I wasn't sure where to put this but I figured the guys in this secton would be able to help. I have three options for specialty in the B.S. program for computer science. They are software engineering, data management and networking and security. What exactly would data management consist of? Everything I look for keeps assuming I'm looking for data scientist. Also, would software engineering be worth it career wise?

programming route (software engineer) = more money faster
network admin/security = typically highest paid position in a company that isn't CIO/CTO but it will take longer to get to that level to make good $

plus if u learn programming, you can use it as a side job

really depends if you want to stare at numbers/equations all day or work on network related stuff. I went the network/security route and currently project manager, was a network engineer before that position.

This post was edited by Motorbreath on Dec 29 2016 01:07am

I was actually leaning more towards the network security route but wasn't sure what it entailed and how open the market is for thathe sort of position. Of course money matters, but I want to enjoy it too. Hell I only make 35k a year right now so anything at that mark or higher i have no issue with. I just didn't want to get that degree only to find out no one is hiring for network personnel

Networking guys are needed quite a bit, if you're in a big city you can easily go into security and find a job with the right certifications and/or job experience.
If you're in a smaller city, you'll probably end up with a job as a sys admin, where bits of multiple specializations are required like network troubleshooting, basic it stuff, microsoft server. etc.

I chose robotics and networking for my comp sci specialization, the robotics was fun, but the networking was mostly a lot of theory and not a lot of practical stuff that you will need to be employed.

if you want to pursue a job in networking working on getting Cisco certifications, CCNA is basically the entry level that they want to work in networking.

Your other option, I think you mean database management? You'll probably end up with a class in this anyways, but it involves setting up databases in a specific way in order to achieve faster searching and not repeating information.

I chose the Networking route, got my CCNA Cert before I graduated, pick up a used set of routers and buy the study material and test bundle from them. The test is multiple choice and requires 85% to pass, you'll still need to know how to configure routers/secure asa devices as they test you in a job interview.

Any questions, pm me

See I thought it was supposed to be database management as well, but the degree path is simply "Data Management". As for the certification, I was unaware of that but I shall look into it. I feel as if that's something our success adviser should tell us.

Interesting...I've seen data management in reference to job roles/functions, but not as a degree program. Tough to explain, database management manages the database, data management manages the data itself but usually with a higher level overview....almost like how to use the data instead of how to manage the database. These are the folks who would be able to take a question, and point to all the possible answers the data can provide to that question, and how best to arrive at the answer.

My guess is that the data management program is a database management program with extra business, communications, and statistics thrown in.

Well that simply sounds horrible lol

Nah, I don't think it's that bad. My dad moved into a data management position a few months ago and he loves it. He's more of a project manager though, as far as actual job duties go. A lot of what he does now is design the process for apps to show data in a meaningful way, like how to pick and choose which data make it into statistical analysis for whatever purpose.

I feel like that would give me many headaches on a daily basis

Not really my cup of tea either but he enjoys it, so that's nice. I don't have the patience or cognitive capacity for programming. I'm working on that with lots of small automation tasks a work, but it's just not that fun to me. I'm really just proactively lazy.