Is computer science really that high demand?

Hi Catherine! I majored in computer science in college and studied autonomous robotics there as well. I thought I wanted to keep pursuing robotics and applied to grad school, but didn't get it. I transitioned to applying for jobs after that and was lucky to find one pretty quickly through my alumni network. I worked as a Software Engineer/Architect for 4 years at Okta, where I'm now a Product Manager.

So that's a bit of my background that's hopefully helpful, but to answer your question more generally, I think there is a big demand for computer science majors and software engineering roles and there will continue to be. I'd definitely recommend trying out a computer science class or two to see if you like it. If you choose to pursue it, there's no guarantee of job security, but it's certainly in high demand even if you don't want to be a software engineer. Many professions like law, politics, and business also like a technical background paired with other skills.

My biggest advice to you would be to try it, and if you love it, all the better. But if you don't, it's ok to try new things and to change what you want to do. I changed my mind several times in college and have changed roles in my career already. It's totally normal.

Hope that helps!

William

Yes, computer science and virtually all major areas of study in the computer field are in high demand and that is likely to be true for the foreseeable future.  I believe you should study something that is of great interest to you.  You will be working for the vast majority of your life, so I would try to ensure I worked in an area of interest to me.  I feel lucky because I have loved just about every day of my professional life.  I cannot imagine dragging myself into a job I disliked day after day.  So whether individuals with computer science degrees are in high demand is different from the questions getting at the type of work you'd like to do one day.  You don't have to answer that question one time for the rest of your life, but rather for the immediate future.  You may begin your professional life in one arena and some time later decide you want to do something else.  As long as you own that decision, you are more likely to be happy with your choices.

Computer science is a broad topic.  As I try to tell people, part of getting any education (degree or otherwise), is about gaining a diverse skill set and learning how to learn.  I sense from your question, that you may not have found you passion or your current stage of life's "why".  I encourage you to do volunteer work in areas that make your heart race and tears to flow.  You might be surprise that that area needs computer science skills, or you might find you need different skills to best help them in the short and long term. I work with computers, from developer to analytics to fraud on a daily basis.  I have a lot of computer science EXPERIENCE and TRAINING, but not a CS degree.  Good Luck!!

Yes, it absolutely is. Every company is a technology company these days and likely relies on the internet and computers to run their business. Most are looking for computer professionals to help them develop custom applications to interact with their customers or maintain their existing infrastructure.

> Does this mean I should pursue computer science and be guaranteed job security?

There are many different things you can do in the field of computer science. You can be a software engineer, network administrator, operations expert, or even a developer advocate that writes blog posts as much as they do code.

Most careers in computer science don't require a computer science degree. Yes, companies like it when you have a computer science degree, but 60% of software engineers are self-taught.

This means you can start exploring computer science now! Pick up a book and read about programming languages that intrigue you. I'd recommend JavaScript to start, then look at languages like Python and Java. Do some tutorials and see if you enjoy the experience of problem-solving. When you run into errors, google for the answers and post questions on Stack Overflow when you can't figure it out.

I'd encourage you to explore frameworks that make development easier as well. In fact, I recently wrote a tutorial that shows you how to build a simple CRUD app with Angular and Spring Boot. If you'd rather watch a screencast of this tutorial, I published one today.

Once you've learned those, you can step up to learn something like JHipster (which generates applications code for you). I like JHipster so much, I wrote a book about it! You can download it for free from InfoQ.

Please don't hesitate to ask additional questions; I'd love to help!