))<>(( said:
Maybe you misunderstood wesdude.
I am using a CS degree to overlap the requirements for most IT positions.
Since both involve the same functions, but at macro or micro levels, and I will have experience in both, I'm using the knowledge I gain from both to apply a generalist attitude for IT positions.
And an IT position is open for someone with IT experience and a CS degree, and I would think preferred to just a plain IT degree....Or am I wrong?
When it comes to a specialty involving code and programming, I am....as stated... routing for learning both client and server side software development, and moving into theoretical CS ideas and development.
Software knowledge on server side apps plus IT experience for an IT server admin position equals success? Or is this a false formula I am basing my logic on?
a generalist CS degree is best suited for someone going into management of IT groups that do specific tasks.
believe it or not, IT and CS are very general terms that cover whole ranges of specialties. and even though your college may give you a "general" CS degree, the actual classes you take will determine in a large part what positions you are eligible for. the more programming classes you take the more people will hire you for programming jobs.
i have known 4-5 people who got general CS degrees from 4 year colleges.
1) used electives on 2 C++ classes, 2 java classes, 1 pascal class. after he graduated, he got job offers from microsoft and a company that does one-off programming projects for customers. he works pretty exclusively doing java programming for server-side unix backend programs. he tried doing some client-side but it did not work very well. constantly complains how school fucked him over by having their plan and what the actual job requires/is is completely different and now wished he had spent the extra year after getting 4 year and taking diff classes that would have helped with the job.
2) used electives for java, network design, server admin, network planning. got an entry level network engineer job. is now going back to school taking actual networking classes from cisco. constantly complains that school did not prepare him for the job and while the 4 year degree looks nice, did not prepare him at all for the reality and is having to go back to school to actually learn how to do his job.
3) spent 6 years in school got major in robotics and minor in programming. he spent the extra time in school getting the classes and experience in college to actually prepare him for his job making robots and the AI to make them work. got some assembly classes and electrical engineering classes in. barely got his 4 year degree and almost skipped entirely the 4 year degree because what employers wanted and what the school wanted were at odds for most of it. by his 5th year he had all the stuff employers wanted in, and started working and spent the last year just finishing up the reqs to get his 4 year degree.
i have known a few others and all of them complained that school never actually prepared them for the jobs they got other than #3. school is far too general unless you go in there knowing what you want and take the classes you want to get you there. very few jobs in IT actually require programming and those jobs that do programming are pretty specialized goals and aims.
yes, you can go in with a general 4 year degree in CS. yes you can take multiple electives in different areas to get your feet wet. just realize that unless you take coherent and single-line electives you wont qualify for anything other than entry level or intern positions. thats what i have been trying to impress upon you.
programming something that will run on a server and interact with clients is very different than writing something that runs on a client and interacts with a server. a lot of it has to do with "assumed technical knowledge" of the person/group using your app.
