Ask HN: Computer Science or Business admin in 2024? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Computer Science or Business admin in 2024?

5 pointsCollegeAdvice9 comments

Hello. I'm 17, and I've loved Programming and Economics/Finance for quite some time now. I believe I'm semi-decent at both, and I would enjoy my time in college pursuing either degree.

Due to the way university entrance works in my country, these are essentially my only two decent options. However, I believe both have some significant drawbacks.

Computer Science seems to be becoming quite saturated, both due to AI-driven software and increased competitiveness, with the number of CS students only rising practically everywhere. Even if fears about AI are overblown, it seems very unlikely that a CS degree will be more valuable in the future; in fact, it will probably lose value. Long story short, I'm not confident that 4 years from now the field will be what it is now.

A business degree, on the other hand, in my mind at least, seems to be more stable and predictable. That being said, I'm a little doubtful about whether a non-technical degree is worth pursuing and actually useful, and I'm quite doubtful about spending four years to get one.

I've got a couple of weeks to decide, and I'm really torn between the two, so I'd really appreciate some help.

Major in CS, minor in business. Or get a masters in business later.

It’s not even a question whether CS is more valuable than business admin. Not to put too fine a point on it but a CS degree is a much stronger indicator that a candidate has strong mathematical and technical abilities and generally is “smart” and “hard working.”

You can go look at the statistics of entry level salaries between the two if you don’t believe me.

If your country allows it, why not consider both? Or a major in CS with a minor in Business Administration/Finance?

> ...a CS degree...will probably lose value.

I wouldn't bet on that. Computers aren't going anywhere, and just in the past 15 years, we've seen entire industries created around smartphones, cloud computing, streaming, VR, IoT, SaaS, and AI. Pick which wave you want to surf! A technical and/or a business background would be useful here.

> I'm not confident that 4 years from now the field will be what it is now.

That I would bet on.

And by the way, just because you major (or don't major) in something doesn't mean you've locked yourself into (or out of) that activity. When I switched from music performance to computer science, I had the feeling that I had turned my back on my music, that I couldn't now excel in it...which was nonsense! It wasn't until I realized, that just because I don't major in something doesn't mean I still can't do that thing well, was I able to embrace the decision to choose CS.

Best of luck in your decision.

What country are you in? Like you already know, CS Degrees are a dime a dozen and Business Degrees really are sort of too general to be useful. If it is one or the other then perhaps pick the one where your chances of employment are greater.

If I were doing it all over again, probably some kind of HVAC Engineer.

Disclaimer: Not qualified to give career advice.

Hey, I'm from Greece. But, I really don't see myself staying here after college. As for chances of employment, right now it is quite easy to find a relatively high paying Cs job in Greece. But, since the Greek jobs market generally does seem to be a few years behind the US and northern European ones, and we didn't experience a post pandemic slow down in hiring, I believe it's very likely we're in for one in a few years.

Ok, well now that I know you're in the Schengen Zone, go for the CS Degree. It is more of an International type of degree that will allow you to explore more options outside of Greece.

I graduated as an engineer and eventually became a business analyst/consultant. If I were in your position I would choose the business degree and either a minor in software engineering (it's not the same as CS) or learn SE using web resources/courses.

Since you're not in SV and I assume in some other IT dominated locale, you are likely to earn far more in the business world with strong IT skills. Business knowledge and experience opens doors to many industries so you can gravitate to areas that appeal to you. As a software developer your domain specific experience will be far more critical than your knowledge of selection of software tools and frameworks. But jobs for software developers are mostly defined by your technical experience and thus difficult to transition between domains.

Didn't the fact that you had a technical degree make it easier for you to transition though? Or do you think that a business foundation is more important and versatile than an engineering one?

I think there is a cultural component. In my experience (in AU) business folks consider themselves ubermensch and technical folks are viewed as inconvenient but necessary resource to achieving their important goals.

Unlike when I started on my career, these days you have about 27 million (and increasing fast) programmers in the world, a vast number of no-code / low-code tools and AI driven tools like CoPilot. Against this background, programming is an ever more fungible resource.

You need to be aware that reading HN and other tech oriented forums/blogs/etc you are seeing the nerd viewpoint. Every problem can be solved by throwing more AI and SW at it. The business community views every problem in terms of money - either to make more money or save more money. The rest is just detail (to be delegated).

In my view, you need both comprehensive business knowledge/experience and a strong IT foundation.

Do not waste your time studying business for your degree. It's useless. It's for people who lack intellectual curiosity. You can learn it on your own time if you need it.

Study something that you want to study. Study something that's harder to learn outside of college.

It could be CS. It could be math. It could be economics. It could be history. It could be anything. But let it be a real subject.

Read this btw: https://paulgraham.com/hs.html

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