Ask HN: What are other career options as a CS major?

Add me to that list as well. I originally started graduate school with dreams of moving to California and working for a FAANG company. Early in the program I got a graduate assistantship that basically partnered with a large company to be a half-time intern. I didn't really see myself working at long term.

Over the last five years, I've come to appreciate the fact that I'm not using my knowledge of statistics to keep people addicted to their phones or serve ads. I just took a full-time position there while I finish the tail end of my PhD.

Everyone has an interesting problem to solve. It's just not everyone is slamming down their "achievements" down your throat trying to recruit.

Almost any white-collar job will have "a Bachelors degree" as a minimum requirement. Check! You're already halfway there.

As for jobs and career paths, the truth of the matter is that 95% (or more!) of what you need to know on the job is something that you will learn on the job. In other words, if you have the capacity to learn and grow, you can and will excel in any field that you put effort into. Thinking about going into bioinformatics? Well, your computer knowledge will contribute and your math background will help, but most of the day-to-day work you can and will learn on the job. What about actuarial work? Once again your math and computer knowledge can come into play. In fact, your CS degree will help you with automating any digital aspect of any job. What about a salesperson? You're good with numbers, you're good with logic, and if you can learn a new programming language, you can learn anything. You'll be fine.

You get the point.

Me? My degree is in Theatre, and I'm a Director of Engineering for a pretty large company. I've been working professionally in the tech industry for 15 years.

The critical thing to do is to look at your degree and ask yourself: What qualities do I have and what skills have I learned that are broadly transferable to any industry?

For example, in Theater, I was an actor and a director. What are actors required to do?

- Show up on time

- Work independently

- Work as a group!

- Take constructive criticism and direction

- Memorize vast amounts of material in a short period of time

- Be comfortable speaking in public

- Be a good communicator

- Be empathetic and able to put oneself into someone else's shoes

- Be able to meet deadlines -- the show must go on!

- Be adaptive and able to tackle a wide range of problems, from flaking paint on a set to a broken costume to disruptions in the audience to poor ticket sales

- Be comfortable doing the same thing over and over for a long period of time (shows don't run just once!)

I could go on... but consider this: any employer in any industry would wet their pants if a candidate walked in and could demonstrate those qualities right off the bat, right?

How many people are geniuses at C++ but can't work with a group or take criticism or give a presentation on their work? Fat lotta good that C++ is doing when management is spending all their time putting out fires that this problem employee creates because they can't follow rules!

That whole day-to-day thing? You'll learn that on the job. We all do that, anyway. I've been working professionally in tech for 15 years, and I've never yet had a job where I didn't spend the first month trying to figure out the company's tech stack, administrative processes, people dynamics, and more. It's just how the world works.

So don't think of your degree as a finalized career option. Think of it as a ticket to an interview, as physical proof that you CAN learn and you CAN complete a project and you ARE someone that can do the job -- any job.

Good luck.

One possible entry point into this kind of work could be to find some consultancy that specialises in this kind of work that's willing to hire a grad with solid comp science & coding & mathematics foundations. You're certain to get worked hard and billed out to clients for a lot more than what you get paid, but it can be a great environment for learning rapidly and also getting real world exposure to seeing how general math & computer science & optimisation techniques can be combined and fruitfully applied to some particular industry or business niche. Early in your career it is a lot easier to do something for a year or two and decide it isn't for you, and try something else -- or decide that it's a good fit and that you want to keep pursuing it in industry or pursue further studies to go into more depth about an area you didn't realise you were excited about.

I've found the work most engaging in my career where there's a combination of learning about and understanding some particular industry and then combining that with software development and mathematical modelling/optimisation techniques and then seeing the real world industry-specific results --- but it's hard to know what opportunities in specific real world industries exist and if you would enjoy them without being immersed in it.