For those of you that don’t know me, my name is John Sorrentino and I am a sophomore in college. I was originally studying Mechanical engineering but just recently I decided to change my major to computer science. Many people wonder why I made the switch even though I was doing well in mechanical engineering with a 3.5 GPA. It is hard to give everyone the full answer because a lot of people like that I was going to school for mechanical engineering because they think it is “better” than computer science. I do not believe that is true so I decided to share my side of the story in this post.

How was my experience as a mechanical engineering student?

During freshmen year I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to be a mechanical engineer yet, I basically just picked it because everyone said that since I was good at math and science it was what I should do. The classes I took during freshman year weren’t too specific so I didn’t really know what kind of jobs mechanical engineers really had.

Freshmen year was pretty fun and I won two different engineering contests at my school. That is probably the only reason I didn’t make the switch earlier. I was pretty good at coming up with innovative ideas and implementing them. The way that colleges advertise mechanical engineering is really misleading because they make all of the students feel like they will be creating new innovating things. That is what I thought mechanical engineers actually did in the workforce but it turns out that this isn’t true.

After doing some research it turns out that real mechanical engineering jobs are nothing like that. Most of the jobs are actually trivial jobs that don’t require any math other than basic arithmetic. Instead of making whole products from start to finish you are assigned one part to make and you tell a machine what to do, then you make sure the machine builds the parts the way you want it to. This isn’t the kind of job I would want to have

Why do I think computer science is a better choice for me.

In computer science, you are given a task and you can work on from start to finish. I feel that learning to code is a more useful skill because even if I don’t get a job that involves coding I will still use it on my own time. While if I got trained to become a mechanical engineer and didn’t become that then all of that training would have been for nothing. So basically for me, computer programming is a skill I would like to learn no matter what job I have in the future. Also with computer science, there is the possibility of being able to work from home often. I recommend you watch this video that talks about why computer science is a good major.

How I Learned To Code by Christopher R Dodd

This book is the story of the author and how he became a digital nomad. That means he works from his computer and travels the world. The possibility of one day having this lifestyle is also one of the reasons why I switched majors.

In this book, the author talks about how he learned to code in three months and landed his first job right away. Now he travels around the world and works from his laptop.

This book is a really cheap and short book that doesn’t have that much actionable advice but the story is inspirational and motivating. I would highly recommend you check it out to see if you may be interested in reading it.

The facts about computer science

There are more computing jobs than there are people to fill them in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that we should expect growth rates between 12% and 37% in computing and information technology occupations from 2012 through 2022.

If you consider the expected growth in computing, it’s easy to see that companies simply need more talent. There is a large number of open job positions available right now. The average starting salary of a computer science major is about $70,000 per year and you can easily find yourself making over $100,000 in a few years.

But aren’t all the jobs being outsourced to other countries?

This is what a lot of people think but the truth is that only the very basic coding jobs are being outsourced and that is only because there aren’t enough coders for people to hire from America. Something that people don’t know is that engineering jobs are outsourced just as much as programming jobs.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that mechanical engineering is a bad major. I’m just saying that I don’t think it is right for me and I can’t see myself doing it in the future. With that said you should only do something because you want to do it and for me, that is computer science.

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Please let me know what you think about my decision in the comments below. I would really appreciate the feedback!