Computer Science and Information Technology

Hi,
I haven't posted on the forums for a while now, I tried to find the most appropriate section for this post, but if this is in the wrong section please forgive me.
First, let me say I'm a sophomore in HS. I know that job wise I definitely want to do something in computers. A while ago I was considering Systems Administration, but I'm not sure that programming is my thing. The only language I've learned is HTML(I know this doesn't count for much) and I loved doing that. I tried learning C++ and I wasn't crazy about it, I also tried Javascript and wasn't crazy about that either. I'm beginning to think maybe I'm not the programming type. I love taking computers apart, repairing them, building them, and solving any problems with them. I think this is probably more the area I'm interested in, but again, I'm not sure. :frowning: I've been told I'd be really good in sales, but I really want to do something in computers. I've been looking into undergraduate degrees, and I was originally planning on Computer Science. But now I'm thinking maybe I'd be better off in an Information Technology or Computer Information Systems degree. The thing is, I can't find anything that says what the difference is between these 3 degrees and what you can do with them. I know this is a Unix forum, but I know probably a lot of the people on these forums have been through college and considered different degrees in computers. If anyone could explain the differences in these degrees, and also maybe suggest some careers I might be interested in based off what I said I like to do, I'd really really appreciate it!
Thanks in advance for any help :slight_smile:

It's not a programming language.

Did they at least teach you C first? C++ makes very little sense if you don't learn C, and there's certainly enough in it to be a complete course in its own right; but most courses never teach anything but "objects; objects magic; here how you put things in objects", and wonder why nobody gets it.

Hmm... maybe try some introductory networking? It's getting harder and harder to seperate networking from computing these days, and a troubleshooter like you might find much of interest in it.

I'm not certain about what an IT or CIS degree would mean, but a Computer Science degree tends to be very math-heavy and theoretical; some very useful things like general algorithm design, some things mathematicians lampshade on like LISP, some useful but very term-clouded things like relational databases, and many things like DAGs that researchers love and developers love to hate. :wink:

From someone who went thru BU's Computer Enginerring program, well some years back, what about that? You did say you like to take apart computers.
For me, the Engineering side was good to force me to understand the hardware of the situation. Computer Science incorporates a lot of theory, and the addition of the hard technical was a plus.
Lastly, perhaps you could get a part-time job or internship in an organization that would allow you to see and experience some of the actual work done.

Yeah, I know HTML isn't a programming language... it's a markup language. I just meant I had fun learning it.
I actually didn't learn C first... I tried teaching myself C++.
I've thought about networking... I'd definitely be interested in looking into it...

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I thought about Computer Engineering as well, but I always got the impression that was more about designing the hardware for computers?

I think you are better off to study theory first (math, science, physics) and after you get a solid education, you can decide where to apply it.

This is precisely why most universities teach theory for the first two years, and then you have electives moving forward. Each elective you take will help you understand what interests you.

There is nothing more important than a very solid math and science background. You cannot take "too much math" and it will help you in ways you cannot imagine now.

Amen to this :slight_smile: