

Ask HN: Backup plan(s) for a CS major? - zupancik

I&#x27;m an undergrad at UC Berkeley, and the reason I chose it was for it&#x27;s outstanding EECS program (electrical engineering and computer science). However, there are lot of people back home and in other places who view the current demand for programmers as a &quot;tech bubble&quot; and they don&#x27;t expect  the &quot;dreams&quot; of Silicon Valley to last. I know programming itself will always exist, but how do I adapt as&#x2F;if the bubble collapses? Any suggestions on other career paths that would find my CS experience valuable?<p>I love programming in itself, but I don&#x27;t want to regret my major choice because I blindly followed the crowd with no backup plan.
======
patio11
This deserves a longer response but it is quite early in the morning, so I'll
write the short version:

1) The career of programming (specifically) has MANY options which are not
concentrated in the tech bubble. I know that is not obvious being so close to
the epicenter of it, but 90%+ of professional programmers work, in Silicon
Valley parlance, boring companies doing boring things. Banks gotta bank,
insurances companies gotta insure, logistics companies have to do something
without any convenient verbs to describe it, and all of the above hire (or
beneficially hire, via staff arrangements with companies that are
uninteresting to the Valley) vast numbers of programmers.

2) The ability to program doesn't hurt your suitability for virtually any type
of knowledge work (when compared to a BA/BS in an unspecified field from
Berkeley). Most of the time, it will help you, since it gives you superpowers
with regards to many tasks you might be expected to do. In my (brief and
unlamented) stint as a translator, I shaved months of mind-killing drudgery
off my schedule because I have superior options for getting Japanese from Word
documents into HTML than copy/pasting one line at a time into Dreamweaver. You
may find yourself working in a job which involves analysis or acting upon
data, a task at which worksmanlike command of a single scripting language
makes you a hero worthy of legend. You will find, for example, that many
companies _still_ generate e.g. monthly reports by having people manually
collate/screen-scrape-with-their-eyeballs six different data sources into an
Excel file which is version controlled by copying with creative filenames onto
a shared directory. You might think that somebody capable of programming their
way out of a paper bag could do a better job in two day's of work. Some times,
you're not wrong.

3) Even if you don't do programming on a day to day basis, knowing how to get
what you want out of computer systems and computer people is valuable. Smart
people often suck at this. You being a bridge between those smart people and
their captive techies can make you indispensable. (For example, I bet Obama
would currently kill for one person in his inner circle who can tell the
difference between frontend and backend at the moment. That sort of
opportunity exists in a lot of places.)

4) Your major matters much much less to your career path than you have been
socialized to think, because you have probably not talked career paths with
many people outside of academia, who have very skewed views on the matter.
Three years from now nobody will care what you studied in undergrad.

~~~
wikwocket
This is an excellent answer. Let me add another data point for item 2. I know
of several companies which have passed their ISO certifications or audits in
no small part because of certain formulas in certain Excel workbooks.

If you are not familiar with ISO Certifications, this is a Big Deal. If you
_are_ familiar with Excel, this is mind-blowing.

~~~
kiskis
can you explain this a little deeper?

~~~
wikwocket
Not sure which part you mean, but the important bit for this thread is that
even basic Excel formulas are black magic to non-techies, and that basic
hacking skills can drive real business value. There are things you can do
rather trivially, such as "Add 3 calendar months to this date, and if it's
later than this other cell, color the cell red," which would be a) extremely
helpful, and b) otherwise a task they'd have to hire an intern to calculate
each week, for many companies in the $1-20 million a year range.

And this is just Excel formulas, let alone the ability to write some VBA that
does calculations and draws a chart, or a script with a regex that cleans data
files, or a basic app for data entry...

If it was the ISO certification you were interested in, there are many
certifications related to manufacturing, food & drug, etc. These certify that
your company meets various standards, regulations, quality procedures,
documentation policies, tolerance assurances, etc. These can result in a ton
of additional business, since many customers desire or require them, and
losing them is also a big deal. The certifiers audit companies regularly, and
having some pretty spreadsheets that show how you are continuously improving
and ensuring your adherence to the regs can be very valuable!

~~~
kiskis
thank. I found few post where you mention ISO certification. Just curious, are
you in that space?

------
michaelstewart
The ups and downs of the economic cycle especially in the valley where they
are somewhat amplified do not directly correspond to your employment prospects
as a Software Engineer. Here are just a couple things that will likely happen
over the course of your career as software engineer:

\- Most consumer and commercial vehicles to be driven completely by machines

\- Machines will become better than doctors at diagnosing patients

\- Telepresence software will allow you to travel to any country in the world
within minutes

\- Everyone will be able to print almost any object they would want in their
home

\- Virtual reality will become indistinguishable from reality

\- Humans will travel to mars

The development of new software will obviously be required for all of the
above and this list doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the ways in
which software algorithms will change the world. I can't think of many majors
that you could study that will give you the skill-set that you need to create
more value over your career than computer science.

PS. Don't call yourself a programmer
[http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-
pro...](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-programmer/)
(By patio11)

------
dzink
Combining CS and Business can work well.

1\. You would be able to translate between higher levels and the execution
team, so if you ever get bored of coding you can have an escape trajectory. HR
staff who pigeonhole techies won't have an excuse to stop you from getting
into decision-making roles.

2\. Most conveniently, if you ever decide to be your own boss, or jump into
another field (from making bikes to delivering flowers) you can always do that
by starting a business. The degree won't help you much in the beginning, but
it will give you a lingo for talking with investors, a network of classmates
with money, and the basic skills for keeping your cash in order (you can learn
that later too, but having that confidence in your earlier years is helpful).

On the down side, don't get yourself recruited into a warm-body role that
gives you a lot of money, teaches you nothing useful, and takes away the best
years of your life.

~~~
throwaway1979
How about an MBA?

------
dennisgorelik
If you love programming - you should be fine. Occasional programming bubble
bursts are inevitable, but they only wash away unskilled unmotivated
programmers who do programming purely for money.

There is no reason why long term demand for programmers would decrease.

------
dsschnau
My plan B has always been Truck Driving. Easy to to get trained up and going.

