Careers and College

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shadowwyvern

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Had some issues fidnign where to put this, if it is in an inappropriate spot please move.

I am a high school senior, and it is nearing decision time for college. I have a few career paths in mind, and was wondering if anyone who is in those careers would care to comment on them:

Network Admin: I am very interested in networking, unfortunatly the only school I can afford does nto really seem to offer a whole lot in terms of it, but which degree would be preferable: CE or CS (with as many electives taken in networking subjects? What is starting pay like, and it the work truly interestign enough to make a career out of?

Software engineer: I would like to work close to the hardware level (driver programmer?) or developing network applications (servers, etc). Again, I am assuming CS would be good here, but is there a nice for people that are familliar with both hardware and software?

Computer Engineer: The field is so broad (EE plus some programming), that I am really not sure what types of jobs degree holders can get hired for.

Thanks in advance.
 
Those are three different career paths, and all of them will face the same issues in the future, such as outsourcing. Only you can make the choice between the three, since it's the career you will be following. You have to like what you do, or else you will be miserable at work. If you really can't decide, I would suggest going to a community college for two years, doing some basics in each, working towards an associates. Then transfer and get your bachelor's. I'm job searching right now, and without a bachelor's degree, the options are very limited.
 
EE is one of the harder degrees. FULL of math. I would think it'd be a fun field, but I'd also go lookup the horror stories of the 18 month design cycles.

Software programming is getting outsourced. It can be done cheaper in a different country. If that's the field you want to go into , get some management stuff under your belt.

I have never gotten a clear answer as to which degree makes you a network admin. That's my field of choice, and I'm quite a good at it without a degree or certs. Not that that's a recommendation to skip school. As djnes pointed out, without a degree it's hard getting your foot in the door. But if you want the most options, I'd almost say get a degree in management, and some computer certs.
 
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