Believe the Occupational Outlook Handbook?

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/11/2120238

I read something like this about the industry, and it seems to just leave me more confused. Differing views of "the industry is dead" or "no it isn't as long as you're good". Pointy-haired bosses and management shitting all over technical staff.

What do you think, /prog/? Is the CompSci field dead, or is it still good to go into? How "good" do you have to be, exactly? What fields are actually still "safe" from outsourcing, which might still be fun (or at least easy)?

You have to be good enough to awe people with your 1337 skills, generally. Whether the know about the subject or not.
Software Engineering for a small company is always an option. They, at least, aren't so likely to outsource employees. You  can also become a database admin, if you've got the experience. Working as a programmer is a bitch, though, so don't do that.
In any event, computer science isn't a bad field of work, but it sure ain't the gold mine it used to be.

>>2

I'm not looking for a gold mine, just a place where I can use my intelligence to my advantage, be respected for what I do for a company, and not be worked to death.

How's IT work/SysAdmin? I hear its easy and you only really have to be prepared for more emergency type situations rather than working around the clock like a developer (more like a firefighter type of thing).
Somehow I think I should stay away from developer/Software Engineering positions. What other options do I have?

just a place where I can use my intelligence to my advantage, be respected for what I do for a company, and not be worked to death.
You take the risk of wage slave/code monkey when you apply for any company. About two weeks of work should give enough time to figure out if it is worth staying. To me, it sounds like you want a contracting position where you get paid by the hour.

>>3
IT / sysadmin work is crap. As I'm working for a relatively small company, my time is (was) split between programming and systems administration. The programming work is much more enjoyable. Actually, I rarely have to do any sysadmin these days as we hired an IT monkey to do the job.

I agree

>>4

How do you figure this stuff out? What makes a job good, and should I still just focus on becoming a "Software Engineer"? Or perhaps just a DBA or something else would be better?

Would it be possible to give me any tips on figuring out whether a company I'm coding for is good or not? How often does the ability to telecommute come into play?

Finally, I don't really know about contracting, it always seemed like something that people with 10+ years of experience did, or however many years they have under their belt. How does it work compared to a normal 9-5 job at some company? Do I sign up with a consultancy of some sort, or do I do freelance work, or what?

Sorry for all of the questions, I'm just a freshman university student trying to figure this all out, see if its worth my time or not. I'm good at it and I have always really loved the material; I want it to work. I just don't know though sometimes...

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No need to plan anything. Do what you enjoy, otherwise you'll end up doing something that you don't. No salary or job security will compensate for that.

>>8
>>9
Oops

If you enjoy it, it's not work, and you'll probably be better than those just doing it for the money.

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>>13
Have you read SICP lost the game today?

>>14
i lol'd

I'm currently going to college and majoring in CS. I work for a small startup company part time. Our company sells software / gives support to companies who in turn sell the product to a customer. Basically we don't ship our stuff to Best Buy etc to be sold off the shelf. After being there a few months I have come to the conclusion that 95% of the people who have IT type jobs don't know shit. This includes people who host our servers, the people who run the tech shops we sell to, our competitors, and most of the people at my company. If you even have the slightest bit of competency you will have no problem finding a job as a programmer, sys admin, etc.

>>16
They're probably paid crap wages though

>>17

Who? The people at my company? The people who host our server? The people we sell to? Some of these people yes. But even after a few months there I haven't come into contact with anyone who was competent. That includes people who work for our competitors as well. From what I can tell, unless the person is writing compilers for Intel or something on that level they only know how to do repetitive tasks that involve zero thought. If they have to do anything else it takes them an ungodly amount of time to figure it out and even then it will be a shit solution.

I've seen CS senior projects on web sites. And they were worse than the ones I saw people make in high school. Granted it's not the ivy leagues but its not some tech/community college. These people are getting CS degrees. They don't know anything. The tech field is filled with incompetent people.

Main point: If the op is even remotely competent and enjoys tech jobs then CS is still a perfectly fine major.

>>18
I've found the same. But then I also sometimes produce shit solutions out of lack of time or sheer laziness.

Do you have to get a job as a developer though? Everything I read about says programmers get shit all over by pointy-haired management.

I was thinking more along the lines of security, with a M.Sc in Computer Science and a Minor in Mathematics. Maybe become an Ethical Hacker (i made a separate thread about that subject). It seems like the one way I could stay with just computer science instead of double majoring for Bioinformatics (with biology) or with Electrical Engineering for DSP or something like that.

Could that work?

>>20
I wouldn't bother with the mathematics minor, you'll do enough maths in CS, if it's a good course.

>>21

It is a good course, at a fairly respectable state University that focuses on the sciences/engineering. Our 4 core computing courses go C, C, C++ (for teaching OO), then what I believe to be C though it could be assembly in Computing IV (construction of program-translation software, such as compilers, assemblers, and linkers, software engineering principles and practice, etc). We have an ASM course beyond that, of course, as well as other stuff.

There's physics of course, and math requirements of Calc, statistics, Discrete Structures and the like. Calc only goes up to III but I was planning on taking Differential Equations.

Case in point, it wouldn't take much more work to pick up the Minor, so shouldn't I just get it anyways?

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>>23-24
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Case in point
Cock in mouth.