Can I still become a software engineer with this CV?

[Impimpimp]

Hi, I am currently studying CS, but I am too afraid to not pass my exams, so to relieve myself, I need to have a plan B to keep in mind so that I can be a little bit more relaxed. My question and Plan B would be: Is it possible to do a Political Science degree (120 Major) with a (60 Minor) in CS, Statistics and Economics and then do a Master in Statistics and become a software engineer?

 

[jedishrfu]

I knew someone who did this in the 1980s. He got into a big corporation doing business programming in COBOL and then parleyed his political science skills into becoming a fast track manager moving up very quickly. He was an outstanding student from a respected local liberal arts college. Last I heard, he was the CEO of his own company.

It's not clear that this path still exists today. Most people I know have science or engineering backgrounds with a smattering of CS courses and are hired into companies as application programmers using their science, math and engineering skills in their programming work.

Later if they become a manager, they might consider getting an MBA and moving up the management chain.

Bottomline, if the job is fully CS then the company will search for CS candidates. If the job spans engineering or science or needs applied math skills then the company will search for folks with that mix of skills. In that vein, your political science major might make you attractive to companies that do work in the political arena.

Some time ago, BME majors ran into this predicament as they were considered half a biologist and half an engineer ie the major was taken seriously enough. They would lose out to a biologist or an engineer when competing for jobs.

In any event, your political science skills might help you in job interviews and knowing statistics in machine learning. Also there is a new kind of job that I see popping up: Prompt Engineer. It requires some understanding of large language models (LLMs) and some logical thinking in framing queries to test or redirect the model into given better answers or restricting it from going off the rails. It is hear that your political science skills might go even further.

Personally, I don't know how far this prompt engineering trend will go. Prior to it, companies were actively search for data scientists for machine learning where folks needed to understand how to work with large amounts of data and statistics in order to properly train models.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Just so I understand it - you are afraid of not passing your exams, so you want to do less coursework but end up in the same place. Is that correct?

 

[CrysPhys]

Hi, I am currently studying CS, but I am too afraid to not pass my exams, so to relieve myself, I need to have a plan B to keep in mind so that I can be a little bit more relaxed. My question and Plan B would be: Is it possible to do a Political Science degree (120 Major) with a (60 Minor) in CS, Statistics and Economics and then do a Master in Statistics and become a software engineer?

If you are not confident that you are capable of completing a CS degree, why do you want to pursue a career as a software engineer?

 

[gmax137]

A degree in political science might make you a more interesting table-mate in the lunch room but I don't see how it will help you land a software engineering position. Especially considering your job search will be in competition with, ... well, degreed software engineers.

 

[FactChecker]

Since your question proposed getting a masters in statistics, it might be better either to consider a job as a statistician or a masters in CS.

 

[CrysPhys]

Since your question proposed getting a masters in statistics, it might be better either to consider a job as a statistician or a masters in CS.

If someone is not capable of completing a bachelor's in CS, why would they pursue a master's in CS?

 

[FactChecker]

If someone is not capable of completing a bachelor's in CS, why would they pursue a master's in CS?

I certainly agree with that. Is CS currently the major or is it part of a minor, along with statistics? The statement "studying CS" leaves me guessing.
In any case, I don't think that majoring in political science would help at all.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Hopefully the OP will come in and clarify. He can also clariffy his user name: 3 imps? Or "I'm pimp, pimp", as if ge is telling Huggy Bear that he's in the same line of work.

 

[Hornbein]

I have a cousin who owns his software consulting business. He doesn't hire anyone with a CS degree, or at least doesn't see it as a plus. He wants those who have passed training courses for Microsoft or Oracle products.

On the other hand, sometimes companies will require degrees even when they are irrelevant to the work to be done. If you want to get rich quick by selling the company, degrees look good to the buyer.