College/University: Does

[AmazonRasta]

What's the difference between these to courses? What are the highlights of each one? How do they compare/contrast to eachother?

 

[joohang]

I believe that they vary from college to college.
Some of them have IS as an option under CS; some don't offer IS at all; and some have IS and CS separate.

IIRC, IS focuses more on business uses of technology whereas CS focuses moreon theories and more technical aspects of computing.

 

[iamwiz82]

IS is the management of a network and an IT department while CS is more programming and theory, as joohang said.

 

[slipperyslope]

IS=> you take computer courses and a lot of business courses. CS =>you take computer courses and take other science courses(ie. physics)

Jim

 

[LordJezo]

I have been told by managers of several companies that IS is more for people looking to go into tech support. CS is much more intensive going into everything from programming to AI to statistics. I would recommend that if you want to get into a tech field, go CS

 

[Queasy]

Basing this off when I went to college...

Computer Science dealt almost strictly with programming and math. You could practically get a minor in math by majoring in Computer Science.

Information Systems deals with some programming, telecommunications, business, etc. Typically, a couple of extra programming classes will give you a minor in Computer Science.

I went from Computer Enginnering to Information Systems solely for the reason that I wanted more business knowledge and have done pretty well.

Hope that helps..

 

[trmiv]

IS is much more business focused, and usually is a concentration of business degree. I'm an MIS major at a school where it is a business administration concentration, and in addtion to my MIS related classes I have to take things like finance, accounting, operations management, international business, project management, economics, finite mathematics, quantitive business analysis.

 

[swanky]

Knowledge of IS puts you between the developers and then users. Basically it gives you training in how to make these two groups communicate. Your mission is to make sure that what then users need is actually implemented in the system.

Microsoft should hire some of these guys.

swanky

 

[joohang]

AmazonRasta,

FuseTalk keeps on popping errors when I try to PM you. So I'll post my reply here.

Sounds like IS is ideal for you. If you want to get into management, take IS. If CS isn't exactly for you and you want to learn practical technical skills, consider technical institutes like BCIT. (http://www.bcit.ca) They offer degree, diploma and certificate programs for various tech fields in both part-time and full-time options.

 

[joohang]

<< Microsoft should hire some of these guys. >>


Huh? They do, although Microsoft is quite decentralized, so some product teams follow different systems from others.

i.e. Windows 2000 was such a success because they fired the old product manager who was dragging the project for 2 years. They hired a new manager who followed similar business practices as portrayed in MSF and released Windows 2000 within one year. In case you were wondering why Windows 2000 has 2500+ builds, it's because they followed MSF's daily build/test principles.

 

[yoda291]

This is just practical experience from my school, I don't know what it's like at other places. I'm a CS major. My school figures that means we need to know as much as humanly possible about computers. Resultantly, There are courses on writing OSes(I HATE virtual memory because of this course), setting up LANs with advanced settings and whatnot,; and pretty much be able to make a small scale internet. It covers computers, computers, and more computers. Resultantly, there's also a lot of math and logistics courses involved as well. IS is definitely nowhere near as computer intensive. At last check, junior year, they get to learn the basics and fundamentals of C. Not C++, C. Senior year, they learn about the differences in the buses in an average PC and the basic computer terminology. I helped a senior with his IS final. He needed to be able to identify RISC vs CISC architecture. He needed to know the different types of cabling involved in any network, the different logic gates(and,or,xor) and stuff like that. It's kinda like hyper-dumbed down CS, so that you're not completely lost when you're doing the accounting for you ITS department, cause there's a lot of management and bookeeping courses involved.

 

[atom]

At my school we have three types: Computer Science, Management Information Systems, and just plain Information Systems. IS and CS are run by the engineering dept. where the MIS is run by the business school.

Programming/Computing courses at my school for the three degrees are exactly the same. You just have to take more depending on the degree.

CS > IS > MIS for Computing courses

And for IS/MIS you of course have to take business classes where in CS you don't have to. You have to take more business courses in MIS than IS. I'd say roughly for IS, core upper division courses are split between business and CS classes 50/50 where in MIS it is maybe 75% business and 25% programming.

 

[Digobick]

Computer Engineering (CE): Design and/or build computer components (i.e. processors, circuit boards, etc.) and LOTS of math.

Computer Science (CS): Computer programming (software/OS design) and lots of math.

Information Systems (IS): Use of computers to solve problems arising in the operations of business and commerce. Some math (depending on what school you go to).

Management Information Systems (MIS): Focus on technological and managerial skills in telecommunication and system integration, data access/management, and managerial decision support. A little math (depending on what school you go to).

 

[arod]

Here at Texas A&M IS is in the buisness school and CS is its own major.

 

[MrbadGuy]

Dont go college. Get a burger flippin MCSE. Why spend 4-5 yrs busting your ass when you'll make 60-100k in 6 months.

 

[ggavinmoss]

<< Dont go college. Get a burger flippin MCSE. Why spend 4-5 yrs busting your ass when you'll make 60-100k in 6 months. >>



Because you'll learn more in college, making you not only well rounded, but able to attack problems better. It's not just a test or a cert-- it's learning to think. And in the end, you'll be better for it.

-geoff

 

[MrbadGuy]

Because I like giving my money to microshaft