CIS Presents: Meet the Majors

    The CIS Presents presentation on meeting the majors was fairly interesting. The main point that was stressed during the presentation was that IT is an all encompassing field that is applied to all sectors of business and people who receive a degree in information technology or computer science are not always employed by technology companies. The list of available alternatives is extensive and spans from: consulting, public accounting, information technology to aerospace, insurance, energy, security, finance and many others.

    An interesting example that was presented at the meeting was that of a group who dedicated themselves to spreading emailing capabilities throughout Cambodian villages. This group of people went into villages and installed modems, cable, and other hardware needed for the internet to work, and their plan was successful. Another group called E-Choupal, which is based India is working towards a more competitive market for information technology. The analogy the speaker gave was: it is as if all the independent coffee shops around the world banded together to compete against Starbucks.

    Now for what most students care the most about…salaries. It was quoted in the presentation that CS majors are the most highly sought after students in the job market today with starting salaries ranging from 52,500 to 102,000. In addition to salaries, signing bonuses are becoming increasingly present in the process of hiring CS majors, which illustrates the growing demand. Brand name companies such as IBM, KPMG, Liberty Mutual, PriceWaterhouseCoopers have been hiring more and more CS and IT majors for positions such as financial leadership positions, leadership development programs, technology development programs, it development programs, performance IT programs, systems analysis and much more….there are plenty of jobs out there for technologically inclined persons.

    The main classes for a CS major include but are not limited to: CS150: intro to data and info management, which can go towards a minor, CS180: programming fundamentals, and CS:240 business processing and communications infrastructure. These classes shape students to be valuable assets to their team and it forms an excellent foundation for a long-term business career, whether it be in technology or not.

    Another point that was stressed at the presentation was that an IT minor adds a very valuable dimension to one's resume. Many students are not up for a whole major in CS, but a minor in IT gives them a very strong understanding of information technology and the material learned in the minor can be carried over to almost any profession. The three most common IT minor classes are: cs150, cs213, cs359, cs476, however, this minor is fairly flexible and there have been many cases where students pick their own classes that apply to the minor. Just make sure the choices get okayed by an academic advisor.

    In conclusion, there is a very high demand for CS and IT people in the job market right now. Salaries and signing bonuses are just two examples of incentives businesses offer to try to hire more people. Also, if you are not up for majoring in CS, you can always minor in IT, which will add significant value to your resume.