I have often described to people the difference between computer science and information services (IS) majors. Both are offered at St. Cloud State University (SCSU), but they have much different purposes.
Computer science is a technical major, focused on data structures and algorithms. Computer science students take several math classes, as well as some science electives. IS is a business major, and it focuses on computer programming’s usefulness to business. IS majors do not have many math courses to take.
These different majors present different career options.
Computer scientist
First, there is a computer scientist. These workers “are the designers, creators, and inventors of new technology,” in other words, they do research. Most of them have a Ph.D. (In computer science, of course.)
Majoring in computer science at SCSU, I get a taste of some different topics that computer scientists study. For our undergraduate degree, we are required to take 5 upper-level electives. This semester, I am studying evolutionary computing and computer graphics. These classes present material that is fascinating to me, and we only scratch the surface of what a computer scientist would study. (For an example, see a description of evolutionary computing.)
Computer systems analysts
This summer I had an internship at a financial company. The work I did there would fall under the career of computer systems analysts. I would say a computer systems analyst could be anyone with problem solving skills, including both computer science and IS majors.
“Computer systems analysts use IT tools to help enterprises of all sizes achieve their goals. They may design and develop new computer systems by choosing and configuring hardware and software, or they may devise ways to apply existing systems’ resources to additional tasks.”
An example of a project a computer systems analyst would work on is to determine a good tool for doing version control on application software that the company maintains. The programming of the application itself falls to the computer programmers, but the configuration of the version control, as well as the build environment falls to the computer systems analysts.
Computer programmers
Then there are computer programmers. Programmers apply problem solving skills to the creation and improvement of software. Their work can be further divided into systems programming and applications programming. To be a computer programmer, you need sufficient programming experience, and a good way to get this experience is in the computer science or IS major.
Computer programmers can work in many different industries. Some industries are more technical than others. An obvious way to tell the difference is by the interview requirements. One of my fellow interns from the summer wrote this article about his interview experiences.
The financial company I worked for this summer has a very business-focused interview. Jon describes it well: “They want to know that you think logically enough to work things out so they can train you to do things their way.”
Other firms, like developer firms, have more technical interviews. These focus on coding ability. For example, they will have an interactive editing session with you and say, “write a stack.” This allows them to screen applicants who do not have sufficiently deep knowledge of programming.