Re:Ask HN: Stuck as a CS Major. Is there a way out?
by apohn on Wednesday February 16, 2022 @01:09PM
(#30363441)
> I did the network, the switches, the workstation builds, the servers, built the database and applications on top of it all.
You are most certainly an exception to most people I knew in the MIS program at my school. :)
>I don't know if it's still true, but when jobs would require "CS degree or equivalent," they meant MIS/CIS, at least 20+ years ago.
I'm old enough to remember when people I know would graduate with "MIS" or "IT" degrees and get a $55K job building and installing Windows NT 4.0 servers with a bunch of other stuff (e.g. networking) on the side. It was a great starting salary at the time. Then the dot-com bust happened.
I definitely think software engineering now is at the point where CS or STEM degree really means that. Programming has just become a lot more specialized than back then. Well, at least hiring managers seem to think so...
I really enjoyed it though. I learned so much that my first job utilized everything I learned. At a small growing company that needed in-house expertise. I did the network, the switches, the workstation builds, the servers, built the database and applications on top of it all. I did project cost/time estimates and carried them out. After about a year we hired a full time network/client guy and I stuck to applications / database. It was a lot of work but I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. I don't think I would have been able to cover that much ground with just a CS degree.
>I don't think this is true at all unless the company is one of those who hires SWEs who don't really do any actual software engineering.
I don't know if it's still true, but when jobs would require "CS degree or equivalent," they meant MIS/CIS, at least 20+ years ago.