MATH/EC double major, would it be worth it to minor in CS?

[andyroo]

Hi everyone! I'm 4 math classes from finishing my math major and 2 econ classes away from finishing my econ major, so pretty happy about that. But, I keep thinking to myself, "CS seems like it would be ridiculously useful if I ever wanted to work as some sort of data analyst or something of that sort for a company." I've taken CS classes before, a few in high school and one here at my university, got a B in the one here at university. I don't enjoy it as much as math but I feel like I just need some time to really become somewhat decent at it. Anyways, the only downside is that I'd be graduating one term late (the fall term after summer in fact, ouch) if I decided to grab a minor in CS. It would also cost an additional $1800 or so as well, which I suppose isn't that bad but it is a factor.

(Also, would a CS minor and math major be sufficient to consider grad school for CS? Sorry if the question is asked often here).

If any of you guys have personal experience or opinion on the matter I'd really appreciate it!

 

[chiro]

Hi everyone! I'm 4 math classes from finishing my math major and 2 econ classes away from finishing my econ major, so pretty happy about that. But, I keep thinking to myself, "CS seems like it would be ridiculously useful if I ever wanted to work as some sort of data analyst or something of that sort for a company." I've taken CS classes before, a few in high school and one here at my university, got a B in the one here at university. I don't enjoy it as much as math but I feel like I just need some time to really become somewhat decent at it. Anyways, the only downside is that I'd be graduating one term late (the fall term after summer in fact, ouch) if I decided to grab a minor in CS. It would also cost an additional $1800 or so as well, which I suppose isn't that bad but it is a factor.

(Also, would a CS minor and math major be sufficient to consider grad school for CS? Sorry if the question is asked often here).

If any of you guys have personal experience or opinion on the matter I'd really appreciate it!

Hey andyroo and welcome to the forums.

In terms of jobs, the stuff you have worked on like projects are going to be more important. You will be technically interviewed anyway, but again actual projects are more important.

The projects can focus on a particular thing and they can be personal pet ones, but again it's this accumulation of real experience however you get it that is important.

I don't know about grad school, but I don't think a few classes alone would prepare you for some kinds of work in CS graduate school. Maybe if you have the right math though, it depends on the program.

If you want to do something like data analysis work, you'd be much better off IMO learning SQL and some programming centred around that than anything else. If you can show enough understanding with that, then I think you'll be in a lot better position for some of these jobs than without it.

The other thing is that if you really hate something, it's not worth trying to do it if you continue to hate it. You might find that later you don't hate it anymore and enjoy it and only you will be able to answer whether this is the case even as a speculative guess in hindsight. The point though is that hating that and continuing to do it will rub off in other ways, and it's a wise thing to avoid those if you can. It's one thing to have to do something to get stuff done, but it's another thing to do something continually where it gets to the point where it changes you into someone that you'd rather not be.

It's going to depend also on your background and whether an employer thinks that you can pick it up quick enough to do what you need to do. Remember that experience has a habit of making learning new things a lot easier, and in some jobs this is an important attribute as opposed to just knowing a lot of stuff.

I'd recommend you look into SQL especially if you want to get into data analysis or a related field.