kalium comments on Open thread, 11-17 March 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Request for some career advice:
I am planning on pursuing computer science as a double major (along with art). I'm doing this mainly for practical reasons - right now I feel like I don't really care about money and would rather enjoy my life than be upper-class, but I want to have an option available in case these preferences change. I enjoyed CS classes in high school, but since coming to college, I have found CS classes, while not profoundly unpleasant, to basically be a chore. In addition to this, my university is making it needlessly difficult for me to choose CS as a second major. This has lead me to rethink - is CS really worth it? After researching it a bit, it seems like CS genuinely is worth it. From what I hear, programming jobs pay very well, are easy to find, have good working conditions, and seem to relatively easily facilitate a 4-hour-workweek lifestyle, should one choose to pursue it. No other career path seems to be able to boast this.
Am I correct in thinking this? Is a computer science degree worth it even if it means a lot of drudgery during college? Conventional wisdom seems to be no - "don't try to major in something you don't enjoy" is something I've heard a few times. But that seems kind of idealistic.
The alternatives would be econ or math, both of which I am fairly unfamiliar with and find sort of interesting but don't exactly have a passion for.
For reference, my current preferred careers are, in order:
I expect that if you take enough in-major classes to learn the right skillset the lack of a degree in the field won't be a huge obstacle. Though if your major is totally non-technical this might not hold. Anyway, studying CS but not getting a full second major is an option worth considering.
Thanks for the advice, but it doesn't work that way. The problem is that, for some indiscernible reason, in order to get the art degree I need to take 48 credits in the school of arts and sciences (i.e. an entire year and a half). So it would be much easier to have a second major in the arts and sciences (e.g. math or economics) instead of the school of engineering.