After my other thread about possibly changing directions in life, I have researched the MIS degree.

I am in CS now and I do not want to be coding all day at work once I graduate.

My campus or any others around here do not offer the MIS degree. I would have to move to change majors to MIS.

If I graduate with a CS degree, will I have the same job opportunities as someone with a MIS?

After reading what a MIS degree is, I have found exactly what I want to do. I would enjoy being a BA or QA and all of the classes that the MIS degree requires are exactly what I am interested in as well.

Fill me in!

TIA!

 

I would say you have about the same job opportunities as someone with an IS degree... As you probably know, IS degrees focus more on the business side of computers, not the actual programming, etc. Most jobs that I've seen have in their "Requirements field" something such as, "Bachelors in CS, IS, or equivilent field"...

The most important thing in the IT/IS field is experience, instead of going and getting an MIS or MOS degree as soon as you get your Bachelors, I would personally get a job in the field, and take classes as well... Most high paying jobs require experience, the more experience you have, the more you can make.

Personally, I am dual majoring in Information Systems and Business Administration as well as working full-time in the IT field, yeah, it takes a little longer to get a degree, but the experience is just as important as the degree. If you look at jobs, almost 100% of them require experience, so try to get your foot in the door somehow and start getting some experience. I had to take an "internship position" paying $10 an hour when I first started in the field while I was starting school, but it is paying off now, I'm currently doing DBA/Network Admin stuff. After I get my degree, I'm going to continue working and get an MBA and MOS (Operating Systems) degree, management is where the money is.

ex:
IT Directors usually make $125-200k (need 10 years experience)
CTOs usually make $200-300k (need 10-15 years experience)

But yeah, if you have a degree in CS, you can pretty much do the same kind of things, IS degrees are a little better if you want a management position, but not by much... The main thing I would suggest is get some experience under your belt so you can get a decent paying job $60-90k, instead of coming out with a Bachelors and no experience having to take an entry-level job that pays $25-40k...

Hope this helps

 

In my experience, any position available to a guy w/ an MIS degree can be filled by someone with a CS degree. The reverse is not always true. I'd stick with the CS degree, and if you'd rather do IT-related stuff, then just focus your career path on that with internships & other job experience like YoZUpZ mentioned. If you want to make big bucks, then get an MBA on top of your CS degree and move into management.

 

get a job cleaning up cigarette butts on public roads.

 

And this!

 

Oh my gosh... I just knew someone would post something like this...

 

BT beat me to it...

 

That makes me feel better. I really did not want to have to transfer schools (again) and move.

Sounds like I am a bit better off where I am at and if I continue for an MBA I will make the money I am looking for in life.

Thanks for giving some insight!

 

BTW - March 2010 will be 3 years of me working as an IS Admin at a small accounting firm here in town. I think this should help greatly in getting a job once I graduate.

 

CS+MBA *can* work, once you have the experience to back up the degrees.

lemme give you an anecdotal story though.

buddy of mine did 4-5 years of BS in CS, and then another couple for his MBA... didn't do shit for real work (techsupport in college help desk.) He got out into the real world and could only get *gasp* a programming job, doing exactly what I do, making less than i made at the time.

meanwhile i went MIS straight out into a programming job. so i'm now
A: ahead of him in pay
B: ahead of him in experience and
C: ahead of him in business contacts
but he has that mba on his wall... and maybe itll help him down the line.