LebGeeks

A community for technology geeks in Lebanon.

You are not logged in.

#1 September 26 2023

Space
Member

Which major should I choose? CCE, CS or Data science.

So I just graduated from high school and I'll be studying at AUST.
Honestly, I am unsure which major to choose between CCE, CS, and Data Science.

Looking through old threads, it appears that some people are against CCE, but the responses are from 2019, and the market has changed significantly since then.

Currently, I'm leaning toward CCE because it teaches you about both hardware and software. Also, I find pleasure in repairing/creating stuff.

I'm aware that data science isn't related to coding, but based on some YouTube videos, it appears interesting.

The purpose of this topic is to gather opinions from those who have majored in CS or CE.

And yes I want something that will provide me with opportunities to work abroad or do masters.

Offline

#2 September 27 2023

VipModz
Member

Re: Which major should I choose? CCE, CS or Data science.

Space wrote:

it teaches you about both hardware and software. Also, I find pleasure in repairing/creating stuff.

What's your definition of reparing/creating stuff? if it's being a Sysadmin

as someone who wanted to be a System Administrator, I took four courses related to Hardware and Software in uni, CSC300: Hardware Technology, CSC319: Technology and Networks Infrastructure, CSC420: Computer Networks and CSC430: Systems and Networks Administrator, I concluded that everything that thought me was pure theory, in practice they do teach the bare minimum which is how to VM Kali Linux and write a shell script to automate certain tasks but that's it, For example they teached us what is a Repeater in theory but there is no lab session where you would setup/configure a repeater, they didn't teach us how to use Wireshark to Monitor Network Traffic or how to limit bandwidth speed if we don't have access to the Router ip login credentials or how to reprogram original NAND data for a device yet the course was tilted "Systems and Networks Administrator" and it was ranked among the highest level course (400) for CS/IT majors.

Space wrote:

The purpose of this topic is to gather opinions from those who have majored in CS or CE.

That was my experience with uni, learning hardware and software in a theoretical meaningless way.

Last edited by VipModz (September 27 2023)

Offline

#3 September 27 2023

samer
Admin

Re: Which major should I choose? CCE, CS or Data science.

Congrats on graduating!

I would suggest looking closely at the curriculum and choosing the one that looks more interesting to you. I don't think it matters much as long as you are motivated and are building side projects. You then use those side projects as a differentiator to unlock a good internship, which hopefully helps you land your first job.

Good luck.

Offline

#4 September 27 2023

Space
Member

Re: Which major should I choose? CCE, CS or Data science.

VipModz wrote:

as someone who wanted to be a System Administrator

Did you end up becoming a sysadmin? I used to run Minecraft servers, Teamspeak servers, Discord bots, and a local cache server when I was 13 years old, and used to work with a Minecraft hosting service managing tickets, servers and assisting users. so it's definitely something I'm looking to do. However, I've no idea how to get started and improve myself going this path. and will it provide me with opportunities to work abroad? I mean is it easy to find sysadmin jobs abroad compared to other paths such as software engineering, web development, and so on...

Looking at CS curriculum they only have "Computer networks" out of the 4-5 courses you listed same as CCE.

CS: https://www.aust.edu.lb/facultydetails/ … rhr)//135/
CCE: https://www.aust.edu.lb/facultydetails/ … rhr)//351/

samer wrote:

Congrats on graduating!

I would suggest looking closely at the curriculum and choosing the one that looks more interesting to you. I don't think it matters much as long as you are motivated and are building side projects. You then use those side projects as a differentiator to unlock a good internship, which hopefully helps you land your first job.

Good luck.

Yes, I'll be putting in a lot of effort to improve myself, especially since university teaches you the basics and theories that you'll most likely never use, which made me consider the CCE major because I'll be learning more on the hardware side.

Offline

#5 September 27 2023

VipModz
Member

Re: Which major should I choose? CCE, CS or Data science.

Space wrote:

Did you end up becoming a sysadmin?

I did end up a self-taught sysadmin

Space wrote:

I used to run Minecraft servers, Teamspeak servers, Discord bots, and a local cache server when I was 13 years old, and used to work with a Minecraft hosting service managing tickets, servers and assisting users. so it's definitely something I'm looking to do. However, I've no idea how to get started and improve myself going this path. and will it provide me with opportunities to work abroad? I mean is it easy to find sysadmin jobs abroad compared to other paths such as software engineering, web development, and so on...

Sysadmin option should only be considered if you're average in development but assuming you created a Discord bot from scratch you're more into development than fixing hardware/software issues, I've only experienced the job market in Lebanon so I don't know about the job market abroad, in Lebanon the average starting salary for sysadmin is 300-400$ compared to 600$ for a React Native developer and 800-1000$ for a Full Stack developer.

Space wrote:

However, I've no idea how to get started and improve myself going this path.

Assuming you're into development they probably won't teach you the JavaScript frameworks (Angular, React,..) in AUST so if you want to follow that path you should get started with the Full Stack Development Bootcamp, I recommend this one https://www.theodinproject.com/paths/fu … javascript

Space wrote:

Looking at CS curriculum they only have "Computer networks" out of the 4-5 courses you listed same as CCE.

CS: https://www.aust.edu.lb/facultydetails/ … rhr)//135/
CCE: https://www.aust.edu.lb/facultydetails/ … rhr)//351/

You do have a Computer Networks Lab course which isn't a theoretical-only course like the ones I listed.

Offline

#6 October 5 2023

Space
Member

Re: Which major should I choose? CCE, CS or Data science.

VipModz, Thank you very much, dude! I value the advice you provided. I'll also take advantage of the BootCamp you provided.

Offline

#7 October 6 2023

GeorgeN
Member

Re: Which major should I choose? CCE, CS or Data science.

Space wrote:

So I just graduated from high school and I'll be studying at AUST.
Honestly, I am unsure which major to choose between CCE, CS, and Data Science.

Looking through old threads, it appears that some people are against CCE, but the responses are from 2019, and the market has changed significantly since then.

Currently, I'm leaning toward CCE because it teaches you about both hardware and software. Also, I find pleasure in repairing/creating stuff.

I'm aware that data science isn't related to coding, but based on some YouTube videos, it appears interesting.

The purpose of this topic is to gather opinions from those who have majored in CS or CE.

And yes I want something that will provide me with opportunities to work abroad or do masters.

Doesn't matter. 90% of what they teach you in university is useless in the job market. The only reason people still go through university is because companies ask for degrees. CS or CCE degrees are interchangeable in job requirements, as long as you have a tech degree you'll get a chance at the technical interview to prove your skills, so just pick whatever looks more interesting to you, keeping in mind the whole time that the material itself is useless and you need to build a portfolio in the mean time with side projects that you can share. The requirements in the market are completely different than what you will be taught in Uni.

I graduated AUST in computer science so I can give you feedback on that. It's horrible, boring, outdated, completely impractical. Almost every lecture was 45 minutes of trash slides with 0 value. I hated every single day and thanked the heavens the day I graduated and was finally done with that prison. Well besides SQL, you will learn proper ER diagramming and SQL, but let's hope the instructors discovered left/inner/right join. They are probably still teaching if conditions and old school switch statements in Java and have no idea what functional/reactive programming is. Keep in mind they are still much more interesting than LU. In LU I was this close to finding the closest firearms and shooting myself. Not to discourage you or anything but just pick what actually looks interesting to you. If I could redo things I would not have studied in Lebanon, but picked one of the EU countries that offers free / very cheap uni education like Sweden or Germany. Good luck.

Last edited by GeorgeN (October 6 2023)

Offline

#8 October 12 2023

Space
Member

Re: Which major should I choose? CCE, CS or Data science.

GeorgeN wrote:

Doesn't matter. 90% of what they teach you in university is useless in the job market. The only reason people still go through university is because companies ask for degrees. CS or CCE degrees are interchangeable in job requirements, as long as you have a tech degree you'll get a chance at the technical interview to prove your skills, so just pick whatever looks more interesting to you, keeping in mind the whole time that the material itself is useless and you need to build a portfolio in the mean time with side projects that you can share. The requirements in the market are completely different than what you will be taught in Uni.

Yeah, Majoring in computer science requires you to put a lot of effort into improving your skills and be up-to-date with everything on your own.

GeorgeN wrote:

I graduated AUST in computer science so I can give you feedback on that. It's horrible, boring, outdated, completely impractical. Almost every lecture was 45 minutes of trash slides with 0 value. I hated every single day and thanked the heavens the day I graduated and was finally done with that prison.

Sadly it's still the same, boring with slides that provide zero value. It's honestly disappointing because I had high expectations since it's ABET-accredited and looking at older Reddit comments/posts, many people praise its educational quality. I'm thinking of switching to LIU or some other cheap uni to save 7-8k because it's probably going to be the same shit just cheaper.

GeorgeN wrote:

If I could redo things I would not have studied in Lebanon, but picked one of the EU countries that offers free / very cheap uni education like Sweden or Germany. Good luck.

Do you've any referrals on how to apply for said countries? I've currently $10-15k saved up with the help of my parents of course. or is it too late to apply?


Also, if you don't mind asking; How is AUST's degree holding up? Did it ever give you an advantage over other university graduates? Did you apply for a job/master's degree abroad? If so, how did it go? Unless you never intended to leave Lebanon. Thanks!

Offline

#9 October 13 2023

samer
Admin

Re: Which major should I choose? CCE, CS or Data science.

Do you've any referrals on how to apply for said countries? I've currently $10-15k saved up with the help of my parents of course. or is it too late to apply?

If you have a Lebanese bac and at least 12/20 as a result, you're generally eligible to apply to universities in Germany. Read more: https://www.study-in-germany.de/en/
There are plenty of programs in English, especially the CS and AI ones and most of them are free.
Free world class education and an easy path to citizenship, hard to beat.

Offline

#10 October 13 2023

mikasa
Member

Re: Which major should I choose? CCE, CS or Data science.

there is no shortcuts be patient.

almost all of the unis gonna teach the same curriculum because simply those are the fundamentals, it is not outdated, it is not like we are in a different era right now, no, every thing is built on top of the fundamentals you're gonna be taught.

Offline

Board footer