Does “prestige” matter for Computer Science majors?

coolguy40
Thu, 21 Jul 2022 15:17:55 +0000

Just to clarify the misconceptions, there’s no such thing as a “real” tech job. In fact, most CS graduates get jobs in IT, and spend a well-paid career never looking at a math problem. CS/IT and even parts of engineering have a ridiculous amount of overlap with specialties, subspecialties, and micro-specialties across an almost infinite array of industries. Specialties are formed based on what job you get and how much experience you gain with it. Different specialties have different market salaries depending on your skill and demand. That goes equally with IT and CS jobs.

Furthermore, salaries are impossible to compare, because different areas have different costs of living. $100,000 in one place could live affluently, while $100,000 somewhere else is paycheck to paycheck. Most “elite” schools are skewed to east/west coast areas where the cost of living is much higher than the average. The reality is this…a college graduate with no prior experience is not really in a position to negotiate salary. If the employer goes much higher on salary, they can simply hire an experienced professional.

My advice would be to not worry about prestige. Jobs are abundant and experience and hard work will give you a comfortable living in any place you live, assuming there’s a market for your specialty.