Should I major in computer science or software engineering? I've heard that software engineers code until it cannot be coded anymore and that CS majors code until it works. What are the major differences and similarities?
As with any generalization, what you've heard has a seed of truth, but is mostly wrong.Computer Science, as a discipline, is interested in creating knowledge. As such, what matters is truth. A computer scientist who is working on a new system may only be concerned with getting something to work so his hypothesis can be proven.However, most students who study computer science go on to jobs as software engineers. If you don't anticipate continuing to graduate school and a research career, you will likely work as a software engineer and thus do the same thing that software engineers do. In short, you will become a software engineer with a CS degree.Software engineers don't necessarily code until something cannot be coded anymore. They may try, but their manager will kick them in the rear if they continue to polish code after it works. There's always more to be coded, so lingering on a module until you can't make any more improvements is a waste of your employer's money and they won't like it. In short, most software engineers code until the system works to specification and then move on to the next task.Whether a software engineering major will prepare you for a software engineering career better than a CS degree is debatable. If you study CS, you will get a strong foundation in theory, but you'll also have the opportunity to take software engineering electives. So, you can get the best of CS and a reasonable foundation in software engineering methodology as a CS major.When you get a job in industry, all that you've learned about software engineering will take a back seat to how your company approaches the development process. And as your career progresses, you will have to keep abreast of the fads and fashion as software engineering methodologies come and go. My opinion is that you will be better served taking more CS courses than software engineering courses.
Can a Computer Engineering major become a Software Developer?
If you are good at software development you can be a software developer. It’s not necessary to even have a degree, but a degree related somehow to computers/math/information theory can be a big help.We always need more *good* software developers. The trouble is being a good developer is definitely a vocation (something one is suited to) rather than an occupation (something one does just for the money.Bottom line: Software developers *will* develop software, whatever their major. Perhaps they will automate their job tasks, or help others automate their own. If the thought of writing software doesn’t appeal to you deeply, you may be happier elsewhere. But if an indoor job with no heavy lifting appeals, ask yourself if you love solving puzzles every day and building things. If you also have an artist inside you, there is a very good chance you are a software developer. Go forth and develop! Join an open source project, hone your skills, and then join the workforce… we need you to help us build the future.
If I want to be a software engineer, should I major in software engineering or computer science?
When it comes to “getting the job”, the specific degree path doesn’t matter. The employer just wants to know if you can solve their problems or not. It all boils down to what you want in your career. Software engineering is a small subset of computer science so if you majored in Software Engineering, you’d be studying a highly detailed section of Computer Science.Career wise, this seems like the way to go. You want to be a software engineer, majoring in Software Engineering sounds about right. There’s a catch 22 here though. There are concepts in the Computer Science degree path that fundamental to being a “good” software engineer. You can take the time to learn these things on your own, sure. But by majoring in Computer Science, you become a more well-rounded individual that can solve problems in completely unique and satisfying ways. So my vote is, Computer Science.DisclaimerI majored in Computer Science so my opinion may be biased. I didn’t know what I wanted to do career-wise while in school so I kind of drifted through until I discovered I enjoyed writing software and ultimately ended up doing that. You can get just about any job in the tech industry with a CS degree but I’m wondering if having a Software Engineering degree would limit you at all. Maybe someone else can answer that for me.
I want to become a programmer and software engineer. What course and degree should I take when I get to college?
No matter the place please consider to do the B.Tech/B.E in Core Computer Science and Engineering. That gives a better guidance and variety of opportunity for your goal. If you want to become software engineer please study computer science. And Don't let The Stupid Uncles and Aunties Confuse you (like Take Mech/ECE/Electrical, get into Infosys,TCS etc...) . That is stupid and the Shortest path between two points is the Straight Line. If you want to become Software Engineer take Computer science and Engineering period. And No matter where you are and what you do Please Try HackerRank, SPOJ, TopCoder, CodeForces or CodeChef from the very beginning say From 12th Holidays.This will make your career best of the best.And Remember Failure makes you strong. Do and solve these problems. Study accordingly. Better Please Visit to the nearest IITs and Talk to the Computer science Student who got selected into google/Facebook etc.. They will definitely help you and fix your goals. If you gonna take advice better take advice from the top software engineer from IITs. Not some Stupid neighbourhood Uncles/Aunts. Never ever take advice from Sons of These Stupid Uncles/Aunts (Probably they might work for TCS/Infosys/Wipro/ etc... Indian Service Companies. These maniacs combined with these Uncles has ruined lot of young minds for the sake of Boasting their stupid pride). Sorry but I have to warn you against these people. Just Go into IIT and talk to some random CS Students and Try to contact the Top Engineer. Definitely they will help you a lot.Hope it helps.
Software engineer vs. computer science vs. computer engineer?
A software engineer specifically studies the aspects of software as a system that provides solutions to problems. It is not directly tied to any particular computer implementation. Look up the topic of "Design Patterns" by the "Gang of Four" and that's what you will be in for. The schools that offer it as a true major (e.g. DePaul University) focus on the "engineering" principles - that there is a common set of solutions to common problems and that all practioners should recognize them. Computer Science majors on the other study, more typically, the growth and impact of the hardware. How, when, where, why were computers invented - how have they evolved - networking - security - some software like OS'es and Network systems. Many do CS as undergrad with SE as a grad degree. Computers in general are just getting huge and there are many more specializations popping up, in fact, I think DePaul just added a Computer Gaming degree, and of course there is computer telecom, computer graphics, etc..., etc..., etc...
Major in Software Engineering and Minor in Computer Science?
Computer Science is definitely a very broad field where you will have a lot of opportunities and not only that, but those opportunities will pay well. That being said, you CANNOT go wrong with Software Engineering. Any time of engineering degree is something that will give you a good future. It's the most wanted degree and it is also the best paying degree when you think about it. Since you only really need a Bachelor's and you're going to be paid a hefty amount. If it has exactly what you want to do, I'd go for Software Engineering. It sounds awesome. Your idea pretty much sounds good. Though if you're going to do this, I'd just minor in business.
Becoming a software engineer in my 30's.?
Absolutely you can get into software engineering. It's a diverse field, though most people get into computer programming. What are you interested in--programming, database administration, testing, systems administration, business/systems analysis? Look at what is in high demand (job sites like Monster and Workopolis) in software. If you have a bachelors degree, you could easily up your chances of landing a good job if you were to get either a certificate in some area of software development (even something simple, like IT management), or a masters degree (several schools have simple software engineering masters degrees, as well as other computer science/information technology degrees). If you like the HTML/XML stuff, try to learn more about "Web 2.0". Yahoo and Google provide excellent APIs for rapid application development using simple scripting skills like javascript. Learn how to do mash-ups, work with AJAX, JSON, and REST. Another very important point: it is NOT mandatory for you to take courses to learn these skills; if you are capable of reading, experimenting, and learning on your own, you can become a good programmer without going through formal training. It depends partly on the kind of person you are. If you are one of those people that needs to hear an instructor and see someone show you things in person, then you will probably want to take courses. But if you are capable of reading articles on web sites and learning by code snippets and examples, you will do fine on your own. Another thing about programming: don't listen to people who insist that you need a four-year computer science degree--these people are typically dumbfounded at how many good programmers never got an CS or IT degree. Programming is more of a talent, and you have to have PASSION for it in order to excel at it.
How can I prepare to become a software engineer?
How much math you'll need depends on what you end up working on- if you're doing game development or making an image editor, you'll need quite a bit of math. If you're working on a word processing program, not so much. You'll still want to take a lot of math classes, and any programming classes your school offers. If you want to get started programming, there are tons of free tools online you can use. I'd recommend starting with the Python programming language- it's fairly easy to learn, reasonably popular (Google uses it quite a bit), and there are tons of resources online. http://www.python.org You can also try other languages as well. If you're using a Mac, you can download Xcode, Apple's developer tools, for free (you need to register though). Microsoft has a free Express version of their Visual Studio. You can also download Java, which is used a lot for enterprise programming. Eclipse is an extremely powerful IDE used primarily for Java though you can download plugins to work with almost any other language. Personally, I'd suggest you start with a simple programming editor like Notepad++ (Windows), Kate (Linux), or TextMate (Mac) rather than a full-fledged IDE. You don't want to become dependent on the tools.