Computer Science major feeling lost.

[Adam508]

I am currently a student at USF. I transferred here in Fall of 2010 from a local CC with an AA degree. This is the start of my second year at USF as a declared CS major. I have only taken 2 programming classes. Java and C (currently in C). CS required a LOT of pre-requisites which consisted primarily of math which is what I have spent most of my time taking.

I feel like I am becoming less interested in computer science. I enjoyed my Java class, but I am not really enjoying my C class. It is much more involved since it is lower level and I have a hard time grasping some of the later concepts. It doesn't help that I am losing interest as well. I enjoy the basic concepts of programming, but seem to become less interested when it becomes more advanced. I also don't think I want to write code for the rest of my life. I have also read various concepts discussed in different programming/CS forums and they seem incredibly daunting and difficult. I know the CS major is very rigorous and a difficult one to complete which makes me very apprehensive.

I have been freaking out a lot lately and panicking. I cannot stop thinking about this each and every day. It is driving my crazy. This is the start of my 4th year of college and I am terrified of the thought of switching out of CS. I am already 23 years old and living at home still. I don't want to waste any time or money. Ideally, I should have been a college graduate by now with a job.

I truly wish CS was my niche and I was savoring every minute of it. I am still not 100% sure what type of job I want once I graduate. This is another problem that I need to solve. All I know is that I would like to work in the IT sector. I am not too deep into the CS curriculum, but I have taken all the required math (after this semester). It would suck immensely to change to a different major and have all those math classes become worthless because I worked very hard to receive good grades in those courses. I spent an entire year just taking a lot of the math pre-reqs for CS.

Is a CS degree only worthwhile if you want to pursue programming? Will the job I acquire with this degree revolve primarily around writing code? It seems as if the degree is rather heavy on programming. I will likely have a difficult time completing the coursework if I don't have the passion for it.

My school also has a B.S. in Information Technology program, but it is offered entirely online. I know changing to this would be a huge decision because I am sure the CS degree is more lucrative of the two. The IT degree seems a bit more enticing, but I dislike the fact that it is available online only.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I would sincerely appreciate any input you guys could give. I am feeling incredibly lost and in need of some guidance.

Thanks guys,

-Adam

[Rashakil Fol]

What parts of C do you have a hard time grasping?

[Adam508]

I have a hard time grasping the newer concepts such as Linked Lists. I am also still a little shaky on pointers within arrays.

I also forgot to mention this in the OP. I still have a full year after this one despite being a 4th year college student (all the pre-req's for CS have been slowing me down since I can't take as many courses as I would like. I only had 9 and 11 credits during my first year at the university.

Also, there is another degree that is interesting. Its an Information Systems degree that seems to be a slightly watered down CS major with a couple business classes thrown in (still an Engineering degree). The downside is they are discontinuing this degree, but are allowing students who are in the catalog year previous to 2011/2012 (like myself) to still complete the degree. Is it a bad idea to contemplate pursing a major that is being discontinued?