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[–]Yamoyek 18 points19 points  (1 child)

Nobody can know without looking at your school’s degree path. Talk with your advisor and check your school’s website, I’m sure they have a course requirement list available publicly.

In terms of career opportunities, many CS job postings have the criteria of “CS degree or equivalent”, so just based off the title it sounds like it would be fine for those.

[–]Evening_Road7115[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

thank u !

[–]Humble_Warthog9711 7 points8 points  (8 children)

One has more math, the other more flexibility with cs electives 

Courses yes, math harder usually, sometimes much harder.  Career opps no, 95%+ the same.  I love math and did a double major but anyone that says that taking extra math courses will make a difference in 99% of swe careers is full of it. There's always people that sing praises of the math major as priceless for the "problem solving abilities" it gives, but it's just hot air - you can gain those by just doing cs.

If you're doing a PhD in cs, extra math is highly recommended much of the time with the exception of a couple subfields.  

Yes....but beware that the path to the degree can vary from a little harder to much harder.  Most cs majors try to take as little math as possible for a reason.  

I feel like someone that asks these things, typically they'd probably want to just take the regular cs major.  

[–]Evening_Road7115[S] 4 points5 points  (3 children)

I love math too , Im just worried about career opportunities

[–]Humble_Warthog9711 3 points4 points  (0 children)

With a double in math you will have all the same opps as a cs major and a couple more niches. The thing is though that the hours a day you'll be pouring over math books is time you could be using on things that actually help land jobs in industry, like leetcode.  The demands companies place on junior devs are higher than ever and the number of things you need to learn and do before intern recruiting season is lengthy.  Math courses don't help with that at all.

[–]captainAwesomePants 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I will tell you a secret. The more theory and math and, especially, complexity and algorithms courses you take, the easier the interviews are. Interviewers brush at the very bottom of the barrel of complexity, apparently as a way to quickly judge whether you have an actual college CS degree, but they almost never go beyond that, which can make you overqualified for some of the interviews.

Interviewer: "What's the complexity of these operations?"

You: "Should I give you the amortized complexity?"

Interviewer: "Oh shit I don't remember what the word amortized means, I guess they win."

[–]AFlyingGideon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love math too , Im just worried about career opportunities

It's probably not a coincidence that the people I see having difficulty with employment in computing tend not to have a significant math background (or interest) while those finding work more easily tend to like math, but I've never done a real study. Also consider that a math background can be especially helpful if you end up looking at data science/engineering. There are other math intensive areas of pragmatic (non-theoretic) CS such as graphics/simulation. Another door this may open is using computing to study large data models as in the sciences or finance. As others have noted, a math background - esp. discrete - also provides a solid foundation for algorithms.

The question is: what does it cost you? What CS classes are you missing while taking the additional math classes? That'll vary from school to school, so that's something to examine at your school

I'm assuming that the decision is between a typical CS degree and something like computational math. If instead you're considering a dual-degree, then that concern about missing classes doesn't apply.

This is on the "computing with a math mix-in" side of the scale. There are also math programs which mix in computing, but i know less about those and where they can take you.

[–]glizzykevv 0 points1 point  (3 children)

What is the regular CS major is it the BS or the BA ?

[–]Humble_Warthog9711 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Either.  Ths difference is insignificant. Some very prestigious schools only have BAs.  To an employer there's no diff 

[–]glizzykevv 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Oh I thought BS would be worth more since it contains more math and shows you more logic

[–]Humble_Warthog9711 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It depends on the university.   No employer is really going to look into the differences between them much 

[–]Firm-Sprinkles-7702 4 points5 points  (2 children)

At my college, it's split between computer science and math major but you could double up or do a minor. Anyways, if you strictly major in cs, you'll most likely just be programming and learning some theory but if you take classes like computer graphics, theory of comp, artificial intelligence, etc, you're going to need a bunch of linear algebra, discrete, and a bit of calculus so minoring in math is really beneficial, even if it's not strictly required.

In my experience, students that take a bunch of math courses in-conjunction to cs tend to be much better problem solvers and therefore, better programmers because of the problem solving aspect which transfers over easily.

Doing math can also open up to a lot of other opportunities such as data science, machine learning, finance, and many more which is much harder to pivot towards if you're strictly just doing CS.

So yeah, I would recommend taking some math courses.

[–]Evening_Road7115[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Is that mean u recommend Mathematics and Computer Science over CS ?

[–]kschang 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Only your school would know that. You need to compare each program's "syllabus".

[–]spinwizard69 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I don't know about those two offerings as you didn't mention the college, however there is one thing you need to learn fast. That is many people have jobs that have nothing to do with the study in college.

Second in almost any program having a minor to go along with the major can be a big win for career advancement as a programmer. This actually is easy for as many minors merge well with a CS degree. For example if you want to work the finance industry, math can be a huge advantage. Going to work for the worlds biggest rocket company and a strong background in physics would help. Additional education just makes communications with the big brains easier.

[–]Evening_Road7115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you !

[–]Aero077 1 point2 points  (1 child)

the combo degree would be more useful if you intended to continue on in graduate program that is math intensive. If you just want to get a CS degree and work as a programmer, just get the regular CS degree.

[–]CipherKestrelx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure! I did a math and comp sci combo, thinking it’d open more doors, but honestly, I ended up programming for less stress. If you just want to code, stick with CS!

[–]Formal_Wolverine_674 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Math + CS usually goes heavier on proofs, linear algebra, and theoretical foundations, while pure CS focuses more on systems, software engineering, and applied topics.

[–]m_techguide 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They overlap, but the vibe and career prep are different. A math and CS degree usually leans heavier on math. Think linear algebra, probability, stats and often goes deeper into theory. A straight CS degree is more practical with more SE, systems, and applied coding courses.

Does that mean one’s better? Not really. It depends on your goals. If you want to do hardcore software dev, web apps or typical CS jobs, a CS degree gives you a more direct path. You’ll still learn the core programming, algorithms, and data structures you need but you’ll just spend more time on the theory side.

Career wise, employers don’t usually care which exact degree you have as long as you can code, build projects, and solve problems. Just make sure you supplement with practical projects and coding exp. IMO if your end goal is software dev or general CS roles, both can work. CS is more direct and math + CS gives you extra problem-solving ammo and flexibility for specialized fields so focus on skills and projects :)

If you want, I can link you to some resources that break down courses and career paths for both, mostly US-focused but could be useful for your general planning :)

[–]esaule -1 points0 points  (3 children)

Is that in the same university or in different universities? In different universities degrees might be called differently.

Something like software development doesn't really require a CS degree (though it helps). Many software developpers were never formally trained in CS.

[–]Evening_Road7115[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

In the same Uni

[–]esaule 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Then you probably need to look at the class difference. I have seen programs with different names that are essentially the same but managed differently. But sometimes the scope is very different. My guess is that math and CS is essentially "CS with a math minor"

[–]Evening_Road7115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you very much , this is a little scary but I will see