I'm a CS student and I'm seriously thinking about quitting. I took this path for the money and job prospects, but I absolutely hate it, I can't stand doing these things and the stress and anxiety this situation brings me is becoming too much to bear. I would love to get an outdoor job, also given that hiking is one of my biggest passion. Any advice on how to make this transition or what fields to look into? Should I eat the bullet and end uni first (I have one year left) or get into a new experience as soon as possibile?
>>2758035>Should I eat the bullet and end uni first (I have one year left)finish your career man if you drop out now you wasted all of those years and if the outdoors path fails you'll be fucked and have those years of university be a waste.
I applied to US Forestry and would not recommend. Zero ETA on when I will be accepted and it’s taking like 9 months for some people apparently.
>>2758035If youre in too deep to the CS program just switch to Geographic Information Systems and start working with spatial data, you'd at least have the chance to work in the field doing drones or asset management surveying
>>2758035Whatever else you do, finish the fucking degree. I work in CS and it's a good /out/ career.>remote work (work from anywhere with service (or use starlink))>"unlimited time off" (bullshit but kind of true if you work your ass off)>easy to just quit your job for a year to travel and then move to a higher paid position>work as a dog/house sitter and get paid twice while traveling for freeIf you decide that you really just fucking hate CS, GET THE DEGREE ANYWAY. Whatever else you decide to do is going to be 100x easier if you can put a STEM degree on your resume. I got an unrelated engineering degree and was able to get a CS job with no experience.
>>2758086ThisEnvironmental sciences need CS people way more than CS people need environmental science.Big money/ok with being a sociopath: work in financeSellout artist but still good cash: work in cinemaSoul sucking but also big money: work in data centersFulfilling but live as a pauper (by CS degree standards): work in researcht. researcher
>>2758174What does “work in finance” mean? That is so vague
>>2758230Program and train bots to run stock exchanges.Run statistical models to sell portfolio managers on investment strategies.Run loan amortization models against borrower profiles. It isn't vague it's esoteric.
>>2758072>finish>>2758163>finishTake these anon's (and my) advice and finish what you started. That alone looks better on a resume than a "i don't know what i want to be so I changed majors 5 times then dropped out" transcript. Electrical Engineer here. Worked 15 years at a soul-sucking desk job. Now I own a few businesses in the wireless & utility industries. Riding a motorcycle up a mountain to replace a router on a radio site in the next day or two, then i'm flying out next week to teach ATV safety/operations to a bunch of USDA guys. pic related, /out/ and /rf-engineering/
>>2758256>pic relatedoh for fucks sake
>>2758035What is CS?
>>2758247crazy how stocks rise and fall based on robots now and yet we're still supposed to consider the shareholder the top priority. so if the robots don't like it we can't do it. k
>>2758256>>2758257l m a o
>>2758072>>2758163>>2758256yes, I guess that getting this degree is the best thing to do, but it's not easy, because it causes me a lot of stress, I'm even starting to have panic attacks every now and then during exams.But as >>2758163 said, it's better to have a STEM degree that having nothing in my degree.>>2758086I will look into it, thanks>>2758163Also, some questions:- Even if you haven't done uni, do you think that work a CS job is more fun or less stressful that studying CS?- How it's a good /out/ carreer if, in the end, you must stare at a computer screen for the majority of the time?
>>2758256Does being in EE require being good at math? How many years of education?
>>2758479Not him but I can't think of any major that requires more math than EE besides a literal math major. We took math up to differential equations in ME and that was it. I think EE had another level or two of math, and I know they have to deal with that complex number nonsense which MEs can basically ignore.
>>2758256explain more I'm an electrical engineer working a soul sucking desk job at a major utility corp how do I get out
>>2758267Working a CS job is usually less stressful than studying CS. After you settle in things become pretty straightforward and you aren't having to worry about learning novel concepts on a deadline very often. It depends on the job. It's a good /out/ career in that it gives you freedom and lots of money to pursue outdoor activities in your life outside of work. Any job that has you actually working outdoors every day is going to suck ass for reasons that should be obvious.
>>2758479>require being good at mathEngineering's about solving problems. Math is a tool engineers use to solve problems. You'll need to understand the tools and "build your toolbox", but as far as "doing math" the academic way... lol no. Computers do that shit exceptionally well, but you need to understand how to use the tool appropriately. How much math you use depends on your discipline and focus.I deal with a lot of statics and some dynamics when it comes to ropes/loads/rigging.Also a LOT of trig. Algebra/calculus in the more electrical and rf design stuff I do.>>2758479>How many years of education4-year degree. >>2758527Quit, spin up a few LLC's, and find ways to make dat $$$.I'm good with mechanical/engine work, good with electrical and RF stuff (engineering and practical), and offroad/powersports. Found a way to get paid to ride my dirt bikes and snowmobiles.
>>2758543>Any job that has you actually working outdoors every day is going to suck ass for reasons that should be obvious.Any engineering or engineering-adjacent job that involves work outdoors, also likely involves some indoor work as well.I'll call safety-stops on jobs if things get out of hand - either we don't have the right tools to do the job the right way, or there's weather moving in creating a dangerous environment to work in, or something happens which changes our plan. Being on a tower in a lightning storm is not a place you want to be. Towers make weird noises when there's that much static in the air.I've had a grass fire flare up across the road, maybe 1/4mi from the tower I was on. Didn't have that in our JSA. We ended up relaying info about that fire to our ground team, who got that back to fire dispatch; we were the ones that initially called it in. Quick discussion between myself and my other tower tech about our evac plan, and communicate that plan with our ground crew. (Now there's a fire watch camera on that tower (that I installed), kek)I'll schedule my field work around the weather forecast. If it looks shitty, i'll plan on getting office/admin work done. If the weather's nice, i'll be getting outside work done.I haven't been fucked over too many times, but I do get chased off towers/sites by lightning a couple times a year.
>>2758035I'm a software developer and I'll tell you working from home is great. I can garden and take nature walks pretty much every day, not stuck in some stuffy building sharing a room with 10 other people. Yeah I'm still stuck at my computer sometimes but not all the time, not every day.It takes a while to get from college, through working onsite for a while, renting apartments, finally you can score some nice work from home job and live the life. I made my decision not to stick to cities or tech hubs, I moved into the woods. I have never once worried that it would somehow become impossible for me to continue working from home, that I'd have to give up everything to move to some city and go back to commuting. I'd rather give up my career than do that, but there's still plenty of jobs out there for me if and when I need a new one.
>>2758035>>2758613Oh yeah just another thing. In my area I've met the owners of many farmstands, hobby farms, nurseries etc. and a lot of them have recently left the tech industry to do these things. Made their money and semi-retired to this life. I'm not that way, I already live here and keep working from home, but it's another path some people take. Grind out those high income jobs in bustling city and then leave while you're still somewhat young.
