By: Livi Erickson
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love everything about computers. It felt only natural, then, when I went to college I would major in computer science – even though after two years of classes in high school, I wasn’t convinced that I wanted to work as a developer. I loved coding – but there were a lot of other things that I enjoyed that I also had an interest in studying further. Luckily, I soon discovered that computer science wasn’t just about writing code, and have been exploring the opportunities that a technical background offers.
My personal career path began with a development-centric internship where I quickly established that writing code day in and day out was not quite what I was looking for. The following summer, I transitioned into a program management internship, where I occasionally got to develop UI prototypes and focused on the customer experience for a product. This was much more aligned with my various interests, and I continued to work in a program manager role throughout college and after graduation. While my current job title is still as a program manager, my background in computer science has also allowed me to try out different roles in the software engineering lifecycle, including front-end prototyping and user experience design and research.
Like many others, I originally thought that studying computer science would mean that I would spend most of my days writing software – one of the most common career paths for those who study programming languages – without realizing the multitude of options that computer science really gives.
“Not only will you learn more about computers–hardware and software–but you’ll also learn about the applications of such knowledge, such as how technology fits into a business scenario.”
– Princeton Review
One of the Princeton Review’s top 10 majors, computer and information sciences are two fields of study that are growing in demand and popularity. Many, though, still shy away from the idea of studying computer science, often due to the misconceptions surrounding the technology industry or the belief that using difficult mathematics is a daily necessity for the job. On the contrary, the concepts taught in computer science courses translate into many different skill sets that allows for job possibilities in virtually any industry.
Curious to know what sort of careers a degree in computer science can get you? Here are just a few options to keep in mind:
- Program / Project Management – If you love the idea of building software, but the thought of having coding be your main focus on a day to day basis doesn’t thrill you, consider a Program or Project Management role. You’ll work closely with every role on your team to establish customer and consumer needs with the software you build, and work with the development teams to bring the imagined products or services to fruition. A background in computer science allows you to understand and work around the technical limitations and communicate with the developers to build software that truly fits what a user is looking for.
- User Experience/Interface Design – All of the software applications that we use on a daily basis have a human component to them: the user! Your job as a user experience designer will be to build user interfaces and interactions that are both beautiful and functional. Understanding the way software is developed gives you as a designer clarity into platform-specific design paradigms and a deeper understanding of the way your designs interact with the core functionality of the product. This is a great option for computer lovers who have a passion for art and a desire to make software intuitive and easy to use.
- User Experience Researcher – An important part of building software is testing, and a critical component to test is how users approach your product. As a user experience researcher, you’ll conduct research and analyze how people use the product, where they struggle to perform tasks, and come up with ways to improve upon existing product designs. Understanding software development as a user experience researcher allows you to work closely with the engineering team to establish potential pain points for users and understand alternate options for making your users successful at using your product.
- Technical Account Manager – If you love software and helping customers have the best experience with their IT infrastructure, a technical account manager role might just be for you. Technical account managers for software companies help customers use their technologies and work with the engineering team to report back any issues that customers run into. You form close relationships with customers and partners, and bring back the knowledge of how your product performs “in the wild” to improve products based on customer needs.
- Technical Writer – Writing good code is only one of the challenging aspects of creating a great product: how do you get people to understand and use it? As a technical writer, you can use a computer science degree in several ways: writing documentation for developer products, creating detailed “How-to” guides for complex consumer software, keeping FAQs up to date and managing a company blog are just a few options that come to mind. A background in computer science will give you the foundation you need to understand deeply technical concepts and translate that knowledge into guides to help other people use your company’s software.
- Developer Evangelist – If you enjoy programming and want others to learn about the tools your company is creating, then consider using your computer science skills to become a developer evangelist! You’ll likely get to travel to conferences and hold events where you showcase the platforms and tools that your company is building and help developers integrate your solutions into their own software applications. As with many roles in the technology industry, a solid background in computer science principles helps you collaborate and communicate with developers and other engineers to get your technology into the hands of those who can really take it to the next level.
Do you have a non-developer computer science job? Tell us about it in the comments!
Livi often jokes that she was born with a keyboard and mouse in hand, claiming that she can’t remember a time before she loved computers and software. She graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Computer Science in 2013, focusing on the software engineering lifecycle and how technology impacts society. Livi passionately describes herself as a geek and is currently working as a program manager at Microsoft. When she’s not in front of a computer screen, she enjoys practicing yoga, cooking, and reading.
You can follow her @misslivirose and LinkedIn.
