
Ask HN: CS major who doesn't want to code. Am I in the wrong major? - ajaimk
I am currently in my 3rd year as a Computer Science major. I choose CS cause I love technology and still do. Its just that I do not see myself in a stereotypical "coding job" cause that is not who I am.&#60;p&#62;I am a very outgoing and people person and am hoping for a job of the business/marketing/management side of a technology company. I am also the founder of the Entrepreneurs Club at Georgia Tech.&#60;p&#62;I look at my job prospects and people want CS major for coding jobs only.&#60;p&#62;Am I in the wrong major?
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edw519
_Am I in the wrong major?_

Yes.

You (and some others) may not like what I'm about to say, but you asked for
it, so here goes...

In all the years I've been in technology, it has typically taken me about 28
seconds to determine if another person was "fluent" more than one or two
levels below the surface.

Those that were were almost always programmers, engineers, or technicians at
one time or another. Everyone else was at best managers and business people,
or at worst, administrators or posers.

I know some might disagree with me, but a Computer Science major who doesn't
want to code is like a dental student who doesn't want to look into anyone's
mouth.

To get good in technology, and I mean really good, you must get under the
hood, deeply and often. The best and most logical way to do this is by
programming. And you will have to do this intensely and for long hours, so
_you have to love it_.

The single biggest difference I've seen between great programmers and everyone
else is a pure love for what they do. Intelligence matters, work habits
matter, ability to work with other people matters, but make no mistake about
it, there is no substitute for passion.

Great technologists love what they do so much, they can't wait to get back to
it. They have to check on their work after dinner. They have to review their
notes at bed time. They are often the first in the office in the morning and
just as often the last to leave. They read and learn voraciously and can't
wait to apply their skills to new problems. They're so busy doing what they
love, they don't even think of it as "working 9 to 5".

By your own description, you do not sound like this. So do yourself (and the
rest of us) a favor and find something you love and major in that. If, on the
other hand, it's too late or it doesn't make sense to switch majors, then go
ahead and finish your CS major, but please find a direction to follow that
puts you in work you love. Be forewarned, though. Unless you're a programmer
first, you probably won't make a very good sales engineer or project manager.
You may want to consider sales or even (dare I say) proceeding on to business
school for your MBA.

~~~
ivenkys
This and a thousand times this. If you don't want to code - you are wasting
your time being a CS major.

~~~
tjpick
I had a lecturer in CS who didn't really code and would freely admit it. A LOT
of what she lectured stuck and I've used it everyday in my programming jobs.

CS != programming.

------
david927
Dijkstra said, "Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is
about telescopes." It's more than that though. Computer Science is no more
about _most programming languages_ than astronomy is about telescopes.

There are a lot of people who code giant Java or PHP projects and think it's
Computer Science. It's not. It's not even interesting.

Computer Science, at its heart, is a form of mathematics. Its progress, at
best, stems from that, and is simple, elegant and beautiful.

~~~
elblanco
Too right. People who want to be coders shouldn't be CS majors (though the
better coders tend to be CS majors), they should be IT majors and study
programming. People who want to understand the theories of computation should
take CS. It's that simple.

It's a common misconception that programming = CS. It stems from the fact that
programming just so happens to be a very convenient way to compute things, so
it happens to be what most people who don't understand CS see.

~~~
scott_s
In most universities, the computer science program is the best way for people
to learn how to program. In the future, I think CS departments will split into
software engineering (which focuses on teaching students how to program and
engineer software) and computer science (which prepares students for careers
researching in the field of computer science). But that's not how things are
in most places.

Also, "theory of computation" is an area of computer science theory. There is
much more to a CS curriculum than theory of computation.

~~~
elblanco
>In most universities, the computer science program is the best way for people
to learn how to program. In the future, I think CS departments will split into
software engineering (which focuses on teaching students how to program and
engineer software) and computer science (which prepares students for careers
researching in the field of computer science). But that's not how things are
in most places.

Too right. I agree with this. I think that the "field" of software has
generally gone in three directions.

1\. How do you compute it (or Thinking about it)? That's CS 2\. How do you
plan to build it (or Planning it)? That's Software Engineering 3\. Go build it
(or Doing it)! That's IT

Sadly, at least at my alma mater, the trend of keeping these three fields
separate has reversed. Instead, with budget cuts, the departments have merged
under the CS umbrella. I think this continues to push forward the layman idea
of these three things being equal because of how they are co-mingled -- but
really they are as separate of disciplines as Physics is from Road Paving.

Ideally the number of students and practitioners in each fields should be
distributed like a pyramid (a la any other engineering discipline). Most
people doing, fewer people planning, and even fewer people thinking.

>Also, "theory of computation" is an area of computer science theory. There is
much more to a CS curriculum than theory of computation.

I guess I also agree with this. I've always chafed at calling Computer Science
the "Science of Computing" though since it's not a science in the classical
sense. But everything I ever learned in my undergrad (not counting unrelated
curriculum coursework) was definitely related to "computing" in even a loose
sense of the term. I just don't think calling it the discipline of "computing"
makes it any more clear since "computing" - the act of using a computer (like
a Mac) and "computing" the act of performing computations, are easily
confused. The "Theory of Computing" has always seemed to have the best balance
while providing context for "computing". But I'm open to accepting other 2
word descriptions ;)

~~~
scott_s
Software engineering is a young field. While I think separate SE and CS
degrees is how things should be in the future, I'm not sure it's the right
thing to do now. I recognize that SE programs do exist, but we (as a species)
are still new at building software. We've been doing the other engineering
disciplines much longer. And as you point out, we're unlikely to see programs
split in a poor economy.

(I do have to disagree with your point 3: building it is very much
engineering. I consider IT management and service of computing resources and
information.)

~~~
elblanco
All true, I think the very fact that we can have an interesting discussion
about where the three major disciplines draw their respective lines is
evidence of the immaturity of the respective fields.

I have a feeling that, with the way the three disciplines overlap, when
everything finally shakes out we'll probably see the formation of a few more
disciplines. We've been doing math, science, engineering and building things
for thousands of years, but software for not even a century.

------
BigZaphod
Maybe. But your major doesn't have to define who you are or will become - it's
just a thing.

~~~
rw140
It's also worth remembering that there are vast numbers of jobs that don't
specify a CS degree, but where being a technical or semi-technical person
helps.

If you're good at interacting with people and have a background in technology
that makes you very valuable - look at the spread of jobs in consultancy and
team leadership (software development end of the scale), technical writing
(aka information development), technical pre-sales (explaining technical stuff
to non-technical people).

------
Kliment
Being in a _coding job_ is one thing, _enjoying_ writing code and building
things is another. I can fully understand not wanting to be the stereotypical
code monkey who sits in a dark room and outputs code. So the real question is,
do you dislike the _subject matter_ or the _imagined career_. If the former,
then you have a problem. If the latter, you can probably escape the stereotype
by founding or working at something smaller.

------
jhancock
Here's a few thoughts for you:

1 - I know of no major whose job outside of college resembles what you study.

2 - I went to Georgia Tech, '87-'92. Yep, a long time, as I was a co-op
student and had several entrepreneurial jaunts along the way. I chose EE as a
major as I specifically did not want to study CS since I had been programming
for 5 years prior to college and the first 2 years of the CS curriculum looked
boring to me. I have not used my EE education any more than I would have any
other discipline in my entrepreneurial life.

3 - My work as a co-op student gave me clear perspective that what I was
learning in school would not be what I would do afterwards. Changing majors
would not have effected this. In fact my work as a co-op gave me a better
"MBA" than what I feel most learn from the world's most revered MBA programs.
I can't say this is the case for all co-op students as I was handed a dream
job surrounded by industry veterans that loved to be my mentor. Even with
that, I still didn't know what I wanted to be for the rest of my life ;).

4 - Don't worry about your job outlook. It will change by the time you
graduate. Stay the course with your CS degree and continue your
entrepreneurial thread. A true entrepreneur is one for life. You have no idea
what you will do or if and when you'll make a windfall of money.

5 - I don't always like to code, it just happens that I'm pretty good at it
and was able to fall back on coding work to supplement my income to support
bootstrapping my own projects. It comes and goes. I enjoy a job well done even
when it was tough to get motivated. You will most likely have to bootstrap
things yourself and coding skills can play a big role.

------
mikek
In my experience, the best managers / product designers of programmers know
how to program. This helps them tremendously in understanding how to set goals
and expectations. It is very difficult for non-coders to know what is a very
difficult task (e.g. data deduplication) vs. what is an easy feature to add.

~~~
terrellm
There is a real need for people who can bridge the gap between programmers and
non-programmers (end users, clients, supervisors, co-workers).

After graduating with my information systems degree 10 years ago, I started a
small software company. Three years later, I was concerned that since my
strongest skill was programming that I was doomed to be a programmer. I went
back and got my MBA from Texas A&M (2 intense semesters followed by a very
light 3rd semester).

Pairing the MBA with my technical background has proven to be very beneficial.
I can interact with my customers or occasional clients and really understand
their needs from a non-technical perspective and then I can then go back to
the office and work with a developer either in pair programming or just in a
project management role.

------
jasonlbaptiste
Not at all. If I could choose between either an entrepreneur with an
entrepreneurship major or a CS major, the CS major would win hands down every
time. It seems a lot of CS/CIS majors prepare you for "coding jobs" in fortune
500 IT, which is a real shame. The degree is what you make of it.

~~~
ajaimk
That is my problem mostly. I love coding and do it for fun. Its just that I
can't convince myself to get a desk job where I stare a monitor from 9 to 5.

~~~
FreeRadical
To be honest, most (professional) jobs nowadays require staring at a monitor
9-5.

------
Elepsis
At some point around the third year of my CS degree at Georgia Tech I went
through a similar realization (I wonder if it's something about the
curriculum): I understood that while I was smart, competent, and able to get
through the curriculum with good grades, I was never going to be a "rock star"
programmer. And, indeed, I realized I didn't want to become one, because it
wasn't really my passion in life.

Do I think that means I finished my degree with the wrong major? No, not
really. Like you, I'm interested in technology and I felt I could still
contribute something worthwhile to that world. The understanding and ability
to code are still things that have a huge benefit.

There are plenty of opportunities for people with that background as well --
from technical sales (on the more people-oriented side of the scale) to
program or product management at software companies (on the more tech-oriented
side). I'm a Program Manager at Microsoft, and while I don't code as part of
my job, I feel like I wouldn't be able to interact with developers and testers
nearly the same way if I didn't graduate with a degree in CS. You should look
into positions like this and see if they sound interesting. Here's a great
writeup by Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows division at Microsoft:
[http://blogs.msdn.com/techtalk/archive/2005/12/16/504872.asp...](http://blogs.msdn.com/techtalk/archive/2005/12/16/504872.aspx)

Long story short: Stick with CS. There will be plenty of opportunities to get
further away from the technology if that's what you decide to do, but very few
opportunities to get back into it if you let your skills wither while you're
still in school.

------
DenisM
The most profitable ventures are always at a junction of two tings. In your
case a junction of someone who can code on one hand and who can see the point
of another coder and negotiate to the agreement on the other hand is very
valuable in any large company. Product development in large companies always
requires more coordination between different teams than is available, so you
just can't go wrong by targeting this niche. Do both and you will do well.

As a matter of staging, get a coding job in a large company. Straight out of
college the expectations will be fairly low for you, so meeting coding
expectations would be easy. Use the spare time to seek out right-sized
communication gaps in projects that are important for your skip-level manager,
suggest improving it, provide your budget (I will spend one week on this, this
and this) and make a tiny but clearly measurable progress. If you make a
decent effort you will be noticed, if you succeed after first three attempts
you will be fast-tracked.

Remember that engineers respect other engineers, so if you start with coding
and especially a coding _achievement_ you will come from the position of
strength compared to any regular program/project manager.

------
tjr
A classmate of mine graduated with a degree in computer science, and went on
to law school. I was initially puzzled by his decision, but now applaud him!
Society needs more lawyers with a solid understanding of software technology.

~~~
LogicHoleFlaw
I also know several lawyers who started with a degree in computer science. It
may be a more common path than you'd think.

------
maukdaddy
I was once at the same place you are with regard to CS, albeit at Virginia
Tech (go Hokies!). I would suggest seriously considering an MIS program in
your business school. I switched to Business Information Technology (VT's MIS
program) after two full years of CS, and it was the best thing I've ever done.
The programming experience I gained through CS has served me well, but the
business skills learned in the business school have served me far more. I'm
currently working on my MBA, something I definitely wouldn't be doing if I had
stayed in CS.

If you're interested at all in starting your own company, which you definitely
seem to be, I'd definitely recommend switching majors. The network of people
you will meet in a business program will prove far more valuable than CS.

Edit: Good luck in the ACC champ game!

------
HeyLaughingBoy
No, you're not in the wrong major but you do need to look at fields outside
just "programming."

A smart girl I used to work with realized that she was more interested in the
business than in coding & testing and left to become a Business Analyst. The
job suits her personality much more than being a coder did and she's good at
it. Basically her job now entails meeting with customers to elicit
requirements and understand their needs from a business perspective. Having a
CS background gives her the ability to talk to both business people and
technical people and be able to translate between either "world."

In software development today, your interpersonal skills are much more
valuable than technical skills. I rarely turn down an job candidate for tech
skills: it's almost always a personality problem.

------
bengiuliano
I am exactly in the same position as you, just got my bachelor in CS - albeit
in Europe (Switzerland), and don't want to code for a living, even if I enjoy
it.

In my opinion one solution would be IT or management consulting. You'll be
travelling around, getting to know many people, etc... And I think it gives
you the exact tools you'll need if you want to become a entrepreneur later
(social network, overview of how businesses are managed, what they need, you
get the picture).

Some consulting companies that love to hire CS majors here in Switzerland: \-
The big 3 (BCG, McKinsey, Bain) \- Accenture (seems to be present in Europe
only) \- ...

~~~
tsestrich
That's exactly what I'm going to be doing with my Computer Engineering degree
(like CS with some electrical engineering thrown in), but in the US with
Deloitte Consulting.

I had the exact same conflict, where I didn't want to be programming every day
for eternity, and this will give me the opportunity to travel around and see a
ton of different companies. Granted, I'm expecting to get worked to the bone
and get tired of staying in hotels every week, but it'll be a fun experience
that should let me move into something awesome.

------
CrLf
Well, I'm a CS major (or whatever you want to call to the european equivalent)
and I don't code for a living.

I'm a systems administrator, and while I like to program and do so fairly
frequently (both for fun, and on the job), I just can't see myself as a
programmer, at least in the near future.

I find most "real-world" programming to be quite boring. And doing it day-in
day-out would just burn me out of it real quick.

Of course, there are some programming jobs I can see myself taking. But making
business apps or web stuff isn't one of them, and that's pretty much the whole
market right now.

------
roundsquare
Nah. I'm a CS major who just left his first job (which was a coding job) for
something different and hope to go to law school soon. Half the people I work
with are CS majors who decided to go into business.

But being a CS major has helped. From being able to break down a problem and
create a concrete solution to the fact that our spreadsheets work better and
are easier to read, the things we learned as a CS major are very helpful.

Treat it as learning a particular way of thinking and I think you'll be fine.
Treat it as "learning how to code" and you might regret it.

However, now that you've realized other majors might be interesting, I would
suggest minimizing your CS courses and finding other courses that interest
you. Take a marketing class instead of a class on compilers or something. Get
a minor in something you really want to go into. Or, better yet, study
something you'll never get the chance to learn about again (at least until you
retire).

Edit: Sorry, one thing I didn't consider is that some colleges do core classes
for 2 years and then classes for the major afterwards (didn't do this at my
college). If thats the case for you, then I'd suggest looking into a CS minor
and maybe some other major.

------
igrekel
Your first job doesn't mean it's what you'll always do.

My first job was a mostly coding job (even tough it was really not "just"
coding) but it quickly morphed into something else. If you are good and you
are interested, there are many other things possible than just sitting at your
desk 9 to 5. Nowadays I very rarely code on my day job and when I do, it
usually is fun (unless its Excel macros, that doesn't count).

------
rw
You are not in trade school. Take control of your life :-)

Most things in CS are able to be studied both empirically and theoretically.
For example, Scott Aaronson is a CS theorist at MIT who has admitted to doing
just a little BASIC programming in school. I took no computer science courses,
but now I code full-time.

Are you passionate about _something_? What is it? Do that, and don't worry
about your major.

~~~
jhancock
Georgia Tech was originally called "North Avenue Trade School" ;)

~~~
gte910h
Damn, beat me to the quip :OD

~~~
jhancock
I think maybe the OP is just feeling a bit down today about his college life
due to our poor showing against UGA two days ago. ;)

~~~
gte910h
I was expecting to deliver such a fine fine spanking to the dogs too. Oh well.
Piss on them.

------
charlesju
No I don't think you are in the wrong major. I was in your same boat, for the
majority of college I wanted to switch to being a political science major. But
now I started my own company and I code everyday. The worst part, I love it,
coding and all.

So I think you have two options coming out of your major in your position. (1)
you don't code, but that's ok because at least you'll have a technical
background which will enable you to do a lot of cool things (tech consulting,
tech ibanking, project management, etc.). or (2) you find out you really do
like to code, at which point you're happy anyways.

Last, but not least, most things in college you can learn by simply picking up
a book and reading about it. The only critical classes I took in college were
several of my upper-division CS classes that I would not be motivated to learn
about (ie. how to build a CPU) and accounting 101. As such, whatever your
choice, at least you gave CS a shot, and that has defined another set of paths
for you given your current disposition.

------
icco
I'm not sure if I want to say you are in the wrong major, but I think there is
a current disconnect between what people learn in high school and what people
learn in college.

High-schools need to start informing students that what ever their major is in
college, it doesn't necessarily affect what they will do out of college. I
know a lot of great programmers who were history majors, and a lot of tech
industry managers who were engineers.

What matters in college is that you are taking classes that you enjoy. If you
are spending $20,000+ a year to just get a piece of paper, you are wasting
your time. you need to find something that makes you happy and increases your
knowledge of the world. for me, that happens to be CS, but if you aren't happy
taking CS courses, get out now! Find something that you enjoy and do it, you
are wasting your time and everyone else's if you are in something just for the
money.

------
crs
No, you are not in the wrong major. There are many career paths available to
you. I work for Boeing, and we have a lot of people in systems engineering
roles. They define requirements, perform integration, and generally do a lot
buisness like tasks on the engineering side of the org chart. There is Quality
Assurance, where you need to understand code but not necessarily write it. In
addition to that there is Configuration Management. Our current SCM lead is
not a coder but you need general technical ability.

Those are just a few examples, but it shows that there are careers out there
that require a technical background but don't involve coding.

However don't expect to jump int business/marketing/management" out of the
gate with a cs degree. Your going to be competing against mba's, and people
with marketing degrees.

------
mdragon
I think CS is too heavy for most programming jobs, much less for non-coding
technology jobs. You'd probably be much better served having a business major
or some sort of technology commercialization or even some sort of technical
(or not ) writing, or psychology or math degree. CS is about reading papers
other CS guys wrote, writing papers for other CS guys to read, and typically
doing very little real world work. There's an exception to every rule, but I
had CS professors who I feel would have been amazed if you showed them this
amazing Internet concept that had flourished by building on top of the OSI
model... :P That being said, your major != your career... though don't tell
any HR department employees that or they'll tar and feather you.

------
rit
A few thoughts come to mind here for me.

First ... So don't take a stereotypical coding job; whatever your definition
of that may be. I've personally in general avoided big companies my whole
career to avoid what I see as the stereotypical coding job - too many
meetings, too much waterfall style development and way too much bureaucracy
which I find myself unable to navigate. It's served me fairly well in that I
get a chance to do a lot of different things. Small companies need more
versatile staff - people who can do systems and network work as well as
coding. Who can help design and architect systems as well as coding. These
things from my standpoint let me enjoy technology while not going insane
spending 12 hours a day producing cogs and widgets. And of course the option
exists for you to go the route you are obviously culturing of Entrepeneurism.
If you can handle both the technical and business sides you may have an
advantage as you can work both sides of the equation. But beware of becoming
the dreaded business-guy who produces crappy code and expects his programmers
to take it as holy writ from upon high. If you plan on blending business and
technical keep your skills and knowledge polished and relevant. (Yes, I've had
a few of those. Including one who would "Align" all his code in the gutter
[aka no freaking tabs] and freak out if anyone reformatted it)

Second... The degree does not make the man. Personally, I'm an autodidact
although I originally pursued a Criminal Justice degree. The best programmers
I've worked with personally (keep in mind the plural of anecdote isn't data)
have all had either no degree, or had a degree in an unrelated subject. I've
worked with chemistry, physics, English and history majors all of whom were
stellar programmers. While the fundamentals are important, it's the capacity
for learning and doing something that you enjoy that matters much, much more.
If you think you have the core concepts of CS at a point that they're useful
to you, change majors. Go get a business degree, or one in physical education
if it makes you happy.

Just use what you know, and what you think you can learn in the future to best
advantage.

------
kvs
If you're good at interacting with people and a computer science major you do
have an edge over most computer science majors:-)

Perhaps you can minor in business or other area and see whether that helps
with your job prospects better. I think you're "selling yourself" wrong...

------
ErrantX
No. Despite what people are saying there are a bazillion such jobs for a
smart, non-coder, person to grab hold of.

Ultimately "the wrong major" comes down to the course content. CS courses can
vary wildly - the one at my uni (I never was on it) was very business oriented
for example. If your enjoying the course then there seems no reason to
consider it the wrong one.

However beware: do talk to people who are happy to be critical of you (and you
trust to tell the truth) and find out if you ARE a people person. With the
best will in the world every single person I have ever met claiming to be a
"people person" generally isn't. I'm sure you are: but it's worth checking :)

------
krobertson
Does your college have an MIS focus? When I was in college, you'd chose a few
focus areas for some of your electives. In the Business dept, they had an MIS
focus which included some of the entry level CS classes, software process type
stuff, and then some management-type classes from the business dept. It might
be more for you.

Generally though, I'd agree. If you don't want to code, CS isn't the best fit
for you.

Although in our field, it is quite unique that what your degree is in really
doesn't matter. I several coworkers, who are great developers, with degrees in
Political Science, History, and other completely non-tech fields.

~~~
gte910h
Georgia Tech doesn't really have a MIS focus for an undergrad degree. They
have a MBA-esque degree which is a 60 hours masters which is however.

------
bhousel
What's a "stereotypical coding job"? I didn't know such a thing existed..

Working in a 3 person startup in a loft is very different from Fortune 100 IT
dept, different still from writing code in a research lab, or freelancing, or
out in the "field" in remote places, or programming lathes and CNCs on a
machine shop floor. I know people who started with CS degrees doing all of
these things.

Since you're still in college, I'd suggest you just finish your degree and try
a bunch of different challenges. If you love coding, you'll find a place where
you fit in.

~~~
BigZaphod
I think I had one fresh out of college... It was a Windows shop where everyone
was expected to spend the day in Visual C++ and never stop typing in code from
9 to 5 (with small breaks allowed for lunch and pointless meetings). Googling
things or reading slashdot was more or less culturally forbidden.
Collaboration was subtly punished in the sense that if you spent too much time
at someone else's cube discussing a problem, the manager would interrupt and
assume we weren't working and were just screwing around.

------
nkohari
Yes, you are in the wrong major. If you're looking to be involved in the
business aspect of a technology company, a computer science degree will not be
very useful. I have a BS in computer science, and in my experience, the
curriculum was often too theoretical even for people who become full-time
programmers. If you're not interested in the nuts and bolts of software, it
offers even less.

Unless you're planning on continuing education to get something like an MBA,
switch majors now.

------
nzmsv
Honestly, switching majors isn't that big of a deal. It is better if you
figure this out now, rather than after you've worked in the industry for 5
years. Some people see it as a "failure". This is wrong. You are just figuring
out what you like, and what you are best at.

I'd imagine a lot of your credits would transfer to a program in management.
Alternatively, finish your CS degree and go to law school. There is a shortage
of lawyers who understand tech. Or do an MBA.

------
pmorici
Depends, if you by "I don't want to code" you mean you suck at it so you're
thinking of going into management then yes I'd say you are in the wrong major.

Junior year is the point when most CS programs really start to get difficult
if it were just about not wanting to code might you not have figure that out
freshman year?

------
sofal
I don't think the corporate-slave orientation is limited to CS students. If
you're into entrepreneurship, you'll probably feel out of place in any
technology-related major, especially if you only look for job prospects at
campus job fairs.

------
prakash
Look at _Product Manager_ and/or _Sales Engineer_ openings. There are a few
companies that hire people right out of school for such positions.

~~~
recampbell
Agreed, sales engineering is a great way to start if you have a technical
background but want to spend more of your time interacting with people. Beyond
becoming familiar with the sales process and improving your communication
skills, the most valuable part of that position is that you are exposed to
real customers with real problems.

~~~
eob
Just chiming in with agreement on this one. If you are interested in business,
CS can be a valuable background to have.

Look for jobs that put you in the more administrative/management side of a
software project, and then transition from there to building your own company.

Having CS credentials will give you more street cred with programmers who
you'll ultimately try to rope in with a startup you want to found. Without
those credentials, they'd likely just view you as "just another business guy
with an idea".

------
caffeine
Your major doesn't really have much to do with your job. The CS you learn in
school doesn't really make you a good programmer anyway...

------
mindstab
I'd say no. I've been continually disappointed in the coding part of the
university education. It is much more about theory than a technical degree.
I'm a code monkey, all I want to do is write code, and learn to write better
code.

You on the other hand would be great for management, which I've seen lots of
my friends with CS degrees who don't like coding more into in the work force.
Stick with it, there are plenty of jobs for you!

------
timcederman
Sounds like you'd be a good candidate for an associate product manager role at
Google.

------
gte910h
Howdy fellow GT CS person (although I graduated many moons ago)

You have plenty with a capital P jobs available to you as a CS major with no
love of code.

However, the entry level position with someone in your degree will typically
be, pretty much, coding. You don't know enough about anything else to even be
marginally useful. (Remember, I have the same degree you're pursuing).
Depending on how much you've co-oped or interned, you may be one hair of one
bit useful, but chances are you aren't even that, in anything, not even
coding, but you're more likely useful in a coding position than in anything
else.

Other jobs: MS Has entry level PM track positions

Consulting companies such as Deloite, etc (of which there are lots) have
positions which are more about meetings and less about coding (but require
~80% travel).

There are LOTSS of technical sales jobs about. You work on commission though,
for the most part, and you often have to have pretty good base knowledge of
the field, for some you have to code pretty well, others not so much.
Honestly, if you're still a 3rd year, and want to learn sales, I'd go start a
Clear wireless dealership right now and sell sell sell (They are in Atlanta at
the moment, and appear to be cheap to start. Franchises are the most likely to
succeed form of small business out there).

Now onto jobs past the first couple years:

First off: I too am quite "outgoing" as you'd say. I run a small consulting
and product development company. But I'm also a deep deep code guy. Liking
talking to people does not by any means mean you're going to be one of those
unwashed guys in the Old CoC smelling like BO and playing wow all the time in
their time off who's height of social interaction is a LAN party or anime fest
(sorry to pander to stereotypes).

In our field today, there is a HUGE premium for _translators_. I land so many
contracts because I can explain deeply technical issues to businesspeople in
the terms that they care about (risks, costs, etc) while still getting across
the technology. If you can get fascinated by the technology as well as working
on your communication skills, you can land similar positions.

Secondly: CS is still paying well, and hasn't hit a huge of a downturn as many
of the other majors available to you that fit your current skill set. If
you're interested in doing something entrepreneurial, then CS is by far one of
the cheapest fields to do that sort of thing in. That alone should keep you
looking at CS as a means to the end and make you learn how to do something
deep.

Lastly: CS is not just programming. While I studied systems and embedded
programming, there is a LOT of work in software engineering that is pretty
much herding people all day long. I will caution you against spending too much
time in that department, because you will strangle any entrepreneurial
endeavor under too much process if you get that stuff too much in your blood
(it's really better suited to mid-large sized companies).

Additionally, if they haven't changed it massively since I went there, GT is
WAAAAAAY too in love with somewhat older, non-MS languages.

Try some python or some C#, or even some AS3. You may be surprised how
joyfully productive those languages are for you at this point compared to some
sort of matlab/C/java/scheme things you've had tossed at you so far. Hell, buy
a mac mini or $999 macbook pro and release a iPhone app or two, Objective C is
like the best parts of C and Smalltalk rolled into one. (Although apple is a
bit controlling).

PM Email me (iphoneappsiphoneapps@gmail.com) if you'd like to go to lunch and
talk, I live in midtown.

~~~
gte910h
Midtown Atlanta, as in where Georgia Tech is. Already had one HN person think
I was in Midtown New York

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rufius
Yep.

------
jwecker
Ask HN: Math major who doesn't want to write equations. Am I in the wrong
major?

------
gaius
We can see you can't code from the <p> tags you've scattered everywhere...

