Security - Host or Network?

[Godsrock37]

not to steal your thread uncle buki, but i was wondering how you guys felt about a B.S. in computer science while we're talking about degrees

from my understanding its more on the study of computation and programming is pretty heavy and usually leads towards being a code monkey or software engineer depending on how well u do and where u get ur degree. i also heard if u get a masters u usually become a consultant type and get the big bucks (advisors at Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Melon, and the like told me this). is this true? how much security will i be doing if i go into these majors

my two cents on your question buki (not that its worth much, since im actually a few steps behind you) is the host based stuff is more fun, and u'll end up doing a lot of network stuff anyway, but like i said, what do i know

[Terr]

My understanding is that often a CompSci bachelor's degree (which for a time was my goal before I redirected to something similar...) is not just the fun stuff. It's also some very math-heavy stuff. The basics are things like sets versus lists versus heaps and all sort of ways of keeping things ordered. That's stuff you'll want even if the rest of your career is websites. Then there's stuff like the ideas behind search engines, graph theory, bayesian theory, markov models, etc.

Point being that while CS prepares you for code-monkey status, a lot of the focus is on the theory and math side of things. That's great if you anticipate doing computationally intensive stuff like search engines, facial recognition, robotics, or game physics engines... But if none of that seems like your thing you may be better served with some CS-analogue where you learn the basic code monkey stuff but also things like GUI design or business practices, etc.

If you have a hobby or interest besides straight computers, by all means try to combine them. (This may or may not affect your choice of degree.) Those "two interest" areas have jobs most likely to keep you happy and interested, and least likely to be outsourced. Don't just be a code monkey, be a code monkey who can do other tricks and can bridge the gap between the monkeys and the experts in other fields. Maybe it's something like programming and structural engineering. Or art, music, business...

Then there are some that I can't imagine mixing too well, like programming and 18th century literature.