Would computer science major fit me? Help!

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
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<p>I'm a college junior who has recently transferred to a new university and will be starting this fall. I was accepted into the computer science program, which is extremely rigorous with no prior experience. </p>

<p>I have no idea if my personality is the right fit for this major. </p>

<p>I'm a spontaneous, creative, and enjoy writing. I'm an ENFP for the MBTI. I love discovering new insights, being able to bound around ideas, and to teach other people. I also like working in teams, collaborating, and having creative freedom. I can/do work long hours on projects and am extremely persistent. </p>

<p>I've done some programming and learning web development on my own, but other than that I don't have any experience. </p>

<p>I love the idea of becoming a problem solver and being able to creatively come up with solutions... But I might not be 'wired' to think in a computer-science way. Paying alot of attention to small details (I'm a big picture person) and being analytic. </p>

<p>To be honest I don't really care about computers.... I love working with people and don't think about "what new technology can be created?" but "what can I do to be more creative/help people learn... etc." It may sound like a dumb question, but do you need to care about computers to major in computer science? I just feel like if I'm not passionate I will be found out, won't be able to compete with the competition, and feel like an impostor on the inside.</p>

<p>I just would like a major where I can learn to solve problems and have job opportunities and flexibility. I've looked at economics, political science, and business... but I don't know. </p>

<p>I'm also black and female (I'm very worried because I will stick out like a sore thumb and won't fit in with the other primarily male students....). I've always had to be the only black in my college and high school classes for the most part, but this seems totally different. </p>

<p>Anyone have any advice? I'd especially love advice from women computer science majors!! What is it like being in the minority in a tech major? What is the workload like? Are there a variety of different personalities? </p>

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<p>You will be doing a lot of problem solving as a computer science major, but you probably won’t be working with people very much. If you don’t have an interest in computers and how they work, you probably won’t like computer science. </p>

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<p>This is not true at all. Any decent sized software company will have a team of people working on a single project, and communication is key to a good design and each of the pieces working together properly.</p>

<p>That said, I agree with BigLebowski. The communication you will have will be logistical problem solving and not at all what you seem to be looking for. CS problem solving won’t utilize your creativity because it’s all about efficiency and organization. If you are writing code, good code isn’t made in some new way, but rather is considered good code by being well organized, documented, and using efficient practices.</p>

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<p>That’s what I meant. She may end up working with a team, but she probably won’t be helping people learn.</p>

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<p>i’m not sure about how cs would mesh with your personality, but i wanted to mention that if you’re worried about being one of a very few, if not one of the only, black women in your department, you might consider looking into clubs at your university, and also the society of women engineers (swe.org), and the national society of black engineers (nsbe.org)! these are both fabulous associations, and if you’re interested, they offer a joint membership so you can join both of them at a discounted rate, which is pretty cool.</p>

<p>even if you don’t want to become a member of either/both of those orgs, it might be cool to meet/talk to people in them, and see if they have any connections at your college, like a club on campus. a lot of schools have clubs specifically to create a safe space for women and minorities in engineering majors, and some have clubs just for cs folks!</p>

<p>i haven’t taken any cs classes yet (i’m starting as a cs major freshman in the fall) but judging by what i’ve read about the field, and what i’ve heard from the people i know in cs already, i don’t think you have to “care” about computers themselves to do well in it. i mean, it seems like if you care about computers you’d do computer engineering. i don’t think you have to have your own vested interest in creating new technology to be good at solving problems and working in programming languages/structures. does that make sense?</p>

<p>i guess the only thing i’d be terribly worried about is the not-being-analytical thing. i think that’s kind of one of the “big things” so it might make it harder for you than you feel is worth it.</p>

<p>as far as being able to teach, maybe you won’t be doing it directly by, say, working for a software company, but you might be able to make educational programs, or be part of the movement to bring computer science into primary school education. and i feel like in any collaborative environment, ideas get passed around and everyone learns from each other, so it might actually be a pretty good fit for you!</p>

<p>sorry that this is so long and all over the place, but i hope it helps!</p>