Suggestions needed

[Binde]

My son has just completed a year of mathematics and a 2 year IT Assistant program and is planning to continue his education IT or computer related field. Any suggestions for him on what jobs are in most demand and what degree is required?

Any advice will be very much appreciated. I am hoping to speed his decision along...before he becomes a professional student :)

[[Jett]-Razorflight]

heck, I would love to know that information as well. I will be going into Computer Science next semester and as to what to point towards would be awesome.

[Chaser]

my suggestion.. Be careful.. Computer degrees are usually extremely.. how do I say it.. specialized?

Meaning if you choose the wrong path you ultimately may not end up learning anything relevant to your future job. Make sure he does his research, I know when I was going through college for my engineering i considered switching to something more computer related, and I found that end pay for most of these jobs were around $15-20 an hour because the computer industry was flooded late 80's and early 90's.. meaning there wont be an influx of computer ralated jobs for many many years to come.

Before he takes on his BA or whatever hes going for make sure he will be doing something that will show a good return on his time.

I would suggest something in the engineering side of things like I did.. the industry is hot right now, a lot of job openings and my starting pay for training is $20, about the next 10 years i'll move up to almost $40/hour

thats my 2 cents anyway, tell him good luck and congrats :

EDIT

My field doesn't require any degree at all, but without one you can plan on living on the road for the next 20 years. If he has a 4 year degree he can pretty much name his price and set his own terms.

[[Jett]-Tank]

Well, STARTING computer programmers (including web site designers) make as much or more than I do now, and I've been in computer hardware since 1989. But then again, I work for a K-12 school district (since 1999), so I'm not exactly in the competitive retail market any longer. If I had bothered to further my education (such as Cisco or MS certifications), I'd be making more money, but my son is a sophomore programming major and has a part time programming job...making the same $/hour that I do. :/

-=Tank=-

[[Jett]-Einstein]

I have a BS in Computer Science, and contrary to what some are saying with regards to that pigeon holing you into a certain field or another, it's untrue.

Computer Science is mostly focused on programming, however I'm currently the Network Engineer for a large insurance company. I'm able to program when I want, and manage systems when I want.

The important thing isn't so much the exact field of the degree, but rather something that tells a hiring manager you have education in a related, and difficult field, that you will stick with things, and that you can learn anything thrown at you. In that same vein though, don't expect to come into a good paying IT job with a basket weaving, poly-sci, <insert bull-shit degree here> as it just won't fly

[Chaser]

well of course einstein, just because you dont have the exact degree required doesn't mean you can't get into the field. But if im, lets just say.. trying to find someone to hire as my engineer to go out and draw plans of roads / bridges (civil engineer). Why would I want to hire someone with a BA in electronic engineering when I have someone with a BA in integrated or even civil engineering?

Your theory there while correct only applies if your not trying to land a job against someone with a more related degree, unless of course your grades / class difficulty smoke his...

[[Jett]-RollingRock]

i would hope someone would be specialized enough to know if they wanted to build bridges or design circuits. there's no such thing as a general engineering degree. too much to cover and way too many disciplines.

however with that said a BS is just a good start to a career. it doens't define anything if you don't want it to. prove you're competent and a good thinker and you'll never be pigeonholed.

my advice is decide if you really like programming or not. if you just want to work with computers or electronics you might consider getting a EE or electronics type degree instead of CS.

I couldn't decide so i got a BS in EE and a BS in CS heh.

[Binde]

Thanks for the info. There are so many choices and specialties, at least now he has some advice from people that know.
Any and all other advice on computer related careers appreciated.

[Chaser]

Rock, there IS a general engineering degree... Its called integrated engineering. Its what I specialized in. It teaches you parts of a lot of engineering feild but doesn't dive too deep into any of them.

But you might be surprised as to how many people actually get through with a BA in one feild before realizing its not needed or they cant do anything with it. All I was saying is to do the research and be sure.

Example.. in college I worked at Staples for about 6 months, my co-worker who made about $7 had a BA in english and a minor in french. She had been out of college for almost 2 years and still was unable to find a job.

I understand its a bit over-exxagerated but it does go to show that taking a non-chalant attitude about it and going into it unprepared will never help you as much as someone who took the time to do their homework.

There would be nothing worse than taking 4 years of your life to learn something and getting out of school only to realize you made the wrong choice.

Of course, with a BA in anything your job outlook opens up dramatically like everyone keeps saying but for some reason everyone keeps missing the point im trying to make >.<

[[Jett-CC]-Mr_Yellow]

One thing I'd like to add is that the experience you gain outside of the classroom weighs almost as much or even more than the degree itself. Keep an eye out for those valuable internships.

[[Jett]-Dsru]

My .02........
Have him find something he really enjoys doing. If its fun he will do well and make lots of money. But "enjoy" and "fun" are the most important things. With those two things covered, opportunity presents itself in all kinds of ways cause people want to work and be with you.

[Chaser]

I agree with DSRU 100%.. a wise man once said, find something you love to do, and then make someone pay you to do it.

[[Jett]-rush2049]

Well I am currently in my first year at Drexel for a Software Engineering degree. I can say that while being here at school with a CS and SE degree being offered there is a large difference. SE course requirements are more rigorus, most of the general engineering classes that CS majors must take are not in my curriculum, instead they have been replaced with buissness and other programming and SE specific classes.

Another thing to notice is that at drexel we get co-ops worked into our 5 year program, so looking at those the pay for our co-ops is somewhat evident of how much salary will be coming out of college. At drexel out of all the majors last term, SE had the highest average pay. I think the average was about 1,100$ per week. Some of the co-ops we were being offered were by amazon, microsoft and such paying as much as 1,300$ per week.

As far as I can tell, as long as you have a heart into the things you are doing, coding in this case. And you like to provide addition things on assignments because you think it would be handy then you probably have the right attitude for the workplace.

Of course take this with a grain of salt because I am just a lowly freshman, but thats what I have observed so far.