| HN Mirror

Y	Hacker News new \| ask \| show \| jobs

by throway1 2619 days ago

>plain ol' software developer

Oh, you resonate with me (not sure if. I am going to start an undergrad in physics soon, and started doubting my choice after this thread. I got into programming from 9th grade. I am still interested in it, but I kinda grew over my crush on being a dev in FAANG and silicon valley startups. I have the opportunity to got to a SE program, but I don't like the lack of humanity(and other) electives in eng programs. I am also accepted to a CS program, but the school with the physics-math program have a better name and opportunities around it. The CS program is in a mainly-undergrad school in a suburb-ish city.

Do you think I would still be good sticking with physics and complement it with personal projects and CS electives/minor? (This is Ottawa, Canada)

2 comments

oneepic 2618 days ago

I'm not the person you're replying to, but yeah, lots of people become programmers with a bachelor's in physics and they've done programming classes, projects, etc. on the side. That path is totally fine if you eventually decide you want to go into the software world. (or who knows, maybe you'll reignite your crush with FAANG in the meantime!)

anmorgan 2618 days ago

I think it really depends on what you want to do. If you want to work with physical systems, computation, or data-science, then I think engineering physics is a good path.

Where I went to college, all engineering physics majors concentrated (which is essentially a minor) in one of the other engineering disciplines (mechanical, electrical, civil, computer science, etc).

If you want to work on digital only products that don't utilize what you learn with a engineering physics degree, then you may want to consider another degree.

I can't speak directly about a physics only degree, since I did engineering physics, where I took all of the same core classes as engineering students.

Motivation, experience wherever you can get it, and knowing people / networking, will get you pretty far, so I would also say, take the path that's interests you the most. Also, physics is hard.