Ask HN: What should I expect in IT as a prospective math major?

[preetamjinka]

A bit about myself: I'm just about done with my first year as an undergrad at a top public university in the US. I have a pretty good CS + devops background for my age. I worked over my summers as a software engineering intern. The first company I worked for was mainly front-end development. Last summer I interned for a database startup and I've agreed to work for another database startup this summer.

Almost three years ago, I started a web hosting brand that I still run. I have an interest in business administration and finance as well.

I decided to major in math (with a financial concentration) rather than computer science. I figured I could get the most out of my tuition by majoring in something I didn't know much about / something I'm not very good at. I found CS classes to be rather boring, and I get more out of learning from internships and working on real projects.

So what should I expect in terms of jobs in the future? I'd like to stay in software development and devops. I feel like companies might be turned off by my non-CS academic track and they would be more inclined to choose someone majoring in CS.

[caw]

The cool thing about IT is that a lot of people don't care what your major is (though admittedly there could be some "must have degree" at large companies). There's CS people, Information Technology, Infosec, Information Management, and more. There's not just 1 major. I worked with a Linux admin with a masters in Physics, and was entirely self taught.

There's a bunch of neat things you can do with a math degree in IT. Off the top of my head, anything involving statistics. Most people can't do any statistics at all, and the ones who can are limited. There's a lot in the areas of business intelligence that requires math majors. I think my company employs a few.

Another area is algorithms. There's a lot of algorithms to be had - spam filters, job schedulers, search, etc. It could be a good fit for you if you're into that area.

[CyberFonic]

Edsger Dijkstra had pointed out that there is a difference between the USA and European view of Math and CS. In Europe CS is far more like an applied math discipline.

Have a look at the online CS resources for Stanford and MIT and compare them with your university's treatment of the subject. Then you might be able to decide whether what you are being taught as CS is comparable. If not, then I agree with @quaffapint re considering changing.

Some employers, e.g. in merchant banking, might value your math training more than some run off the mill CS education. Especially considering that you could show a good track record of completed projects in your CV.

[quaffapint]

I've got a math bachelors and a math related masters. Like you I also had a very heavy computer background. I can only speak from my perspective but through my career as a developer, the math degrees has been lumped in with the CS degrees. It shows them that your mind can handle the logic. Though I have to ask if you want to stay in software development maybe you just need to find a better cs program.

[rongenre]

I did a Math/CS dual 20 years ago and while CS opened doors, it's the math degree which distinguishes me (since it's relatively unusual) and has given me the discipline to tackle particularly tough problems.