Looking for Professional Opinion
I'm looking for your professional opinion about me and my relationship with computer science.
Firstly, I'm a Biology, and (currently) Environmental Studies major. As of right now, I consider myself to be minoring in Computer Science. I am loving Comp Sci, but I do not believe a career in CS is right for me. I could never adopt it as my lifestyle - there's nothing wrong with it, it just isn't me.
To reiterate, I do enjoy coding a lot. For me though, programming is (hopefully) a means of paying for graduate school. I want the skills and abilities that will land me a job or two. I don't need anything bringing in $60,000 off the bat, just something that I can get buy on as a young graduate or a skill I can fall back on if something doesn't work out for me. I'm mostly interested in Web Development. I would be fine just building sites, but it seems that is heading to becoming an extremely competitive field. I am also interested in Bioinformatics, so there might be something there as well.
I'm at a crossroads, and I need to decide whether or not I'm going to continue to minor in Computer Science. My fundamental question is, do I need a minor to get any kind of work, or will relevant experience be enough for the level of programming I desire to pursue? If I don't minor in CS, I will be able to focus more on my primary studies and pick additional minors that are more tailored to my main interests. Also, I frankly doubt my ability to do well in Discrete Mathematics, which brings into question my capability in handling Algorithms and Programming Languages. (I should note I don't even have a single calculus credit).
I fully intend on completing the following courses:
*Introduction to Computer Science (C++)
*Data Structures (C++)
*Introduction to Game Development (Python)
*Web Design (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc)
*Object Oriented Programming for Graphical User Interfaces (Java)
*Bioinformatics (Pearl)
*Web Engineering (If I have time)
Will those classes be enough to be employable? Or should I suck it up, take Calculus, pass Discrete, take Algorithms and Programming Languages, and get a minor? That also would mean I probably couldn't take Intro to Game Development, Web Engineering, and OOP for GUI, which are courses I'm very interested in.
Firstly, I'm a Biology, and (currently) Environmental Studies major. As of right now, I consider myself to be minoring in Computer Science. I am loving Comp Sci, but I do not believe a career in CS is right for me. I could never adopt it as my lifestyle - there's nothing wrong with it, it just isn't me.
To reiterate, I do enjoy coding a lot. For me though, programming is (hopefully) a means of paying for graduate school. I want the skills and abilities that will land me a job or two. I don't need anything bringing in $60,000 off the bat, just something that I can get buy on as a young graduate or a skill I can fall back on if something doesn't work out for me. I'm mostly interested in Web Development. I would be fine just building sites, but it seems that is heading to becoming an extremely competitive field. I am also interested in Bioinformatics, so there might be something there as well.
I'm at a crossroads, and I need to decide whether or not I'm going to continue to minor in Computer Science. My fundamental question is, do I need a minor to get any kind of work, or will relevant experience be enough for the level of programming I desire to pursue? If I don't minor in CS, I will be able to focus more on my primary studies and pick additional minors that are more tailored to my main interests. Also, I frankly doubt my ability to do well in Discrete Mathematics, which brings into question my capability in handling Algorithms and Programming Languages. (I should note I don't even have a single calculus credit).
I fully intend on completing the following courses:
*Introduction to Computer Science (C++)
*Data Structures (C++)
*Introduction to Game Development (Python)
*Web Design (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc)
*Object Oriented Programming for Graphical User Interfaces (Java)
*Bioinformatics (Pearl)
*Web Engineering (If I have time)
Will those classes be enough to be employable? Or should I suck it up, take Calculus, pass Discrete, take Algorithms and Programming Languages, and get a minor? That also would mean I probably couldn't take Intro to Game Development, Web Engineering, and OOP for GUI, which are courses I'm very interested in.
I have relevant experience: I was a chemistry major, dropped grad school to catch the dot-com train in the Silicon Valley, returned when the bubble burst, finished the degree, did postdoc in biochem, and switched to programming once again. I miss science sometimes, and then I remember that I'm making 7 or 8 times my postdoc salary, with (arguably) less stress.
The extra CS courses I took back in college did come in useful, some immediately, some years later, but I don't see them influencing the hiring, at least not directly: people looked (as I do now) for experience (join some opensource if you didn't write any software for a lab like I did) and ability to work hard (you sound like it shouldn't be difficult to show).
The extra CS courses I took back in college did come in useful, some immediately, some years later, but I don't see them influencing the hiring, at least not directly: people looked (as I do now) for experience (join some opensource if you didn't write any software for a lab like I did) and ability to work hard (you sound like it shouldn't be difficult to show).
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