# [college degree] CIS vs. CS



## CodeBlock (Nov 13, 2009)

I'm a senior in High School right now, looking for some opinions on a degree for next year (starting college right after high school). 

What are the key differences in Computer Information Systems, and Computer Science?

I have *heard* that CS is more programming concepts, etc (which I like), and CIS is more machine-oriented, networking, *some* programming, etc. (which I also like).

Which has more potential as far as income, in 15 years from now? Which ... is better?

Looking for some opinions here.


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## estrabd (Nov 13, 2009)

I'd say CS, but I am biased. What do you want to do, ultimately? It's okay to not know, but where you see yourself in 5 years is an important aspect to this.


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## fronclynne (Nov 13, 2009)

CIS:CS::Jayson Blair:George Will


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## DutchDaemon (Nov 13, 2009)

To me CIS v. CS sounds like 'computers / external' v. 'computers / internal'. So 'what computers do, and their external environment and impact' v. 'how computers work, and their internal environment and terchnology'. So CIS sounds more like 'information technology', with organisational and managerial contexts (CTO/CIO-type career, or information/IT architect), whereas CS sounds more like 'the art of computing', with all kinds of programming and networking skills, perhaps hardware and software design and development. I have no idea if that's correct, but I guess you should try to break it down like that and decide which style appeals to you, e.g. manager vs geek, generalist vs specialist, suit v. t-shirt, etc.


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## sossego (Nov 13, 2009)

Computer Information Systems is more of the business side: applications, database setup, and maintenance. It's a course offered at FIU, or a set of courses. SysAdmin.
Computer Science is more technical. You have to learn the OS, hardware, security, etc and be more well rounded. Diagnostic

In South Florida, a person can get a degree with Linux certification- no BSD as of yet-and add that to the CIS type degree.


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## Ruler2112 (Nov 23, 2009)

I believe it varies a lot from school to school.

At my school, CIS focused on programming, how computers work, and how to make computers solve real-world business problems.  We learned how to use computers (boring as hell), how they work internally at a low level (boring for everybody but myself), how to program to get them to do what we want (fun, though simplistic), and my last semester I learned unix system admin (using redhat... still my first practical exposure to *nix, which I now love).

To get a CS degree, you needed a ton of advanced math courses (which is why I got my degree in CIS  ).  CS people were learning how to write compilers, code in assembler a LOT more than I did, design and build their own circuits, etc.  There were a few things the CS people were doing that I wanted to do, but no way was I going to sit through 4+ years of calculus to do so.  They were the type of person who nobody could help when they had a problem in the lab.

That being said, I was doing just that - solving many of the troubles the CS people were having.  There's no way I should have been able to, but you can learn much more on your own than in school and it's real-world applied knowledge instead of lots and lots of theory.  I'd been doing just that for several years before college because it's something I enjoy - destroying my 486 by playing, then learning why it died and how to fix it; got almost no theory, but lots of practical knowledge that I still use today.

One piece of advice that I give to most people who want to get into computers, especially programming, is to get a system similar to the one you're building and learn how to hack it.  This way, you can design and build your system so that it doesn't have the same problems.    For example, my workplace wanted wifi many years ago before it was widespread.  The very first thing I did was to go out and learn how to break into wireless networks so that I could make ours as secure as possible.  (LOL - my boss called me in and started yelling at me, threatening to fire me, because I'd been surfing so many pages classified as 'hacking' by our web filter.  She calmed down and thought it was an excellent idea once I explained what I was doing.)


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## Zare (Nov 23, 2009)

When i was in college, the study was called "computing". After two years of obligatory courses like math, physics, english, electronics, digital theory and assembler, C, networks, operating systems, databases and information systems, and so on, you could choose courses on your own from programming, systems / networks, databases and IS.

As you can see, with obligatory stuff you get into both CS and CIS areas. Then you could choose what you want, for instance i went with programming and systems / networks in 60% / 40% ratio, covered several languages, structures / algorithms courses, arhitecture and design of servers, developement of networks, systems programming, UNIX programming, etc...

The only strict-Windows course i had was C#...and i did that because colleague and me did one custom business application for local cellphone sales / service company, and handed it over to the professor on the exam. Actually, he handed some great ideas about user interface improvements, the man was in application business himself 

So i consider myself as an computer scientist, for the fact i hate the word information systems, IT / ICT, bulls*it, today world is full of IT technomanagers who don't know jack shit about the machine, but they regularly have 3 times the wages of an average computer engineer.

For the fact, my college and others in country transformed into pure IT, you don't have computing any more, you have IT / ICT, or business informatics, or whatever.

IMHO, if you love the machine and want to know how the damn thing works, and how you can improve it and make it work for your task, go for CS.


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## Oxyd (Nov 23, 2009)

Ruler2112 said:
			
		

> To get a CS degree, you needed a ton of advanced math courses (which is why I got my degree in CIS  ).  CS people were learning how to write compilers, code in assembler a LOT more than I did, design and build their own circuits, etc.  There were a few things the CS people were doing that I wanted to do, but no way was I going to sit through 4+ years of calculus to do so.  They were the type of person who nobody could help when they had a problem in the lab.



Hehe.  Actually, I'm currently going to a heavily maths-oriented school -- in fact, it's got "Mathematics and Physics" in its name, and Computer Science is taught at very theoretical level (algorithms behind everything, analyzing algorithms behind everything, the theory behind algorithms, tons of math, and some programming, too -- optionally even sysadmin).

Well, this school made me realise just how much I love mathematics.   I'd never have thought that I'd like maths more than programming and other hands-on computer stuff, but it is so.

So it may also be that if you choose a school, you'll discover what you _really_ like.

In the end, though, it all really depends on you.  I suppose you could go studying both CS and CIS and later then drop the one you like less?  (Or study them both, if you manage to do that.)  A friend of mine is currently studying Computer Graphics and Laws at the same time -- she's seriously considering dropping the law school now, though.


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## PetrusValidus (Nov 24, 2009)

CS and CIS are two completely different fields.  The *only* similarity they share is the word "computer" in the subject name.

Computer science is the rigorous scientific study of the information and computation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science).

Computer information systems, on the other hand, is more of the practical applications of technology to support organizations while adding value to their offerings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Computer_Information_Systems).

Definitions aside, what can one do with computer science?

*Artificial Intelligence
*Robotics
*Operating system design
*Software engineer

Also, like any science, CS also crosses paths with other disciplines like computational neuroscience.  A *perfect* example of CS being used there is this book:

Theory of Neural Information Processing Systems

Another great example of computer science is this video here, maybe you've seen it before:

Boston Dynamics Big Dog

How about for CIS?

*Anything IT Management-related
*System analyst
*Project manager
*System administrator

If you're looking to be an IT manager all the way up to a Chief Information Officer this is an ideal degree, although you would want to obtain at least a Master's degree for that, IMO.

One degree is not better than the other, they both have their own specialized fields.  it all depends on what *you* want to do.  

Hope this helps!


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## Ruler2112 (Nov 24, 2009)

Again, what each encompasses depends on the school.  Petrus' post illustrates that perfectly.  I have a CIS degree and the focus of the large majority of my classes was to prepare the student to be a software engineer; management was separate.  I had a couple of AI classes as a requirement for my CIS degree, but nothing hardcore.  (Researched and played with the hard stuff on my own.  )


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## chalbersma (Nov 24, 2009)

*If you can swing it.*

If you can swing it do both. I could stay 5&1/2 years and get both at my school (if I could afford it).


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## PetrusValidus (Nov 24, 2009)

Ruler2112 said:
			
		

> Again, what each encompasses depends on the school.  Petrus' post illustrates that perfectly.  I have a CIS degree and the focus of the large majority of my classes was to prepare the student to be a software engineer; management was separate.  I had a couple of AI classes as a requirement for my CIS degree, but nothing hardcore.  (Researched and played with the hard stuff on my own.  )



Why thank you, Ruler. 

Gotta say that my blurb above isn't just from reading Wikipedia but experience too...Like you CodeBlock, I was looking into CS for college.  But after taking a whole host of courses my freshman year I walked away with a BA in psychology.  For my Master's degree, I *was* in a CIS program for a year until I decided it wasn't for me (I am genetically predisposed to not becoming a programmer!) and instead walked away with an MBA.  I have 10 years IT under my belt, too.

I know it's bleeping early to even thinking about what career you want since you're still in high school but if it's even related to business (speaking from experience here) you really cannot go wrong with the CIS, or even hands on experience in IT and a business degree.  Organizations of all types are _always_ looking for the technically-savvy types.


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## mix_room (Nov 24, 2009)

You could also get a degree in a related field, such as electrical engineering, which (at least in some places) can have quite a lot to do with computers, especially if you choose a low-voltage, hardware related subject to major in.


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## DutchDaemon (Nov 24, 2009)

PetrusValidus said:
			
		

> Organizations of all types are _always_ looking for the technically-savvy types ...



who usually end up in a world .. 



			
				Zare said:
			
		

> .. full of IT technomanagers who don't know jack shit about the machine, but they regularly have 3 times the wages of an average computer engineer


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## PetrusValidus (Nov 24, 2009)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> who usually end up in a world ..



I have a few responses to this which I will share:

1) Of course they make more than engineers, they're management.  Different job*.

2) IT Managers don't necessarily need to know how it works or what's involved, or the technical specs of the machine, they need to know how to manage people.  But of course it helps to be technically proficient, or at least have some experience in the trenches before moving to management.  IT Managers, before making some purchase or upgrade, should consult their own sysadmins or staff for the knowledge and expertise on whatever it is they want to buy before making any decisions.  They are, or at least should be, the technical businessman.

3) Organizations still want people who are technically-savvy even if it's not a technical position.  Companies don't want to waste their time, money, and resources anymore of training people on how to use Windows, Office, or other "standardized" software, like Adobe Acrobat for instance.

So many of my classmates in my MBA program held marketing positions, yet they had to use graphic design software like Adobe Photoshop _and were expected to know it_.

Having additional technical skills can't hurt but only make you more competitive and a more valuable employee.

*If you happen to be an engineer and want more money?  Go for an MBA or some other management degree like MIT's System Design and Management program.  Also, I have a friend who's a programmer for a US Gov't contractor, he has both an MS in CS _and_ an MBA.  he's not in management and doesn't intend it either but his boss had told him that he will get further along in his career with the MBA than the MS.


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## Carpetsmoker (Nov 27, 2009)

> 1) Of course they make more than engineers, they're management. Different job*.



You're right, completly different jobs. Engineers actually make something. Managers just take credit (& money).


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## hedwards (Nov 30, 2009)

This is one of those computer engineer or programmer questions. While both might be able to get a given job done, they'll both likely go about it in a different fashion and the results can very well vary.

The thing though to realize is that having a strong education in the sciences in general, even without the major, is a tremendous help with the design and debugging parts of the job. The scientific method could very easily have been developed for use with computers had it not been developed so much later.


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