The big question many students are facing at the moment is, what major should I choose?

Therefore, I created this post to clear up some misconceptions, and hopefully give students a better idea on their potential choices.

I’m just a freshman student at the moment, so I am writing this from the same view point as many of the people who are facing this decision. however, I plan on updating this post or making a new post across the years, as I uncover more information, experience the courses myself, and talk to other students.

I am not an expert in many of these topics, and I would appreciate the feedback if you have any.

However, I speak a lot with experts in DevOps and Web Development, read a lot of books and blogs, and watch a ton of videos on tech. As such, I believe I have formed a good opinion on what I am about to say, and I’ve decided to manifest it into a blog of my own.

However, I am a fellow freshman student, so I am still in the process of learning!

Student Backgrounds

The people I see who have already chosen their ideal major tend to have a strong of background in their major of choice.

However, if you don’t have any background related to one of the majors, don’t worry, the majority of students don’t either!

If you don’t have a preference yet, understanding how others have gained an interest for their major of choice is an important first step. Furthermore, talking to students in these majors, and doing related courses to the major would give you a good idea on what to expect from that particular major.

Computer Science

If you have a strong background in mathematics, statistics, or any kind of logical thinking, you will likely excel in Computer Science. If you are unsure if you are interested in Computer Science, try doing Harvard’s CS50x. If you complete the course, you will have already covered concepts that you will take in 2nd year Computer Science.

Information Technology

The people who are passionate about this major tend to be computer builders who took things too far, have parents working in IT, or have taken courses from Cisco.

Information Systems - WIP

If you have a background in business and technology, this is the major for you.

Issues

Before going into the benefits, it is important to know the drawbacks and difficulties of each major.

While I would like to touch further on the issues related to each major, to be able to form a balanced opinion on the topic, I decided to avoid it for now.

Computer Science Going into a more specialized field, such as Artificial Intellegence, you will not become an expert with just a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, and you would require further education or teach yourself.

IT In IT, you will likely need further certifications from CISCO etc. While you may be dealing with more practical concepts, such as web dev, they may not reflect current industry trends.

IS While you are

As you can see, the main issue is that the majority of the fields require you to go further than just the university syllabus.

While many students are content to just stick to the syllabus, You will need to learn more on your own, and not just

Computer Science

The main complaint I see is from MATH201. It is the price of entry for Computer Science, leaving students with a bad taste in only their first term. Furthermore, Computer Science depends heavily on logical thinking. While most of the concepts learned are mainly theoretical, you tend to learn how to think in the process. Furthermore, you tend to learn the very basics of everything, and don’t go into enough depth for mastery of any of the tracks.

IT

t seems like there is more memorization than understanding, and the course contents seem to be quite outdated.

IS

Many people don’t know much about this major, which I think is its biggest drawback. A major issue with software development these days are the rift between the Therefore, it is critical for there to be people who understand both the technical and business side of things. As a result, you tend to see IS majors assuming leadership positions and creating startups, as they are able to deal with both sides of the picture.

Benefits

IS

The graduates of IS tend to be far stronger in programming than the other majors. Combined with their business skills they have learned along the way, this leaves IS graduates to be a powerful major.

IT

IT is the lifeblood of most companies. They provide the infrastructure, security, and reliability to a project. Such as Tabaod, it’s amazing to see such a simple idea applied in a complex situation. There are a lot of people in IT who have other interests as well, such as Web Dev, Game Development, Graphics, and more! IT is the most flexible major.

CS

While the majority of the concepts are theoretical, these problems build your logical thinking. You would also be able to build scalable and interesting solutions to problems. Furthermore, if you want to pursue higher education in AI/Cryptography etc, this is the major to choose. The minister of health is a Computer Science major.

My Opinion

In my opinion, the major you choose does not matter much. No matter which one you choose, the most important thing is to work on your own skills. Go beyond the courses, and find ways to apply the concepts you have learned. Personally, I believe that students who actively try applying the concepts they have learned are far better off than those who study simply for the grades. Of course, applying the concepts practically indirectly boosts your grades, as you have not only known of the existence of a concept, but have applied it to a real world scenario!

I know medicine students, who already have a lot on their plate, learning Computer Science and AI, entirely on their own. This shows that the major is not important, but your motivation and willingness to learn!

Personally, I have chosen Computer Science. While I think all the majors are extremely important, I believe the concepts I will learn in Computer Science would be the most relevant to my goals. However, I will be learning IT skills on my own, but instead of the more traditional method, I will be cherry-picking concepts that I am interested in, and plan on using into the future.

Computer Science is largely theory - therefore, it needs to be supplemented with practical skills learned on your own. This may seem like a major drawback. However, it allows me the freedom to learn the most up-to-date technologies, that I would actually use, at my own pace.

However, while I haven’t chosen IT as a major, I still want to be pursuing some IT concepts. Furthermore, I see a lot of people on the opposite sides, defending their position. I believe every major has their perks, and I am looking forward to working with you all in the future!

I will also be talking Finance and Business related courses for my electives, or even do courses online on the topics.

Hopefully, by the time I graduate I will learn these ‘IT related concepts’:

• Virtual Machines
• Linux
• CI pipelines
• Version Control
• Reverse Proxies
• Caching w. Redis
• Containerization w. Docker & Kubernetes
• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification

Conclusion

It’s hard to learn and stay motivated alone, you need to find others who can help you out! form a network, form a group of people who share your interests, and grow together.

If you don’t have any background in any of these subjects, try choosing one, and test out the waters!

The first year will likely be the most difficult, but hold out. If you don’t like your major, you have the opportunity to switch between them, so there is no need to stress if you haven’t picked one. However, in the long run, people who enjoy what they do are usually the same people who excel in that field. This doesn’t only apply to FCIT, but for all majors!