I’m interested in computer programming and have learned a couple languages on my own through reading/MIT open courseware. I’ve enjoyed learning computer science so much that I decided to add it as a minor. Whereas I enjoy coding, I see it as more of a hobby right now than an actual interest that I wish to pursue. I am definitely more into architecture than computer science, but I added the minor to add a sense of authenticity to my skills in computer science. Now i’m wondering if I should just drop the minor while I still can and graduate a semester early instead. In short, I’m wondering if I should keep my computer science minor as it looks better than simply saying I can code, or if I should just drop the minor, continue to self-study comp-sci, and graduate a semester early.
Bloopox
Sep 23, 19 12:40 pm
Generally speaking, a college minor isn't worth much as "authentication" of anything. Minors don't usually have enough depth/intensity to prepare students for much professionally, and sometimes even listing a minor is viewed negatively, as a frivolous distraction that took your full focus away from your major. The value of a minor is mostly to the student, as a way of organizing studies around a secondary important interest/focus, or of testing whether that's an area you might want to study at the graduate level. But very few prospective employers are even going to take note of your minor, let alone use it in any sort of comparison of qualified applicants or in judging the strength of your computer programming skills. By the time you have a few years of professional experience, your undergrad minor is the sort of content you'll probably be cutting from your resume for space anyway, as your "Experience" and "Professional Certifications" categories begin to feature more prominently than your "Education" category.
If this extra semester will be valuable to you for your own interests and education, and if you'll still feel engaged with the academic subject matter, then that might be a good reason to stick it out. But if you're just doing it in order to look more "legitimate" on paper then its value doesn't justify the tuition and the loss of your potential earnings in the work world for that extra semester.
archinine
Sep 23, 19 3:17 pm
If you intend to stay in architecture and aren’t a trust funder do the thing that saves you $$$ which would be graduating early. If you ever want to afford a middle class life, drop the architecture fantasy taught in schools and major in comp sci. You can retire early and pursue architecture as a hobby later. You’ll never afford a decent retirement as an architect. The industry is dying. Consider yourself blessed if you have the mental bandwidth to enjoy coding at all because few do.
mightyaa
Sep 23, 19 3:49 pm
Agreed. Go comp science. Earn bank, save, build investment properties as a side gig. Hire architects, take a heavy design hand with them, be sure to remind them you were once an arch major, then laugh. Sell property for bigger bank, giggle inside knowing you just made more than they will in a decade and still get to design buildings (why you wanted to be an architect in the first place)… repeat.
GridBubbles
Sep 23, 19 6:46 pm
I know you're being silly but there is an element of truth beneath the sarcasm. The reality is that buildings are prohibitively expensive. The only select few of truly get to "play" in this career are ones that are commissioned to do projects backed by enormous sums of money. Design is a luxury that most people cannot afford to play. The irony is architects spend their entire career/lives striving to achieve that dream but the guy/girl with money are the ones that truly get to live out their dream. Unless you eat ramen day in and day you for the rest of your life, you may stand a chance to make it into the big leagues like Zaha, Foster, Koolhaas. etc. etc. etc.
joseffischer
Sep 24, 19 8:26 am
hah, an "element" of truth, you say as I drink my morning coffee and review emails from 5 different clients, all developers with less than 4 years of architectural schooling, all who have their personal tweaks on the grand designs before sending out to companies like JLL types to run feasibility/leasing studies. Oh, and btw, make sure our sketches/designs showing the umpteenth new schematic layout meet all code and construction requirements and respond (tomorrow preferably) with any limitations.
( o Y o )
Sep 23, 19 3:27 pm
neither are real-world skills and neither are going to be useful after the crash
athensarch
Sep 23, 19 6:12 pm
Short answer, keep the minor. Especially if the program is reputable. Review your school salary surveys for recent grads by major. Architecture in industry is very different from school.
I know people who switched from Architecture and now code. They took coding workshops and used projects as their portfolio to get in on ability. Why not do it while in school?
Dokuser
Sep 23, 19 11:38 pm
If I were to work in a field that requires coding it would be User Experience design.
athensarch
Sep 24, 19 7:52 am
That's what my two former co-workers did. Last I checked each are much happier with their lives. Do some research and critical thinking. What kind of bias did you expect to find on a forum where architects and designers complain about their career?
Dokuser
Sep 23, 19 11:19 pm
Well, now i’m even more confused than I was when I posted this.
Non Sequitur
Sep 24, 19 8:19 am
Good. Except for the following advice, you should not seek advise for adult decisions on online forums.
Flatfish
Sep 24, 19 2:06 pm
There are lots of sweeping generalities and stereotypings in this thread, so here's one person's anecdotal experience: I have 20+ years of experience and make about 30% more as an architect than the average computer programmer at the same level in their career makes in my location, which has been the case since around the mid-point of my career-so-far. This is almost certainly not the case for most entry-level architects - and that does obviously have an impact on young architects' abilities to save and invest. From a financial standpoint I'm not going to end up eating pet food in an RV park in Arkansas. I minored in a vaguely related field, and nobody ever cared one way or the other and it affected nothing, including how long it took me to graduate. If it's going to make you pay for another semester then drop it. Most of the computer programmers I know work far longer hours than I do - one of them keeps most of his clothes in a bin under his desk at work because he sleeps and showers there more days per week than at home. I have a sanitation worker friend who makes more money than I do and usually works far fewer hours. You can have a decent work-life balance in any of these careers - or you can work crazy hours in any of them - it's not really as career-specific as many on this forum would have you believe, it's worker- and employer-specific. Your minor is unimportant and hardly anybody will ever care if you had one or what it was. Which career you pick is more important, but not forever fixed and unchangeable. Do whichever feels more right for you now, and rethink if/when necessary.
gual
Sep 30, 19 10:04 am
I minored in compsci. In some cases it was a plus, other cases it didn't hurt. I don't see how this hurts you unless it is a big financial burden.
You never know when this stuff will come up. Might help you get your foot in the door at a startup or something. At giant corporate companies, sometimes it does matter if you have this stuff listed in your HR profile.
As for comments about whether you will be competitive in CS/IT jobs -- there are a whole range of CS and IT jobs and not all of them require top-tier skills... Sure, you won't be qualified to jump into hardcore backend development but that isn't what you're trying to do anyway, right?
I’m interested in computer programming and have learned a couple languages on my own through reading/MIT open courseware. I’ve enjoyed learning computer science so much that I decided to add it as a minor. Whereas I enjoy coding, I see it as more of a hobby right now than an actual interest that I wish to pursue. I am definitely more into architecture than computer science, but I added the minor to add a sense of authenticity to my skills in computer science. Now i’m wondering if I should just drop the minor while I still can and graduate a semester early instead. In short, I’m wondering if I should keep my computer science minor as it looks better than simply saying I can code, or if I should just drop the minor, continue to self-study comp-sci, and graduate a semester early.
Generally speaking, a college minor isn't worth much as "authentication" of anything. Minors don't usually have enough depth/intensity to prepare students for much professionally, and sometimes even listing a minor is viewed negatively, as a frivolous distraction that took your full focus away from your major. The value of a minor is mostly to the student, as a way of organizing studies around a secondary important interest/focus, or of testing whether that's an area you might want to study at the graduate level. But very few prospective employers are even going to take note of your minor, let alone use it in any sort of comparison of qualified applicants or in judging the strength of your computer programming skills. By the time you have a few years of professional experience, your undergrad minor is the sort of content you'll probably be cutting from your resume for space anyway, as your "Experience" and "Professional Certifications" categories begin to feature more prominently than your "Education" category.
If this extra semester will be valuable to you for your own interests and education, and if you'll still feel engaged with the academic subject matter, then that might be a good reason to stick it out. But if you're just doing it in order to look more "legitimate" on paper then its value doesn't justify the tuition and the loss of your potential earnings in the work world for that extra semester.
If you intend to stay in architecture and aren’t a trust funder do the thing that saves you $$$ which would be graduating early. If you ever want to afford a middle class life, drop the architecture fantasy taught in schools and major in comp sci. You can retire early and pursue architecture as a hobby later. You’ll never afford a decent retirement as an architect. The industry is dying. Consider yourself blessed if you have the mental bandwidth to enjoy coding at all because few do.
Agreed. Go comp science. Earn bank, save, build investment properties as a side gig. Hire architects, take a heavy design hand with them, be sure to remind them you were once an arch major, then laugh. Sell property for bigger bank, giggle inside knowing you just made more than they will in a decade and still get to design buildings (why you wanted to be an architect in the first place)… repeat.
I know you're being silly but there is an element of truth beneath the sarcasm. The reality is that buildings are prohibitively expensive. The only select few of truly get to "play" in this career are ones that are commissioned to do projects backed by enormous sums of money. Design is a luxury that most people cannot afford to play. The irony is architects spend their entire career/lives striving to achieve that dream but the guy/girl with money are the ones that truly get to live out their dream. Unless you eat ramen day in and day you for the rest of your life, you may stand a chance to make it into the big leagues like Zaha, Foster, Koolhaas. etc. etc. etc.
hah, an "element" of truth, you say as I drink my morning coffee and review emails from 5 different clients, all developers with less than 4 years of architectural schooling, all who have their personal tweaks on the grand designs before sending out to companies like JLL types to run feasibility/leasing studies. Oh, and btw, make sure our sketches/designs showing the umpteenth new schematic layout meet all code and construction requirements and respond (tomorrow preferably) with any limitations.
neither are real-world skills and neither are going to be useful after the crash
Short answer, keep the minor. Especially if the program is reputable. Review your school salary surveys for recent grads by major. Architecture in industry is very different from school.
I know people who switched from Architecture and now code. They took coding workshops and used projects as their portfolio to get in on ability. Why not do it while in school?
If I were to work in a field that requires coding it would be User Experience design.
That's what my two former co-workers did. Last I checked each are much happier with their lives. Do some research and critical thinking. What kind of bias did you expect to find on a forum where architects and designers complain about their career?
Well, now i’m even more confused than I was when I posted this.
Good. Except for the following advice, you should not seek advise for adult decisions on online forums.
There are lots of sweeping generalities and stereotypings in this thread, so here's one person's anecdotal experience: I have 20+ years of experience and make about 30% more as an architect than the average computer programmer at the same level in their career makes in my location, which has been the case since around the mid-point of my career-so-far. This is almost certainly not the case for most entry-level architects - and that does obviously have an impact on young architects' abilities to save and invest. From a financial standpoint I'm not going to end up eating pet food in an RV park in Arkansas. I minored in a vaguely related field, and nobody ever cared one way or the other and it affected nothing, including how long it took me to graduate. If it's going to make you pay for another semester then drop it.
Most of the computer programmers I know work far longer hours than I do - one of them keeps most of his clothes in a bin under his desk at work because he sleeps and showers there more days per week than at home. I have a sanitation worker friend who makes more money than I do and usually works far fewer hours. You can have a decent work-life balance in any of these careers - or you can work crazy hours in any of them - it's not really as career-specific as many on this forum would have you believe, it's worker- and employer-specific.
Your minor is unimportant and hardly anybody will ever care if you had one or what it was.
Which career you pick is more important, but not forever fixed and unchangeable.
Do whichever feels more right for you now, and rethink if/when necessary.
I minored in compsci. In some cases it was a plus, other cases it didn't hurt. I don't see how this hurts you unless it is a big financial burden.
You never know when this stuff will come up. Might help you get your foot in the door at a startup or something. At giant corporate companies, sometimes it does matter if you have this stuff listed in your HR profile.
As for comments about whether you will be competitive in CS/IT jobs -- there are a whole range of CS and IT jobs and not all of them require top-tier skills... Sure, you won't be qualified to jump into hardcore backend development but that isn't what you're trying to do anyway, right?