Computer Science versus Information Systems

I’m right now debating a switch from Computer Science to Information Systems. I’ve always been more of a business-minded, goal oriented, project leader that’s also been unusually good at computers. When it comes to the science behind it, however, I’ve always opted to just make something that works, works well, and gets the job done in an efficient, sustainable manner. Whether or not I’m using some binary search algorithm pioneered in the sixties or an Open Source library that I found, dissected, and integrated with my project, I don’t care. I just care about results. I don’t think I’ll ever dive too deep into the computer engineering pool of things, since I don’t plan on building the platforms I’ll work with by and large. For some custom applications (a few information security related projects come to mind), I would either hire someone and work with them on the project or I would use higher level parts that don’t require a computer engineering degree to understand. I don’t think I’m trying to take shortcuts by saying that information systems (with a strong emphasis on applied computer programming, as I don’t think I’ll ever stop coding) would make more sense.

My long term goals are basically find a workable job as a programmer or network administrator, work on the side trying to start a profitable and growing business, and then transition to that successful business. After growing said business to where I can sell, manage for a few hours a day, or simply hold stock and a board of directors position, I would start a new business and start going again. The objective here would be to develop a diverse business portfolio, one that would be sustainable in the event of significant failures, and also one with strong alliances between different companies. Although I lack the legal training, I’m inclined to think that there would be a large corporation that I would control that would own or acquire my business hobbies when they reached maturity. This could even function as a conglomerate, where there are software, web, mobile, infrastructure, and security related subsidiaries underneath the parent corporation. Heck, I could even roll my 501(c) business training foundation into this, however I’m inclined to keep it separate so as to give that organization some integrity in the event of a major failure.

Either way, tangents aside, I’m not sure if Computer Science is quite what I’m looking for. Knowing how to program lower-level technologies is important, but for me it may be more important to know how to integrate and develop systems that have concrete business applications. Additionally, I’d like to go on to get a JD/MBA and I think that ISys would be more supportive of those degrees anyway.

If anyone has an opinion on one or the other, drop me a comment.