Career Advice

[Aeaolena]

Originally Posted by Cecily [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Word. Congrats!

I need to decide IT or nursing very soon cause picking out fall classes. Is a "cybersecurity" degree worth anything or do I want a straight up CS path? Nursing is more my calling, I think, but I do have some serious issues with authority and that job puts in a subordinate position, likely forever. Everyone has to deal with a boss though and I'm willing to suck it up. As far as IT goes... I'd love to be autonomous but logic, math, and non-verbal intelligence aren't my strong points. I'm not weak in them, but I wouldn't be a prodigy. I'm stupid good in verbal.. Need input, halp!

A couple thoughts -

1. CS is in high demand. Very high demand. My husband is a senior software engineer and they can't fill jobs fast enough where he works. It's a problem.

2. For Software, math and logic are indeed key. His company does interview a lot of CS people, but they have an entry "homework question" they want people to solve before they get an interview. You have to solve it and explain your logic behind solving it. They also, during the interview, have a white-board part of the in-person process where they have someone write out their code to a few simple problems. Often times he said a candidate will have a fantastic resume and seem like a great fit/personality.. but then they get to the technical part, and do a hard pass on the guy. I once asked him if maybe it was just nerves or the math was too hard. He said the interview white-board questions involved 5th grade math, so when CS people bomb it it's a huge red flag. It's really just there to test how fast someone can solve it.

3. However, strong verbal skills are very important in government contract work. Often times the tech companies have problems interfacing with potential customers because some (not all) software teams have very introverted people who cannot communicate well. But often, the 'managerial' types that would be good interfacing with customers don't interface well with the software engineers. They don't jive well together because their personal interests don't line up. As a gamer, you'd have an advantage here. I have yet to meet a single software engineer that wasn't a gamer in some sort of way. If you can have both the trust of the software developers, and create the trust between clients and the company -you'd be invaluable. Now, what degree you need to land that sort of position? I unfortunately have no idea.