IIRC, software engineers make around $80k+ a year.<br>
Here's a simplified definition for the different degrees you mentioned:
CS = Software development and maintenance.
CE = The bridge between software and hardware. Kind of a combination of electrical engineering and computer science with an emphasis on computer hardware.
SE = ?? a jazzed up CS degree? Lol, I don't really know this one..</p>

<p>Software Engineers are usually in charge of a graph some like to call a dream curve. So as you start the development of a project you should so as much planning in the beginning as then its cheapest. As you come to the end of a project, any changes and planning that needs to be done in the later stages becomes excessively more expensive than in the past. </p>

<p>so as an example we are making a application to keep track of inventory for a client. The client comes to us and gives us his requirements. We do our best to plan ahead and then start, if we go ahead and lets say we are 3/4 of the way done and we missed a critical planning precedure. We now have to go all the way back and restart or do some major changes. Or if the client changes there mind when we are at 3/4 of the way done. We will need to go back and make that change. Having to go back and fix mistakes is the most expensive and time consuming part of any software engineering team. This is why software and systems engineers make more money, they have more responsibility to ensure stuff like this never happens, or they try to keep it as minimal as possible.</p>

<p>I hope that helps.</p>

<p>With a degree in CS, you should be qualified for... graduate study, applications or systems development, software engineering, some information technology positions, some engineering / science (especially research). Plus, you can also become an analyst, with the quantitative and abstract reasoning skills you've developed, or work in finance. CS is one of the most marketable and lucrative degrees around, and if you actually like it (most people are just in it for the money), you can go far.</p>