What do you think about this major called “Information Management and Systems”?
You can view the handbook of the program by clicking here
Does this mean that an IMS graduate cannot (or are not allowed to) do technical jobs? When I look at the technical courses IMS major offers, I think a graduate can deal with technical side of things as well.
It a lot does look like CS but there are some management courses added to it. Can this be beneficial in any way?
CS Handbook
I also would like to learn the difference (such as career options) between these two different majors. Although I read the handbooks of each these majors, I am still confused. I can see the possibility that one cannot easily decide which program he or she should choose.
Degrees are starting points, not definitions. The skill set providing by an IMS degree can be used in a number of different roles in an organization, and there are many very technical folks I’ve worked with who had IMS degrees.
This is exactly correct. MaverocK, your parenthetical “not be allowed to” comment seems particularly out of sync with the real world. Of course there are professions where what you’re allowed to do is limited by your education or licenses, but technology is generally not one of them.
If I were starting my BS over again, I’d want to do more internships as early as possible to get a better idea of what I actually want to work in. If I found I absolutely loved writing code for embedded systems, I might decide to switch from IMS to something more technical, but I wouldn’t be too worried about it. What seems particularly unhelpful is just imagining the work you might like and deciding based on your imagination (which is what I and most college students I knew were inclined to do).
Honestly I don’t think what I actually enjoyed doing when I was 19 was a particularly good predictor of what I enjoy doing now, anyway.
IMS limits the computing background to a subset of systems one might find in a large company. It certainly doesn’t provide an all-around background. OTOH, it does add in more Business-related topics that allows someone to interact better with The Suits. In some programs, the latter is the majority of the curriculum.
If you goal is to work a standard drudge job for a good sized company and stick with that job for the rest of your career, unless you later get an MBA and go into management, then IMS is for your.
If you want more flexibility in job types, more employer options, and especially want to keep your long term prospects open, then CS is a better choice.
Good point. CS curriculums can give you a very good foundation in understanding how technology “works”, but a lot of it ends up not being applicable in industry. The manager doesn’t care that the report could be reimplemented using an algorithm that is more efficient and that the company’s current Report API violates the Liskov Substitution Principle. What matters is that the report was supposed to be done last week, why isn’t it done?
Whelp, I got a degree in Management Information Systems (which may or may not be the exact same thing) and Marketing. Now I’m a Web Applications Developer. So, get a degree and then use it as a jumping off point.
Thank you so much for your responses. I have been informed that the university which I am attending will be closing IMS (Information Systems and Management) major this year. This means that I and my classmates will be the last graduates of this program. Do you think that this will have any negative affect on my job opportunity?
Another important question that I have is: Is there any way that I can get a master degree on Computer Science after graduating from IMS undergraduate program?
I don’t think the closing of you IMS programe will have any impact on you in the long or short term as far as job prospects. No employer will ever ask the question, “Is this school still teaching IMS?” All they want to know is if you graduated and possibly your GPA.
You can go on to a masters degree in CS but you might want to check the academic requirements needed and you may want to work a little to gain experience which can be credited towards these requirements. This might also give you time to do a night course or two to fulfill the gaps where necessary.
It’s a good career and you’re on a good track. Good luck with everything.
Just anecdotally, I have worked with developers who had degrees in music, religion, a couple had law degrees and had passed the bar - but through circumstance, interest, and acumen, ended up as programmers.
Regarding masters on top of bachelors degrees - again, you can get your bachelors in mid-eastern philosophy and your masters in chemical engineering, or your bachelors in astronomy and masters in theatre. Certainly undergraduate coursework in a chosen subject will put you in a good position to enter certain masters programs, but it is usually not a strict limiting factor.
People tend to think that most IT work is development. It probably isn’t. IT workers include the guy who manages space in the datacenter (not easy when you have tens of thousands of blades) to the guy who manages the help desk, to the person who does capital planning, to project managers and business analysts who may work with developers, but don’t code. A CS job helps you do none of those sorts of things - people who know code don’t make the best vendor relations team, or are necessarily your best choice for working in e-security.
But if you CAN code and WANT to code - if you are good at it an MIS degree rather than a CS degree (or one in Art History) probably isn’t going to stop you. You might want to think about an intersection job (esecurity - while a pain in the ass - is a good example) where being able to code is a great thing, but having some business background is also a great thing.
In general, the people I’ve met with IMS/MIS etc degrees tend to be pretty mediocre.
IME, people who do CS tend to not have too much of a problem picking up the business side of things since it’s mostly common sense but people who do IMS have a much harder time becoming technical since that actually benefits from schooling.
The people who choose IMS courses are usually those who wanted to do “CS but easier” or washed out of CS and took it as a consolation course. Even if you’re not one of those people, having those people as your peers drags you down, both from an expectations and also from a networking perspective.
If your goal is an undistinguished, cushy job at a large megacorp where you don’t make waves, do IMS. If your goal is a decent career with options and control over your own destiny, do CS and learn the business stuff on the side.
FYI, OP is in a European country where the system of higher education may be different than in the US. I think he’s a Turkish immigrant in Germany? (OP please clarify where you are, and where you hope to get your next level of education)
However, having a degree in any damn thing is not an obstacle to doing a masters in any damn thing in the United States. If your undergraduate degree is in British poetry and you want to switch to MBA or applied mathematics or marine biology or social work or law or medical school… no problem! Undergraduate degrees and Masters/professional degrees are not seen as inherently related in the US.
Its very possible to complete the prerequisites while having an undergraduate major in almost anything. The required classes can be made to fit into general education requirements, for the most part. At one time (I don’t know if this is still true) anthropology, sociology, psychology or other social sciences were particularly favored. I looked at the requirements at Johns Hopkins, and, but for the lab sciences (I took physics as my lab science) I would qualify, and I majored in archaeology.
Law schools look with doubt on “pre-law” as an undergraduate major. The best major for admission, a recent study found, was philosophy, followed by economics and journalism.
